Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson went on MSNBC this weekend to pound his chest and threaten a “rise up against tyranny” if President Trump dares send the National Guard into his city. It was the sort of speech you’d expect from a protester with a bullhorn, not a sitting mayor presiding over a city that’s hemorrhaging residents, businesses, and basic public safety.
Johnson’s claim that federal troops “have no police power” and “cannot enact police authority” might make for a good soundbite, but it falls flat against the reality on the ground in Washington, D.C. There, after Trump federalized the police and deployed the National Guard, the crime numbers speak for themselves: no murders in a full week—a rarity in the nation’s capital, especially during the violent summer months. Robbery down 46%. Carjackings down 83%. Violent crime overall down 22%.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is freaking out because Trump wants to clean up Chicago and make it safe.
Even Chicago residents are begging Trump to send help.
Democrats love their lawless hellholes pic.twitter.com/S3sA6GVjGo
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 24, 2025
This wasn’t an incremental shift. It was an immediate shock to the system. That’s the point. Flooding the streets with a visible, credible law enforcement presence sends the signal to criminals that their days of open-season are over. It’s the same lesson Rudy Giuliani applied in New York during the 1990s, when aggressive policing and bold reforms cut the murder rate by 60% and violent crime by over half in just a few years.
Compare that with Brandon Johnson’s rhetoric. Instead of focusing on results, he talks about “tyranny.” Instead of promising to protect his citizens, he promises to resist the very measures that might stop the killing in Chicago’s neighborhoods.
This is the same city where mothers bury their children weekly because of gang shootouts, carjackings, and senseless street violence. The people Johnson claims to speak for don’t want abstract lectures about authoritarianism. They want to walk outside without fear. They want their kids to make it home from school alive.
WATCH: Mayor Brandon Johnson FREEZES when pressed on President Trump’s plan to federalize Chicago.
He looked stunned, then delivered a stuttering, Kamala-style word salad response…dodging the question entirely and REFUSING to confront the city’s exploding crime crisis. pic.twitter.com/tpWszc42P1
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) August 24, 2025
The irony is almost unbearable: Johnson warns about “tyranny,” but what could be more tyrannical than letting your citizens live under the rule of gangs and criminals because you won’t accept federal help?
Washington’s turnaround in just seven days proves the model works. It’s not a fluke. When criminals believe the chances of getting caught are high, they stop acting with impunity. The same strategy could save lives in Chicago, just as it once saved lives in New York.
