Pritzker Calls Out Trump’s Occupation Tactics in Chicago

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Addressing reports that President Trump is planning to send the military and National Guard to Chicago, Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said to Trump: “Mr. President, do not come to Chicago. You are not wanted here, nor needed here.”

The governor’s speech followed with an unequivocal directive to the American press:

To the members of the press who are assembled here today, and listening across the country, I am asking for your courage to tell it like it is.

This is not a time to pretend here that there are two sides to this story. This is not a time to fall back into the reflexive crouch that I so often see, where the authoritarian creep by this administration is ignored in favor of some horse race piece on who will be helped politically by the president’s actions.

Donald Trump wants to use the military to occupy a U.S. city, punish his dissidence, and score political points. If this were happening in any other country, we would have no trouble calling it what it is: a dangerous power grab.