Even Chicago must have its limits when it comes to carnage. Windy City Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been one of President Donald Trump’s mos...
Even Chicago must have its limits when it comes to carnage.
Windy City Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been one of President Donald Trump’s most vocal critics regarding federal agents being dispatched into crime-ridden local jurisdictions, but she after national news attention on her town’s spiraling violence, she’s apparently seen the light.
She’s on board with Trump’s plans to expand “Operation Legend” into Chicago’s bloodstained streets.
Trump announced Operation Legend’s expansion into Chicago and Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Wednesday. According to the Albuquerque Journal, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller also blasted the idea that his city needed help from the program (which was named after a 4-year-old boy who was shot and killed in June in Kansas City, Missouri).
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the news of Lightfoot’s change of heart was broken in an announcement Wednesday from the mayor’s office.
The wording of the announcement itself suggests the outspoken Lightfoot was doing everything to avoid admitting her city has become a basket case that requires federal assistance.
The president “reached out to Mayor Lightfoot this evening to confirm that he plans to send federal resources to Chicago to supplement ongoing federal investigations pertaining to violent crime,” the statement said, according to the Sun-Times.
“The conversation was brief and straightforward.
“Mayor Lightfoot maintains that all resources will be investigatory in nature and be coordinated through the U.S. Attorney’s office.
“The Mayor has made clear that if there is any deviation from what has been announced, we will pursue all available legal options to protect Chicagoans.”
See, any deviation from the conditions Chicago has set in order to accept federal help will be met with the city pursuing “all available legal options.”
In an MSNBC interview on Thursday, Lightfoot again tried to save face. She tried to make a distinction between her own crime-riddled city and Portland, Oregon, where terrorists pretending to be political protesters have been waging a running war with city authorities for almost two months, and with federal agents since they were deployed there at the beginning of July.
“I’ve drawn a very, very sharp line,” Lightfoot said. “We’re not going to agree to accept anything like what’s happening on the streets of Portland, Oregon.”
She apparently thinks Trump and the rest of the country — where violent criminals don’t run wild and free — should be grateful for her city’s grudging, condescending acceptance.
Actually, in a statement at the White House, according to the Sun-Times, acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf acknowledged the differences in the missions of federal agents in Portland and Chicago.
“The DHS mission in Portland is to protect federal property and our law enforcement officers,” Wolf said, according to the newspaper. “In Chicago, the mission is to protect the public from violent crime on the streets.”
And in this year, there’s a lot of that crime to protect the public from.
As the Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday:
“So far in 2020, Chicago has experienced one of the most violent years in recent memory. Through Sunday, homicides in Chicago were up 51% with 414, compared to 275 at the same time last year, official CPD statistics show. Shootings were also up by 47%.
“During a 28-day period through Sunday, at least 116 people were slain in Chicago, the statistics show. That’s up from 40 during the same period in 2019.”
And, of course, there was Tuesday’s mass shooting at a funeral home that left 15 wounded. According to the Tribune, Chicago police blamed gang retaliation for the attack.
However Democrats such as Rep. Maxine Waters or the country’s mainstream media try to spin this, the decision is an acknowledgment that Chicago’s crime problems have spiraled so far out of control that even a liberal like Lightfoot is forced to acknowledge that the city needs help — even help coming from the Trump administration.
And, of course, all of this is taking place with a presidential election looming — an election where Trump’s “law and order” stance is in sharp contrast to Democrats from presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on down who seem to think the American voter is just fine watching rioters rampage through cities, looting businesses and upending public art just to make bogus points about alleged “systemic racism” in a country that has made undeniable strides over the past half-century to overcome its past.
Now, American voters are watching that same president dispatching federal agents into cities where local Democrats are unable to ensure the safety of their own residents — the first and most important responsibility of any government. The lesson is obvious — and unavoidable.
Lightfoot’s turnaround came on a dime, considering that it was only on Tuesday that she announced on Twitter, “Under no circumstances will I allow Donald Trump’s troops to come to Chicago and terrorize our residents.”
Apparently she finally decided that her own city’s gangs were terrorizing her residents enough.
Even Chicago has its limits – though its mayor is still pretending otherwise.
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