President Donald Trump on Saturday posted what appeared to be an AI-created image of himself in front of the Chicago skyline with helicopters, flames and the phrase “Chipocalypse Now.” The president’s post appeared to threaten Chicago with troops and deportations, igniting pushback from Democratic leaders in Illinois.
“‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning...’ Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” read the president’s post on Truth Social, appearing to reference the 1979 film “Apocalypse Now,” which depicts America’s war in Vietnam.
The post also appeared to reference an executive order that Trump signed on Friday rebranding the Defense Department as the Department of War and the defense secretary as the secretary of war.
It also comes as officials in Illinois warn that the president could soon order troops, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and other federal law enforcement officers to Chicago in an attempt to execute mass deportations and crack down on crime.
“The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, wrote in a post on X on Saturday, responding to Trump’s post. “This is not normal. Donald Trump isn’t a strongman, he’s a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.”
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., spoke to reporters while attending Mexican Independence Day celebrations in Chicago, calling Trump’s post “disgusting.”
“His tweet this morning was disgusting. To suggest that the troops are coming into Chicago or the Department of War is going to be engaged, it is embarrassing,” the senator said.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, also a Democrat, joined Pritzker and Durbin in condemning the president’s post.
“The President’s threats are beneath the honor of our nation, but the reality is that he wants to occupy our city and break our Constitution,” Johnson wrote. “We must defend our democracy from this authoritarianism by protecting each other and protecting Chicago from Donald Trump.”
Democratic officials in Illinois have spoken out all week against Trump’s apparent plans to surge federal law enforcement in Chicago to combat what he says are high crime rates.
“Chicago is the worst and most dangerous city in the World, by far. Pritzker needs help badly, he just doesn’t know it yet. I will solve the crime problem fast,” the president wrote on Truth Social earlier this week.
Pritzker, speaking to reporters in Chicago this week, blasted Trump’s comments.
“The president’s absurd characterizations do not match what is happening on the ground here. He has no idea what he’s talking about,” the governor said. “There is no emergency that warrants deployment of troops. He is insulting the people of Chicago by calling our home a hellhole — and anyone who takes his word at face value is insulting Chicagoans, too.”
More than a hundred protestors in Northern Chicago rallied on Saturday against Trump's ongoing plans to surge federal law enforcement to the city amid ramped up deportations, NBC Chicago reported.
Equipped with signs urging federal personnel to "stop the raids," the news outlet reported that the protesters held their demonstration across the street from Naval Station Great Lakes, a location that is supposed to be a base for any increased federal troop or law enforcement activity in the region.
Durbin and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., also spoke out against Trump’s potential plans after touring the naval station on Friday.
“I think this is a terrible act of political theater that is underway at the expense of a lot of people, at the expense of taxpayers,” Durbin told reporters after visiting the naval station.
Trump in recent weeks has threatened to deploy National Guard troops and federal law enforcement agents to several cities across the U.S. that are run by Democratic mayors, including Baltimore and New Orleans.
In most cases, Democratic mayors have opposed Trump’s plans and responded by disputing that their cities are crime-ridden, pointing to dropping crime rates.
Trump began a surge of National Guard troops and federal law enforcement officers to Washington, D.C., last month. Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters last week that the move had lowered crime in the city but that the presence of masked ICE agents and National Guard members wasn’t working.
“We know that we have had fewer gun crimes, fewer homicides, and we have experienced an extreme reduction in carjackings,” Bowser told reporters about Trump’s actions late last month. “What we know is not working is a break in trust between police and community, especially with new federal partners in our community. We know having masked ICE agents in the community has not worked, and national guards from other states has not been an efficient use of those resources.”
