Trump contradicts Vance, says National Guard will be 'going in' to Chicago

[LetMyPeopleVote]

JD Vance said last week, “The president is not going out there forcing this on anybody.” Trump said the opposite five days later.

JD Vance, last week: The administration isn’t “forcing” Guard troops on any American cities, and the White House will wait for invitations.

Trump, this week: We’re deploying Guard troops to Chicago whether state and local officials like it or not. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-09-03T12:54:41.065Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-contradicts-vance-says-national-guard-will-going-chicago-rcna228738

Asked about deploying Guard troops to Milwaukee, the vice president added, “We want to be invited into Milwaukee. ... The president of the United States has said he wants to be asked, and that has been his consistent line from the very beginning.”

Five days later, that “consistent line” unraveled, and Trump said largely the opposite. NBC News reported:

Asked whether he’d be sending the National Guard into Chicago, Trump said, ‘We‘re going in.’ ... ‘I didn’t say when, but we’re going in,’ he told reporters in the Oval Office.

The Windy City is apparently not the only intended target.

Trump on sending troops to Chicago: "If the governor of Illinois would call me up, I would love to do it. Now, we're going to do it anyway. We have a right to do it. And that includes Baltimore."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-09-02T19:14:41.108Z

......As for whether Trump was correct in his assumption about his legal authority, the Republican’s timing could’ve been better. My MSNBC colleague Jordan Rubin highlighted a highly relevant court ruling that roughly coincided with the president’s misguided boast.

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration broke the law in its use of the military in Los Angeles. If upheld on appeal, the ruling will stand as a check on President Donald Trump’s use of the military for domestic law enforcement and serve as a broader reminder that Trump being commander in chief of the military doesn’t make him a national chief of police. Sitting in San Francisco, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said the administration violated the Posse Comitatus Act. The 1878 law prohibits the U.S. military from executing domestic laws.

As for Gov. JB Pritzker, the Illinois Democrat made it explicitly clear that he opposes the White House’s plan. “He has no idea what’s he’s talking about,” the governor said, referring to the president. “There is no emergency that warrants deployment of troops.”