On MSNBC, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker claimed President Trump’s plan to send federal troops into Chicago was:
“a nefarious plan. It’s one that’s been repeated over and over again by, well, tyrannical dictatorships across history where you try to incite local population into some mayhem by sending in police or other disruptors and then claim that there’s too much mayhem on the ground and therefore there must be troops that are sent in. And that’s how you basically convert a democracy into something other than that.”
Pritzker claims Trump would “incite mayhem” by sending in police or federal agents and then exaggerate the chaos. But that flips reality on its head. The mayhem in Chicago already exists — over 50 people were shot over Labor Day weekend alone. Families live in fear, neighborhoods are terrorized, and law-abiding citizens are left to fend for themselves. Federal help isn’t manufacturing chaos, it’s responding to it. The only people “inciting” mayhem are the criminals Pritzker refuses to hold accountable.
He doubled down by saying:
“Remember, the people that they’re talking about sending in these military troops are trained for war. They’re not trained for crowd control. They’re not trained to fight crime. They’re not trained to arrest people.”
But that’s not true. The National Guard is, in fact, trained for civil support missions. They have stepped in repeatedly throughout U.S. history to restore order, back up law enforcement, and safeguard civilians — from riots to natural disasters. To claim troops “aren’t trained” for these situations ignores reality: their training exists precisely for moments like this, when local leaders fail to keep control.
Pritzker still tried to paint his record as a success, boasting:
“We’ve done a terrific job on the ground here last four years. We’ve seen homicides drop in half. We’ve seen firstly, every measure of violent crime dropped by double digits.”
Violent crime overall, including both homicides and non-fatal shootings, was trending downward before Pritzker took office in 2019. Property crimes like burglary and theft were also falling. Then crime spiked in 2020 and 2021 — with homicides soaring to 805 and shootings topping 4,400 — a sharp break from years of decline. Even though crime has fallen from those record highs, it is still higher today than it was before Pritzker took office in 2019.
The facts prove it. When Pritzker took office in 2019, Chicago recorded 500 homicides and 2,639 total shootings. After years of decline, violence then exploded under his watch, surging to 805 homicides and 4,419 shootings in 2021, the city’s worst year in a quarter century. The numbers have eased since, but remain far higher than when he started: 715 homicides in 2022, 621 in 2023, and 581 in 2024. Thousands more are shot and wounded every year — the only reason the death toll isn’t higher is because so many shooters miss their targets. If Chicago’s gunmen had better aim, the homicide count would be much worse.
And this isn’t new. Democrats have run Chicago for nearly a century, and they’ve governed Illinois for 16 of the past 20 years, with only a single Republican term interrupting their control. Decade after decade, the results are the same: more crime, more corruption, more families trapped in unsafe neighborhoods. Democrats created and allowed the violence and crime — and they will never fix it.
Chicago doesn’t need more Democrat leaders making excuses. It needs real solutions to crime and chaos. After nearly a century of Democratic control in the city and 16 of the last 20 years in the governor’s mansion, the violence and crime are their legacy — and J.B. Pritzker’s spin can’t cover it up. He may have inherited billions and expanded his wealth, but that’s not training to be a governor, and it’s certainly not experience in solving the crises his state faces today.