On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “All In,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson responded to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) threatening any federal official who would “try to incite my people into violence as a pretext” by stating that officials at all levels are united.
Host Chris Hayes played video of Pritzker saying, “To the Trump administration officials who are complicit in this scheme, to the public servants who have forsaken their oath to the Constitution to serve the petty whims of an arrogant little man, to any federal official who would come to Chicago and try to incite my people into violence as a pretext for something darker and more dangerous, we are watching and we are taking names. … If you hurt my people, nothing will stop me, not time or political circumstance, from making sure that you face justice under our constitutional rule of law.”
Hayes then asked, “Are you confident, Mayor, that the Governor, at the very least, has your back in that city?”
Johnson answered, “Look, we all are united here in Chicago, I can tell you that. And so, whether it’s the governor, the Cook County board president, our congressional delegation, so local, state, federal, we’re all united in this effort. No one is calling for the occupation by federal troops over cities. I don’t know of any mayor in our country that is calling for that type of act. We know that this is illegal. It’s unconstitutional. To Mayor Bass’ point, it’s actually costly.”
Johnson continued, “What we have said repeatedly, the federal government could work with cities like Los Angeles and Chicago and Baltimore, Oakland, Milwaukee, Birmingham, where all of these cities, you’re seeing a precipitous decline in violence. And the reason why you’re seeing that decline is because, one, we’re investing in young people. In the city of Chicago, we hired 31,119 young people for summer jobs. We’re expanding mental and behavioral health care by increasing and reopening mental health clinics, but we’re also building affordable homes. I know this is something that’s important to Mayor Bass as well. We want safe and affordable communities. If the president was serious about driving violence down in the city of Chicago and cities across America, he would do a few things: One, restore the $800 million that he stole from us back in April. Two, he would make sure that we are funding Medicaid and funding SNAP, not defunding our public education system, and, then, of course, helping us build affordable homes. That’s the pathway. The safest cities in America have one thing in common, they invest in people. And that’s what I’m doing in Chicago. And I know that’s what Mayor Bass is doing in Los Angeles.”
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