Is 'World-Class' City Ready for National Guard Invasion?

By Don DeBat

Chicagoans who believe they live in a “world class” city likely experienced great shock last week after President Donald Trump called the Windy City “a hell hole” and threatened to send in the National Guard.

“We’re going in” with federal troops to fight crime in Chicago, Trump threatened on national TV.

Law enforcement, security experts and violence prevention leaders say sending the National Guard to Chicago would be political theater at best, and a “recipe for disaster” at worst.

Fact—the Chicago Police Dept. (CPD) reports that Chicago has recorded 266 homicides through late August of 2025, a 32% decline in killings from the same period in 2024. Total shooting incidents also are down 36% citywide, as are robberies and batteries. Burglaries and car thefts are all down by double-digit percentages, too.

Gov. JB Pritzker, Mayor Brandon Johnson and every other Democratic Illinois politician cite the lower crime statistics and charge that Trump’s National Guard threat is pure politics.

By September 4th Trump appeared to be reassessing his crazy plan to send federal troops to Chicago, so only analysts equipped with a crystal ball can know how this historic national fiasco will unfold.

As a veteran newspaper reporter, who in 1968 witnessed the riots and police and National Guard reaction in Chicago streets that followed the assignation of Martin Luther King and later at the Democratic National Convention, anything can happen.

This is what I see in my dusty crystal ball—if and when Trump sends in the troops:

• According to reports, Trump’s National Guard troops likely will fly from Texas and/or Los Angeles into O’Hare Airport’s U.S. Air Force gates. Troops would likely be based at Great Lakes Naval Base in suburban North Chicago, along with a blitz of 300 ICE enforcers.

In a large scale, 45-day enforcement campaign starting September 6th, the ICE agents were assigned by Trump to ferret out illegal aliens in predominantly Hispanic and Mexican neighborhoods such as Pilsen, Little Village and Humboldt Park.

• By executive order, Trump may summon luxury cruise ships anchored at Navy Pier to ferry the troops to downtown Chicago in first-class style.

• For the best network TV coverage, troops then could easily be loaded on a U.S. Navy landing craft and disembark at Buckingham Fountain. Imagine a miniature D-Day without Normandy Beach.

• Military vehicles, personnel carriers and tanks would rumble down the DuSable Outer Drive from Navy Pier to pick up hundreds of troops and deliver them to Grant Park’s Festival green where they would set up tents and porta-potties for a National Guard tent city.

• With Grant Park’s historic softball diamonds nearby, during the day the National Guard will have time to play 16-inch “no-glove” games. Early post-game festivities will include deep-dish pizza dinner from Uno or Due.

• At an estimated cost of $1.6 million per day in taxpayer dollars, the real work of these fuzzy-cheeked, 20-something year-old weekend warriors will be protecting the Windy City’s world-class tourists and residents from crime after sunset.

• Ironically, the gangs, with their great illegal gun-buying connections in Indiana and Wisconsin, may be armed with more deadly automatic weapons than the National Guard troops, according to Mayor Johnson.

Arne Duncan, managing partner of the anti-violence group Chicago Create Real Economic Destiny (CRED), wisely said that federal authorities could reduce shootings and homicides by stopping the flow of weapons into the city.

“Station troops on the border of Wisconsin and Indiana and have them check for guns,” Duncan said. “Chicago is not an island. It doesn’t have a moat around it.”

• Unfortunately, the gangs also have professional street-killing experience. The novice National Guard troops have Basic Training, and are typically not schooled in everyday civilian law enforcement. Based on falling weed sales in the city’s legal marijuana shops,

some say the gangs likely have better drugs, too.

Now, this reporter’s crystal ball is getting cloudy. One image is in focus—that memorable scene in the movie “Rambo.” Lt. Fuzzy Cheeks reminds Rambo the National Guard’s weapons are loaded with real bullets. Then, the weekend warrior orders his trooper to fire a bazooka at Rambo into the mine shaft.

Should Trump’s National Guard arm themselves with bazookas to fend off the gang bangers? Did Rambo survive? Stay tuned!

For more housing news, visit www.dondebat.biz. Don DeBat is co-author of “Escaping Condo Jail,” the ultimate survival guide for condominium living. Visit

www.escapingcondojail.com.