
Democrat Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson stated on Tuesday that President Donald Trump is criticizing his handling of crime because he is âintimidatedâ by the âintellectual prowess of black men.â
A reporter asked the mayor during a press conference for his response to Trump calling Johnson and Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker âincompetentâ over their handling of crime in Chicago. The mayor said that Trump is using âpetite and puerileâ insults toward his handling of crime simply because he is âintimidatedâ by his leadership.
âThe president has always been intimidated by the intellectual prowess of black men, and so of course he would speak in those petite and puerile terms because heâs small,â Johnson said.
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After Trump deployed the National Guard in Washington, D.C., he warned on Monday that the federal government may crackdown on crime in other Americans cities like Chicago. He expressed hope that his actions in Washington would influence other major cities to âself-clean up.â
âIâm going to look at New York in a little while,â Trump said. âAnd if we need to, weâre going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster.â
Johnson accused Trump of spreading misinformation about the crime rates in Chicago and that sending in the National Guard would âonly serve to destabilize cityâ and âundermineâ public safety.
Pritzker brushed off Trumpâs insults by saying he will âreject criticismâ from someone who allegedly âwent bankrupt six timesâ and who supposedly âcheats at golf.â
âI reject criticism, and donât really want to respond to criticism from Donald Trump, who inherited his money and then went bankrupt six times and then defrauded his business partners. And by the way, he cheats at golf too,â Pritzker said.
Both Pritzker and Johnson argued that Trump would violate the U.S. Constitution if he deployed the National Guard to Chicago.
There have been 246 homicides in Chicago as of August 8, which is 110 fewer incidents in comparison to 2024, according to the Chicago Tribune. Total violent crime reportedly decreased by 22% in the first half of 2025 in comparison to the previous year.
In Washington, the Federal Bureau of Investigationâs (FBI) data shows that violent crime has only gone down by 10% since 2024, despite the Metropolitan Police Departmentâs (MPD) data indicating that violent crime decreased by 26%. The MPDâs crime statistics exclude aggravated and felony assault.
The MPD suspended its a police commander in May and opened an investigation into whether he manipulated data to make it appear as if crime had decreased at large rates. The Washington Police Union accused the MPD in July of falsifying crime statistics to exaggerate a decrease in violent crimes.
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