Trump’s social media post came as Texas National Guard troops arrived in Illinois on Monday night and were preparing to be deployed in Chicago.
“Illinois will not let the Trump administration continue on their authoritarian march without resisting,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said on Tuesday as the Texas National Guard troops appeared at an Army Reserve training center in the Chicago suburb of Elwood.
The military deployment drew outrage from Democratic leaders, as well as from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.Donald Trump declared war on Chicago. That’s what he did. What the Trump administration is doing is intentionally fomenting chaos,” Johnson said on Tuesday. “The federal government is out of control. This is one of the most dangerous times in our nation’s history.”
Trump fired back on Wednesday on social media.
“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect ICE Officers!” the president wrote. “Governor Pritzker also.”
Johnson responded in a social media post on Wednesday, writing, “This is not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested. I’m not going anywhere.”
Erin Hooley/AP
Pritzker also reacted to Trump’s post, writing on social media on Wednesday, “I will not back down.”Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power,” Pritzker said. “What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?”
