LOSING IT

Trump Issues Deranged Call to Jail Blue State Governor and Mayor

The president accused the pair of failing to protect ICE agents, without providing evidence.

President Donald Trump called for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker to be jailed Wednesday morning while accusing the pair of Democrats of failing to protect ICE agents.

“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, without providing any evidence to support his allegation. “Governor Pritzker also!”

Trump’s remarks come as his administration faces legal challenges by officials to block the deployment of units of the National Guard to Chicago and other urban areas. Hundreds of troops from the Texas National Guard gathered at an Army training center in Illinois on Tuesday, despite objections from local officials.

Illinois and Chicago on Monday filed a lawsuit alleging that the president’s actions were “unlawful and dangerous.” The White House has defended the president’s actions, saying it’s part of a wider effort to crack down on crime and lawlessness.

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“I will not back down,” Pritzker wrote on X in response to Trump’s post. “Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power. What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?”

Johnson separately told NBC News that Trump’s post is “not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested.” He added that he is “not going anywhere.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

Trump’s move to federalize National Guard troops in Illinois followed weeks of protests in Chicago over raids carried out by ICE agents as part of the administration’s crackdown on immigration. Trump has vowed during his presidency to deport “millions” of immigrants in what he claims will be the largest mass deportation in American history.

Protesters have alleged that detainees are being mistreated at an ICE processing facility in suburban Broadview, and ICE officers have used rubber bullets and tear gas to break up crowds. More than a dozen protesters have been arrested in the past month, according to FOX32 Chicago.

On Tuesday, Pritzker took a jab at Trump, saying at an event in Minneapolis that the president is deploying the units because “he’s out of his mind and has dementia.”

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The same day, Johnson said the current situation is “so difficult” because “you have an administration that is refusing to cooperate with a local authority.”

Trump told reporters Chicago “is a great city, but you can’t be a great city if you have murders and if you have a lot of problems, and they do.”

Trump’s call to jail Pritzker and Johnson comes on the same day that former FBI director James Comey was arraigned on criminal charges that the president sought as part of a retribution campaign against his political enemies.

Comey pleaded not guilty to providing false statements and obstructing a congressional proceeding.

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