Chicago Mayor Calls On Organized Labor To ‘Defend’ City From Trump

After a weekend in which at least 52 people were shot and seven died in his city, Chicago Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson shouted to the crowd at a Labor Day Rally that they had to defend themselves from President Donald Trump’s intention to clean things up.

On August 22, President Trump signaled he might intervene in Chicago as he had in Washington, D.C., telling reporters, “I think Chicago will be our next. … And then we’ll help with New York.” The following day, The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon had been planning a military deployment to Chicago for weeks. On August 26, Trump escalated his rhetoric, declaring, “Everybody knows Chicago is a hellhole right now.”

Under Johnson, Chicago experienced 572 homicides in 2024, making it the deadliest U.S. city by total homicides for the 13th consecutive year.

“No federal troops in the city of Chicago,” Johnson yelled to the crowd. “No militarized force in the city of Chicago. We’re going to defend our democracy in the city of Chicago. We’re going to protect the humanity of every single person in the city of Chicago. And we got the baddest freaking labor movement in the city of Chicago, birthed right here.”

Johnson then threatened, “We’re gonna take this fight across America but we gotta defend our home front first.”

He then launched into a paean to the labor movement and DEI rhetoric, yelling:

The best way we can defend our home front is to make sure that every single worker has a livable wage. That’s why we abolished the sub-minimum wage in Chicago for brown and black women. They get raises on top of their tips. This is the city of Chicago, where we have given paid time off for over a million workers, ten days off, the biggest city in America to ever do it. This is the labor movement, you all, on pace to build more affordable units, a teachers’ contract that protects black women, a teachers’ contract that protects LGBTQ community, the teacher contract that protects immigrants. This is the greatest freaking city in the world. We’re Chi-town.

“Now look, there are some people that have doubts in the labor movement. There are some people who believe that we don’t have the power to beat authoritarianism. But I’m also a history teacher as well. We have stood up for the interests of workers before and we will do it again, and no matter what comes from the White House, Chicago will always be a labor town. Are you with me, Chicago?” he declared.

After having mentioned he had been a history teacher, he promptly falsified history, saying, “Are you prepared to defend this land, this land that was built by slaves, a land that was built by indigenous people, a land that was built by workers, are you prepared to defend this land? The people, united, will always prevail.”

He turned back to Trump: “I need you all to stand firm, to stand strong if this president decides to continue to break this Constitution, it’s gonna be the labor movement that stitches it back together, the labor movement that brings black folks, white folks, Asians; it brings brown folks together. This is a city that said, ‘Keep hope alive,’ the city that birthed, ‘Yes we can,’ and the city that will defend this country.”

On Tuesday, Trump wrote on Truth Social:

At least 54 people were shot in Chicago over the weekend, 8 people were killed. The last two weekends were similar. Chicago is the worst and most dangerous city in the World, by far. Pritzker needs help badly, he just doesn’t know it yet. I will solve the crime problem fast, just like I did in DC. Chicago will be safe again, and soon. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! He added, “CHICAGO IS THE MURDER CAPITAL OF THE WORLD!”