President Trump said his administration is considering whether to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago or a city with a governor who, he says, would welcome them, like New Orleans.
Illinois' Democratic governor, JB Pritzker, has strenuously objected to the potential deployment of troops to his state. Louisiana has a Republican governor, Jeff Landry, who posted on X following Trump's comments, saying he would take the president's help "from New Orleans to Shreveport!"
Speaking from the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump said in Louisiana, "We have a great governor, Jeff Landry, who wants us to come in and straighten out a very nice section of this country that's become quite, you know, quite tough. Quite bad."
"We'll straighten that out in about two weeks," he said. "It'll take us two weeks — easier than D.C. But we could straighten out Chicago — all they have to do is ask us."
Trump also floated sending National Guard to New York and Baltimore. He noted the Democratic governors' opposition in those various cities and argued, "the politicians are not in tune with the people."
While crime and safety are perennial voter concerns, most voters surveyed opposed Trump's deployment of U.S. service members to the nation's capital city, where the rate of violent crime — mirroring a national trend — continues to decline.
Still, he said, "I think we're pretty much waiting till we get asked."
Trump's remarks about when and where to send the National Guard has been shifting. While he has begun saying he will wait for governors to request federal support, Trump has also maintained that he has a right to send in Guards if he chooses.
The president's comments come as his administration is fighting a lawsuit over his deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles. Earlier this week, a federal judge in California found that the administration violated federal laws that prohibit the use of military for domestic law enforcement.
Trump portrayed Democrats as being "in favor of crime," while he says his administration is trying to fight crime. He has previously predicted crime would be a major topic of next year's midterm elections.
On Tuesday, Trump called D.C.'s deployment a "template" for other places, though Trump's authority in the district is different from the states.
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