Donald Trump doesn’t want to talk about his memes in meatspace.
The president scolded a reporter for bringing up his recent post to Truth Social, threatening an invasion of Chicago in a riff of 1979’s “Apocalypse Now.” The post inserted Trump in the role played by Robert Duvall and was captioned with “I love the smell of deportations in the morning.” NBC’s Yamiche Alcindor pressed Trump about the post on Sunday, asking if he intends to “go to war with Chicago.”
“That’s fake news,” Trump said in front of the White House, as he was preparing to head to the U.S. Open in New York City.
When Alcindor attempted to ask a follow-up question, Trump spoke over her.
“Be quiet, listen! You don’t listen! You never listen,” he said. “That’s why you’re second-rate. We’re not going to war. We’re gonna clean up our cities… Clean them up, so they don’t kill five people every weekend. That’s not war, that’s common sense.”
Reporter: Are you ready to go with war Chicago? Why use the Department of Defense?
Trump: Be quiet. You don’t listen. That’s why you’re second rate. We’re not going to war. pic.twitter.com/3dfUTaY7h2
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 7, 2025
Trump has been threatening to deploy U.S. troops on the streets of Chicago for weeks after he made similar maneuvers in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. While the latter is within his authority as president, the Los Angeles action was quickly mired in lawsuits and judges’ orders.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have both made their objection to such a deployment plain. Pritzker has spent recent days telling anyone who will listen that he has not requested federal help and Johnson issued an executive order barring local law enforcement from cooperating with any federal incursion.
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