About a week after deploying the National Guard to clean up the streets of DC – in more ways than one – President Trump declared Chicago would likely be next. But it was not to be. On Friday, September 12, the president announced the next city would be Memphis, Tennessee.
Chicago Democrats – well, most of them, anyway – are pleased with the news. Republican leaders in Tennessee are, as well, though Memphis Mayor Paul Young, a Democrat, might not be quite as happy about it.
President Donald Trump made the announcement on Fox News, saying that Memphis, not Chicago, was next on his list of cities to clean up. He said the mayor is happy, the governor is happy, and that the city is deeply troubled. “We’re going to fix that just like we did Washington,” he concluded.
Mayor Young, a Democrat, may not be as pleased as the president seems to think – or, on the other hand, perhaps his reticence is for the sake of keeping up appearances. “I did not ask for the National Guard and I don’t think it’s the way to drive down crime,” the mayor said at a news conference Friday. “However, that decision has been made – my commitment is to make sure strategically that we make sure this happens in a way that truly benefits and strengthens our city.” He did, however, concede that his city ranks high on too many “bad lists,” and seemed hopeful that crime could be corralled.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, a Republican, is all in – and with the governor’s invitation, the National Guard faces fewer legal roadblocks. “I’m grateful for the President’s unwavering support and commitment to providing every resource necessary to serve Memphians,” Lee said in a statement. “Memphis remains on a path to greatness, and we are not going to let anything hold them back.”
Perhaps the best quote, however, goes to Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor, a Republican from the Memphis area. “Why these blue state governors would act like dumbasses and not welcome the federal help to reduce the crime for their own citizens is beyond me,” he said. “When it comes to the crime issue, blue state governors are as useless as a milk bucket under a bull.”
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Over in the Windy City, Mayor Brandon Johnson claims it was the staunch resistance of the Democrats that turned Trump away. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, on the other hand, aren’t so sure. They consider it political theater and disturbing behavior – and confess they aren’t sure where Trump will finally decide to send the National Guard. One Chicago Democrat isn’t happy about it, however, and hopes the president will reconsider.
“I am disappointed, because it means the citizens of Chicago are going to lose, the victims of Chicago are going to be forgotten, and the criminals of Chicago are now going to think they have scared the president from coming here to put things back into place,” Fifteenth Ward Alderman Ray Lopez said. “There is a fringe group in this city who says we do not want a militarized zone. Wake up, people, because you are already in a warzone.”
President Trump had previously talked about sending the National Guard and federal law enforcement to Democrat-led cities in blue states riddled with crime. On his list were Chicago, Baltimore, and New York, to name a few. Ultimately, however, he would have been fought nearly every step of the way in those locales. By pivoting to a red state, he avoids many of the potential legal pitfalls of deploying the National Guard against the will of the governor.
And Memphis is still a Democrat-run city plagued by crime. The city of 611,000 souls has one of the highest rates of violence in the nation, according to FBI statistics. Approximately 24% of the population lives in poverty, and the city has seen an estimated 149 murders so far.
If crime drops after the arrival of the National Guard and federal law enforcement, President Trump and Republicans can then point to his track record in DC and Memphis. From there, he can argue that, had the left-wing leaders only chosen to help rather than hinder him, the people of Chicago, Baltimore, New York, etc., could have seen the same relief.