WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has escalated his threats against Chicago by warning he will unleash his newly renamed Department of War on the city.
The Republican leader posted on his Truth Social account that Chicago would soon understand why the department carries its new name.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker immediately condemned the president’s statement as a threat against an American city.
“The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city,“ Pritzker wrote on social media platform X.
The governor added that Illinois would not be intimidated by what he called a wannabe dictator.
Trump’s post featured an apparent AI-generated image of himself with a modified quote from the film Apocalypse Now about deportations.
Anti-Trump protesters took to Chicago’s streets carrying signs opposing what they called a fascist regime.
Demonstrators marched past Chicago’s Trump Tower while making rude gestures toward the building.
A separate protest occurred in Washington where thousands marched against the National Guard deployment.
Protesters in the capital carried inverted US flags past national monuments as a distress signal.
Trump’s deployments began in June with Los Angeles before expanding to Washington and now threatening other cities.
Local officials in Los Angeles have criticized the violent tactics used by federal agents there.
ICE agents in unmarked cars and masks have been chasing and snatching people without cause or warrants.
Trump has also threatened to send federal forces to Democratic-led Baltimore and New Orleans.
The president signed an order on Friday changing the Department of Defense to the Department of War.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth supported the move as sending a message of victory to the world.
Hegseth stated the US would decisively exact violence to achieve its aims without apology. – AFP