* AP…
President Donald Trump said Friday he’ll send the National Guard to Memphis to address crime concerns there with the support of the mayor and the governor.
Trump, a Republican, said on Fox News Channel “the mayor is happy” and “the governor is happy” about the pending deployment. The mayor is a Democrat, and the governor is a Republican.
He said the city is “deeply troubled” and “we’re going to fix that just like we did Washington,” where he’s sent National Guard and surged federal law enforcement.
Since sending the National Guard to Los Angeles and Washington, Trump has openly mused about sending troops to some of the nation’s most Democratic cities — including Chicago and Baltimore — claiming they are needed to crack down on crime.
* Trump’s full remarks on the Fox News Channel…
Fox and Friends: The National Guard, because they say they belong in war zones. But our city, Chicago, six people shot over the weekend, killed the weekend before that 11 more…
Trump: And that’s a good weekend.
Fox and Friends: This is happening in every major city. There’s a lunatic that’s on the street, that some Soros DA, that is allowed out. What’s going to happen?
Trump: I think maybe I’ll be the first to say it right now, again, we’re going to Memphis. Memphis is deeply troubled. And the mayor is happy, he’s a Democrat mayor, the mayor is happy, and the governor, Tennessee, the governor is happy, deeply troubled. We’re going to fix that just like we did Washington.
I would have preferred going to Chicago. I had a man and a big, the head of a big, big railroad. They’re doing a merger, and he wanted to come see me and all that stuff. And I asked him, because, you know, that’s one of the largest train companies, maybe the largest, so you can figure out who it is, okay, Union Pacific. And he was in my office, and he started off 45 years ago with the railroad. Such a great — sir, sir, I’m a railroader. That’s the kind of guy that should run it, as opposed to a Wall Street guy that destroys the railroad, but he’s good financially. And he was a very impressive guy. And I said, ‘So what do you think, where should we go next as a city? Because we’re going to 1, 2, 3, and then we’ll do a few at a time, but we’re going to straighten out the crime of these cities.’ He said, ‘Sir, Memphis would be good because he’s on the board of FedEx.’ He said, ‘When I walk one block to my hotel, they won’t allow me to do it. They put me in an armored vehicle with bulletproof glass to take me one block.’ He said, ‘It’s so terrible.’ I said, let me ask you a question. So we’re going to Memphis. I’m just announcing that now, and we’ll straighten that out.
Fox and Friends: National Guard?
Trump: National Guard and anybody else we need. And by the way, we’ll bring in the military too if we need it, but National Guard. But Memphis is — look, it’s a great music city. It’s, you know, home of Elvis and everything else. But I said to him, ‘Where else should we go? Where would you say?’ He said, ‘Sir, please do me a favor. St. Louis has been so badly hit. It’s very hard, very, very hard.’ He said, ‘Don’t lose Chicago. You’re going to lose Chicago, sir. It’s a great city. You’re going to lose Chicago.’ And then we have this ‘la Pritzker’ on television every day. All he does is hit Trump. I said, does he realize last weekend he had 11 people killed and 28 wounded, 28.
Fox and Friends: Doesn’t bother him. He says he’s got the situation handled.
Trump: And he keeps saying, we have no crime problem. The week before — he had a week, we had 72 people injured and like 11 died. But every — if he does five, like you just said, five — that’s a good week. Every weekend they’re losing many people. It’s out of control.
But when this guy, who’s a smart guy here, he head’s a big-the biggest railroad, he said the way he said it. He said, Sir, please don’t lose Chicago. You about we are about to lose Chicago. It’s a great city. You can save Chicago.
Please pardon any transcription errors.
* Washington Post…
Memphis is the second-most populous city in Tennessee, behind Nashville. Memphis has historically experienced a high crime rate, though like other major cities, it has seen a drop in crime in recent years.
“Overall crime is at a 25-year low, with robbery, burglary, and larceny also reaching 25-year lows,” the Memphis Police Department said in a news release Tuesday.
