WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former President Donald Trump had a heated exchange with a reporter on Sunday after being asked whether he planned to “go to war with Chicago,” following a controversial meme he posted referencing the “Department of War.”
During an impromptu press gaggle before traveling to New York for the U.S. Open, NBC News White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor questioned Trump about the meme, which stated, “Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.” The post, shared Saturday on Trump’s Truth Social account, also included a reference to the iconic movie line, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning,” styled after Apocalypse Now.
Alcindor asked, “Are you trying to go to war with Chicago?” prompting a sharp response from the former president.
“When you say that, darling, that’s fake news,” Trump said. When Alcindor attempted to follow up, Trump cut her off: “Be quiet, listen! You don’t listen! You never listen. That’s why you’re second-rate.”
Trump clarified his intentions, saying, “We’re not going to war, we’re gonna clean up our cities. We’re gonna clean them up, so they don’t kill five people every weekend. That’s not war, that’s common sense.”
The meme and Trump’s recent rhetoric come on the heels of his executive order Friday to rename the Department of Defense as the “Department of War,” a historical nod to the agency’s original title prior to World War II.
Trump has recently floated plans to deploy the National Guard to cities with high crime rates, including Chicago, Baltimore, and New Orleans. He previously invoked similar powers during unrest in Washington, D.C., where his administration controversially took control of the Metropolitan Police Department. However, legal experts have raised concerns about the president’s authority to deploy the Guard without the consent of state governors, particularly in Democrat-led states like Illinois and Maryland.
A federal judge recently ruled that Trump had exceeded his authority when deploying the National Guard to Los Angeles during protests earlier this year.
When asked why he continues to target Chicago, despite other cities having higher per capita crime rates, Trump responded, “Excuse me, do you know how many people were killed in Chicago last weekend? Eight. Do you know how many were killed the week before? Seven.”
He added, “Do you know how many were wounded? Seventy-four. You think there’s worse than that? I don’t think so.”
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Maryland Governor Wes Moore, both Democrats, have expressed opposition to federal intervention in their states. Louisiana, a Republican-led state, has also been mentioned in Trump’s remarks about urban crime, though with a different political dynamic.
The former president’s aggressive posture on crime and urban violence is expected to remain a central issue as he continues to campaign ahead of the 2024 election.
