* The Associated Press…

President Donald Trump signed an order Monday sending the National Guard into Memphis to combat crime, offering another major test of the limits of presidential power by using military force in American cities. […]

Speculation had centered on Chicago as Trump’s next city to send in the National Guard and other federal authorities. But the administration has faced fierce resistance from Democratic Illinois J.B. Pritzker and other local authorities.

Trump nonetheless insisted Monday, “We’re going to be doing Chicago probably next” while also suggesting that authorities would wait and not act immediately there. […]

Trump has also previously said he’d be willing to send troop to New Orleans — another Democrat-leaning city in a Republican-run state. He mentioned New Orleans again on Monday, but also singled out Baltimore and even St. Louis as locales that could be in line for troop deployments eventually — though he provided no details.

“We want to save these places,” Trump said.

Trump had previously flagged Chicago as “probably next” back in August, after deploying the National Guard in DC.

* Crain’s…

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has been dubious whether the threat of a troop deployment, which he and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have opposed publicly and frequently, was off the table.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Pritzker said when asked about Trump’s comments last week that he was sending troops to Memphis, not Chicago.

“On the other hand, the president says things one day and then goes back on them the next day, changes his mind from week to week. So we never really know what he intends to do. All I can say is that sending troops into any American city is a terrible idea.”

* During the Monday press conference, President Trump was asked how he would send the National Guard into Chicago without cooperation from Gov. Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson…

Trump: Well, if they do cooperate, that’s good. If they don’t, it’s not going to matter to us at all. You know who wants to help us? Police Department — they have no respect for the governor. They have no respect for the mayor. They respect us. And we found that in Washington, you know, we haven’t had total support in Washington from government, as you know, from everybody. I don’t want to say the mayor, because she’s better than most, but we haven’t had great, great, but we have had great support from the Metropolitan Police. They’re like brothers of these people, they’re really like brothers. You see that they work together. And so, if the governor wants to support, as I said to [Tennessee Governor Bill Lee], it’s going to be his proudest moment. What is going to do the governor of Tennessee? What’s going to happen with Memphis? In three, four weeks, we’ll stand together, and we’ll say, “Look at this. The crime is almost disappeared, maybe completely disappeared. In Washington, they don’t even know how to record it, because it’s down so much. You know, they’ve never heard — I heard 87 percent is down. I said, “Really? Who are the 13 percent?” because it’s more than that. It’s actually more, hard to believe, right? You can have the same results in Chicago, and we hope we have the governor’s help, but if we don’t, we’re doing it without him.

* More…

* NBC Chicago | Amid Memphis deployment, Trump signals desire to send National Guard to Chicago: Unlike in Illinois, where Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have forcefully denounced the idea of using National Guard members in a law enforcement capacity, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has voiced support for the action, and was in the Oval Office for Monday’s announcement. […] Memphis Mayor Paul Young, a Democrat, was less enthusiastic, questioning whether the move would work. “I did not ask for the National Guard, and I don’t think it’s the way to drive down crime,” he said.

* Block Club Chicago | Yes, Chicago Crime Really Is Down. Here’s What To Know About How It’s Tracked: Declarations by the president that Chicago is the “murder capital of the world” do not hold up to fact-checks showing dozens of other cities with far higher murder rates or law enforcement data that’s charted an ongoing drop in violent crime in the city. Yet Trump’s repeated insinuations have ignited fresh discord over how often crimes are happening in Chicago and how they are being counted. Mayor Brandon Johnson tried to rebut the president’s claims last month via a fact sheet emphasizing dips this year in homicides and overall violent crime — while also noting that the city’s homicide clearance rate of more than 77 percent is the highest it’s been in more than a decade.

* Block Club Chicago | Trump Revives Threat Of Sending Troops To Chicago After Memphis: The Monday Oval Office signing ceremony included GOP Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, who supported the measure. Memphis Mayor Paul Young has meanwhile said that he did not ask for the National Guard and did not think it would drive down crime, according to the Associated Press.

* The Guardian | Trump to send national guard to Memphis and says Chicago is ‘probably next’: Announcing the taskforce in an Oval Office meeting, Trump said the troops would work alongside federal authorities from various agencies, including the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; the Drug Enforcement Administration; Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice); the US Marshall’s service and the Department of Justice. In his remarks on Monday, the president cited a slew of crime statistics and vowed to end the “savagery” and to “make Memphis safe again”.

* WISN | Here’s the latest on Washington, D.C.’s crime numbers 30 days after National Guard deployment: A Get the Facts Data Team analysis found that incidents of violent crime have fallen in the 30 days since Trump’s emergency order, but violent crime was already on a two-year decline in the district following a 2023 spike, according to Metropolitan Police Department data. If you compare the 30 days after Aug. 11 to the 30 days before, violent crime has dropped 17% and property crime incidents have dropped 18%, police data shows. However, there are many factors that can affect crime, and trends are difficult to determine with such a small snapshot of time.