Sunday on MSNBC’s “The Weekend,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) said that if President Donald Trump sent the National Guard to his city, the people would rise up against “tyranny.”
Co-host Jonathan Capehart said, “I just want to get your reaction to another thing in The Washington Post story I’m reading directly here. It says the use of thousands of active duty troops in Chicago also has been discussed, but is considered less likely at this time. We saw him do that with active duty Marines on the streets of Los Angeles. What would the reaction be in Chicago if the President of the United States does indeed put active duty military on the streets of Chicago?”
Johnson said, “Well, again, you know, the city of Chicago does not need a military occupied state that that is that’s not who we are. I commend the work of Mayor Bass, my colleague, and and, you know, all the folks in Los Angeles who stood up and fought, you know, against this, you know, authoritarianism. Here’s the bottom line. they don’t have police power. There’s nothing they can do. you know, these are federal troops, they do not go through the training that our police officers go through. So they cannot even enact police authority.”
He continued, “The president has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to what, arrest nine people in D.C.? You know that that is that clearly he’s demonstrated that he doesn’t have a level of consciousness to understand what it takes to run cities, not to mention an entire country. So, you know, look, we’re going to remain firm. We’ll take legal action. But the people of this city are accustomed to rising up against tyranny. And if that’s necessary, I believe that the people of Chicago will stand firm alongside of me as I work every single day to protect the people of this city.”
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