Pritzker hits Trump over deportation meme: ‘This is not a joke. This is not normal’
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) lambasted President Trump on Saturday for joking about immigration enforcement efforts, including plans to target Chicago, calling the president a “wannabe dictator.”
“The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city,” Pritzker wrote on social platform X in response to a meme shared by Trump. “This is not a joke. This is not normal.”
“Donald Trump isn’t a strongman, he’s a scared man,” he added. “Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.”
Trump earlier Saturday posted an image generated by artificial intelligence (AI) to his Truth Social platform that showed his likeness as a law enforcement official. The background includes an image of Chicago burning, several helicopters and text that reads “Chipocalypse Now” — a nod to the 1979 movie “Apocalypse Now.”
In the caption, the president wrote, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning… Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.”
The comment comes just a day after he signed an executive order to rebrand the Defense Department to the Department of War.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) railed against the post in a Saturday social media post, stating it is “beneath the honor of our nation.”
“But the reality is that he wants to occupy our city and break our Constitution,” Johnson wrote on X. “We must defend our democracy from this authoritarianism by protecting each other and protecting Chicago from Donald Trump.”
Trump late last month signaled his administration would look to the Windy City next in its efforts to tackle crime and illegal immigration. The White House already confirmed that is looking to use a Navy base near Chicago to support its migrant detention efforts.
The president has also threatened to deploy National Guard troops to the city, pointing to what he called success in his federal takeover of Washington, D.C., to aid in the expected crackdown. While his moves in the nation’s capital are protected under the federal district’s Home Rule Act, Illinois is a sovereign state.
Any effort to deploy troops to Chicago without the governor requesting assistance would likely result in a legal battle, like the one that played out in Los Angeles over deportation raids.
Local officials in The Prairie State have pushed back on the administration’s threat, suggesting Trump is overstepping his authority. Johnson signed a protective order late last month to combat the potential deployment of soldiers.
The city’s Office of Immigrant, Migrant and Refugee Rights also rolled out an updated website earlier this week with step-by-step guidance on how immigrants can protect themselves.
Pritzker has blasted Trump for suggesting that major cities should be asking the federal government for assistance with law enforcement, citing dwindling crime statistics and calling the request “an insult.”
The president has also floated New Orleans and Baltimore as potential targets.