JUST IN: Trump Announces Federal Intervention In Two More Blue Cities

President Donald Trump on Monday confirmed that he will be deploying National Guard personnel to Chicago, as well as the east coast city of Baltimore, in order to combat crime, disorder and illegal immigration.

While speaking at a press conference while flanked by senior cabinet officials in the Oval Office Tuesday, the president discarded concerns from the city’s far-left mayor’s and stated that he has an obligation to keep American citizens safe. “We’re going to do it anyway. We have the right to do it, because I have an obligation to protect this country. And that includes Baltimore. I saw where Governor Moore was asking me to take a walk down the street of Baltimore. Well, Baltimore is a very unsafe place. It’s rated number four in the [country],” Trump said.

“One of the worst — one of the most unsafe places anywhere in the world. But, you know, we took care of it. This was a beautiful thing that happened in Washington because we showed that it could be done,” he added in reference to the federal takeover of Washington D.C.

While Trump cannot take direct control of any city law enforcement assets outside the nation’s capital, he can still deploy federal agents and take control of state National Guard assets, which he has already done in California. The California deployment has already withstood a legal challenge from State Attorney General Rob Bonta, which was quickly dismissed by a federal appeals court.

The president’s crackdown in Washington D.C. has indeed led to a massive decline in crime, according to city Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat and longtime Trump critic.

Bowser conceded that carjackings have declined by 87 percent since the federal takeover began, down from record highs since 2018, while speaking at a press conference last week. Since August 7, overall crime in the district is down 15 percent when compared with the same 20-day period in August of last year. The drop in violent crime has been even more significant, down 45 percent over the same time period, Bowser shared.

Trump had been hinting at dispatching National Guard assets to Chicago, though the inclusion of Baltimore came of somewhat of a surprise Tuesday. Perhaps not so much, however, as the city has consistently ranked among the city’s most violent cities over the past several decades.

The crime crisis exploded following the Freddie Gray riots in the early 2010’s, peaking with 344 homicides in 2015. This number is particularly astonishing when compared with the city’s population.

“Chicago is a hellhole right now, Baltimore is a hellhole right now,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. He then shared an article from U.S. News and World Report that showed Baltimore as the fourth most violent city in the country, trailing only St. Louis, Oakland and Memphis.

In Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson has deployed incendiary rhetoric in his efforts to stop the Trump Administration from cracking down on crime in his city. “Are you prepared to defend this land? This land that was built by slaves, a land that was built by indigenous people, a land that is built by workers. Are you prepared to defend this land?” the mayor ranted during a Labor Day rally.

“The people united will always prevail. I need you all to stand firm, to stand strong.”

Johnson has signed an executive order directing city agencies to refuse all cooperation with the federal government, though this is unlikely to have any effect on the administration’s efforts.