Trump trashes Chicago; Lightfoot, J.B. lash back
President kowtows to cops while lying about Chicago gun laws and sanctuary cities
President Trump laid out a series of lies about gun laws and sanctuary cities Monday on a visit to Chicago. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
By Ted Cox
CHICAGO — Speaking to a fawning audience of police chiefs attending an annual convention, President Trump trashed Chicago on a visit there Monday, while lying about the city’s gun laws and sanctuary cities across the nation.
Trump began and ended a speech lasting more than an hour with praise for law enforcement at the 126th annual International Association of Chiefs of Police convention at Chicago’s McCormick Place. “My administration will always protect those who protect us,” Trump said.
But he lashed out almost immediately at Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson, who had publicly stated he wouldn’t attend the president’s address. Trump said Johnson had explained that “the values of the people of Chicago are more important than anything the president might have to say,” tersely adding, “I don’t think so.”
Trump called that a “very insulting statement after all I’ve done for the police — more than any other president has ever done.”
Trump chided Johnson for not attending, saying, “This person should be here, because maybe he can learn something.” He blamed Chicago’s 565 murders last year and the more than 1,500 committed since Johnson became the city’s top cop almost four years years ago on Johnson, saying, “He’s not doing his job.”
“And Chicago has the toughest gun laws in the United States,” Trump said, repeating a well-known and well-worn lie. “That doesn’t seem to be working too well, does it.”
For years, going back to Mayor Rahm Emanuel and beyond, Chicago officials have said they need stonger gun laws, as in New York and California, to combat gun violence and the influx of guns from other states.
Trump also attacked Chicago as “the worst sanctuary city in America” and charged that it “protects criminals.” But many studies have debunked the notion that immigrants are more likely to be criminals; in fact, one Texas study found that native-born state residents were almost exactly twice as likely to have a criminal conviction than undocumented immigrants were.
Yet Matt Albence, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, chimed in, saying, “Laws and politics like these make us less safe.”
Trump also suggested that “a lot of elections are being lost because of the sanctuary cities,” again without any proof of the unsubstantiated voter fraud he’s been charging for years. “Those are his values,” Trump added, apparently referring to Johnson again, “and frankly those values to me are a disgrace.” He later ordered, “I want Eddie Johnson to change his values and change them fast.”
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker both came to the city’s defense on Trump’s favorite medium, Twitter. Lightfoot accused Trump of “insulting, ignorant buffoonery,” while Pritzker said, “This state is a firewall against your endless attacks on our communities,” adding, “A lawless president has no place telling others how to act — especially in the state of Illinois.”
Lightfoot also defended Johnson, tweeting, “President Trump knows as much about policing as he does running a fair and transparent government. I stand by the superintendent for living up to the values of this great city and its residents.”
Melissa Vozar, a striking Chicago teacher who came downtown to attend a protest against the Trump visit, took issue with Trump’s attacks on gun violence and sanctuary cities. “That’s not valid at all,” she said. “We have a great city. That’s what we’re here fighting for, for the children of our city.”
Trump went on to single out actor Jussie Smollett, who submitted a false police report last winter saying he’d been attacked by two white men, one of whom supposedly shouted, “This is MAGA country,” referring to Trump’s slogan to “Make America Great Again.”
“Then you have the case of this wise guy, Jussie Smollett, who beat up — himself,” Trump said. “It’s a scam. It’s like the impeachment of your president is a scam.”
It took Trump just over a minute to make an attack on the media and “fake news,” as he told the police chiefs, “The people of this country love you. You don’t hear that from the people back there,” pointing at the media section in the middle of the ballroom where the speech was held.
Trump crowed about “the tremendous weekend for our country,” citing the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi at the hands of U.S. military forces. “He was a sick and depraved man,” Trump said, “and now he’s dead. Dead. Dead as a doornail.”
Trump said he had seen $600 million in surplus military equipment assigned to local police departments, because “we want to protect our police.” He railed at the “harmful and intrusive use of consent decrees” that “tie down local police departments.” He blamed them on “meddlesome officials” who “make it very difficult for (police) to do their work.” He said he was fighting to discourage consent decrees, telling the police chiefs, “No longer will federal bureaucrats micromanage your local police.”
Chicago Police are currently operating under a consent decree stemming from abuses including the shooting death of Laquan McDonald.
In a bit of government business, Trump also signed an executive order creating a commission under U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr to study the roots of crime, including homelessness and mental illness, and best practices to combat crime going forward.
Unlike Sunday night, when Trump was booed by the crowd at a World Series game in Washington, D.C., the chiefs greeted most of Trump’s pronouncements with cheers and whistles.
Trump followed his speech to the police chiefs with a midday political fundraiser held at his Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, where according to pool news reports he brought in $4 million for his 2020 reelection campaign. But along the way he had to skirt thousands of protesters gathered across the Chicago River.