Young, the Memphis mayor, acknowledged in a statement to local media Thursday that Trump and Lee were “considering” deploying the National Guard to Memphis.
…Adding… Mayor Johnson…
Mayor Brandon Johnson Response to Trump “would have preferred” to send National Guard to Chicago
“Because of the unified opposition from community leaders and elected officials in Chicago and throughout the state, the Trump administration backed down from its threats of sending in the National Guard to Chicago. We continue to call on the federal government to send additional resources to help us continue to drive down violent crime, but we reject any military occupation of our city. The way to reduce violence is by focusing on the strategies that work: effective policing, violence prevention, and investing in communities.”
* Related…
CNBC | Trump says National Guard will deploy to Memphis next, sidestepping Chicago: Trump did not explain what legal framework the White House would use to justify a deployment of soldiers to another U.S. city. […] During his interview Friday, Trump criticized California Gov. Gavin Newsom and said he expects to win all the court cases related to the National Guard’s deployment. “We think we’re going to win all of them,′ Trump said. “And we have been winning all of them.”
* Fox Chicago | Trump pivots, will send National Guard to Memphis instead of Chicago: Trump made the announcement during an interview on Fox News, saying he “would have preferred going to Chicago” but described the city as “hostile” with “professional agitators.” Both Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson opposed the idea of a deployment there.
- ItsMillerTime - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 9:23 am:
Team Fight 1, Team Capitulate 0.
- Huh? - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 9:27 am:
TACO
- Pundent - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 9:33 am:
If crime in Memphis is at a 25 year low, why do the Governor and Mayor feel that they’re failing and the National Guard is needed? What message does it send to the Memphis PD?
- JoanP - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 9:40 am:
@ Huh? -
You took the word right out of my mouth. When you stand up to bullies, they fold.
- Downstate - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 9:41 am:
One of the last visits to Memphis, I went to Beale Street with my wife and kids. We were looking forward to both the music and food that the area is known for.
We arrived late afternoon. After parking our car, we journeyed toward the famous street and were stopped by three cops standing on the street corner.
They said, “Please make sure you get out of here before sunset, as it’s really not safe down here after dark.”
I was stunned. This was one of the more popular attractions of the region, and the police were warning me to stay away.
I’m hopeful that Memphis can improve. Candidly, as popular as Broadway Street is in Nashville, Beale street would have that same potential…..but not if it’s only during daylight hours.
- Heat of Summer - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 10:01 am:
Sad to see Fox and Trump playing the anti-Semitic Soros trope.
- Ducky LaMoore - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 10:13 am:
Soldiers fight wars. Police fight crime. This is just more performative garbage wasting our tax dollars.
- Socially DIstant Watcher - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 10:14 am:
They *really* hate George Soros
- Bigtwich - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 10:28 am:
Hope the National Guard has blue suede shoes.
- Norseman - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 10:43 am:
=== the Governor and Mayor ===
They’re playing to their audience. To academics who study crime and crime prevention (if any are still available) here’s a perfect case study. The questions are still there. Who’s paying, impact on guard …
- Mason County - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 10:51 am:
Good move for Memphis in attempt to at least temporarily tamper down crime. That is as long as the City officials approve of it.
Although how long can they stay and will this have any long term effect?
- tone - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 10:53 am:
I imagine martial law and soldiers on every street corner would also reduce crime. /s
- Rahm's Parking Meter - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 11:06 am:
TACO….
- JS Mill - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 11:09 am:
So red states can’t handle their business when it comes to law enforcement and need daddy to step in and do it for them. Go it.
- Hank Sauer - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 11:16 am:
Let’s see how the weekend goes here in Chicago
- ZC - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 11:25 am:
>> Let’s see how the weekend goes here in Chicago
It is quite possible one factor in Trump’s decision-making is they realized if they parked a bunch of National Guard troops around the downtown Loop, there -would- still be shootings and people getting killed (there were still murders in Los Angeles after the NG deployment there) and that might puncture the fairytale wouldn’t it.
Trump rarely solves any problem. He just endlessly messages that it’s all due to him when something happens to go right, somewhere, and obviously it’s someone else’s fault when things go wrong. I’m not saying that’s the only factor, but he’d tied himself pretty tightly to this idea that murders were supposed to stop in Chicago if he sent in the Guard, and someone may have gently pointed out to him that was not gonna happen.
- localgovhero - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 11:37 am:
Better them than us.
- H-W - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 12:00 pm:
It seems truly odd that President Trump would suggest he learned of Memphis being among the most dangerous cities in the United States (in terms of murder rate) only after talking to a railroader.
The FBI data has consistently demonstrated Memphis among the most dangerous cities for years, but apparently it was a chance meeting with a railroader that convinced President Trump.
- Someone You Should KNow - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 12:05 pm:
I don’t want to get banned so I’ll say,
Stay the Heck out of here, you jerk, we have no time for you Jerk
- Friendly Bob Adams - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 12:21 pm:
Any idea who the Chicago railroad magnate might be? Or is this just another “sir” story??
- Homebody - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 12:28 pm:
@ Socially DIstant Watcher ==They *really* hate George Soros==
It combines some of their favorite things. Antisemitism, and projection.
- CA-HOON - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 12:40 pm:
@ItsMillerTime “Team Fight 1, Team Capitulate 0.”
Perfectly said. If only Schumer, Jeffries, and others would take note.
- H-W - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 12:46 pm:
@ Hank Sauer
I am not sure how you intend that, but either way you are correct. Let’s see how this weekend goes. There remains a large federal presence in Chicagoland, preparing to invade the Hispanic communities in search of undocumented immigrants.
I recommend extreme caution to the immigrant communities of Chicago, especially after the U.S. Supreme Court green-lighted racial profiling in the case of immigration investigation.
- Excitable Boy - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 12:51 pm:
- If only Schumer, Jeffries, and others would take note. -
Let’s not forget our very own Sen. Durbin.
- Jerry - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 12:58 pm:
@Friendly Bob: the ghost of Sam Insull.
- Rudy’s teeth - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 1:02 pm:
Appreciate reading posts on the president’s remarks. Yet, I shudder when reading his comments. Obviously, he never used an academic vocabulary when he was in college. So many big, big, big repeats.
- low level - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 1:05 pm:
==Let’s not forget our very own Sen. Durbin.==
So again, what would you like them to do?
- Excitable Boy - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 1:20 pm:
- So again, what would you like them to do? -
Not vote for Trump’s spending plan.
- BE - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 1:23 pm:
==Trump rarely solves any problem. He just endlessly messages that it’s all due to him when something happens to go right, somewhere, and obviously it’s someone else’s fault when things go wrong.==
Yeah, we saw that in DC, when he bragged about there being no crime thanks to his actions, and then when domestic violence is brought up, tries to say that DV isn’t ‘really’ a crime…
- StarLineChicago - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 1:28 pm:
== Any idea who the Chicago railroad magnate might be? Or is this just another “sir” story?? ==
Jim Vena is the most likely person; Mr. Vena is the CEO of Union Pacific and formerly served on the board of FedEx.
Also very curious to note that the three cities Mr. Vena reportedly discussed with President Trump — Chicago, St. Louis, Memphis — are all key interchange locations between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, the railroad Union Pacific is currently attempting to buy out.
- ALIGNI - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 1:32 pm:
@ItsMillerTime - Well said. #TeamFight
Good, concise comments by the mayor as well. Credit where credit is due.
- proud - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 2:41 pm:
Not that I think Trump has any ability to strategize, but strategically by going to cities in red states, he can then say its not politically motivated when he does send troops to Chicago, NY, Baltimore, etc.
- Just a Random Guy - Friday, Sep 12, 25 @ 3:21 pm:
==Not that I think Trump has any ability to strategize==
I see it differently. He got Dem leaders to downplay Chicago crime and give the appearance they didn’t want/need “help”. By doing so, it gives the average nationwide voter the impression that Dems are pro-crime. Right or wrong, that is a “stratagy” and will work on the national level. You have to think big picture here….