President Donald Trump has escalated his pledges to deploy National Guard personnel and immigration officers to Chicago by sharing a satirical image inspired by “Apocalypse Now” showing a fireball as helicopters soar above America’s third-largest metropolis.
“‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning,'” Trump posted on his social media platform.
“Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.”
The president provided no further specifics beyond the caption “Chipocalypse Now,” a reference to Francis Ford Coppola’s bleak 1979 Vietnam War film, in which a character declares: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”
Responding to the post, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, branded Trump a “wannabe dictator.”
Trump on Friday signed an executive order attempting to rebrand the Defense Department as the Department of War, following months of campaigning to be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The rebranding requires congressional approval.
The graphic in Trump’s post depicts him against Chicago’s skyline backdrop, sporting headgear similar to that worn by the film’s war-obsessed and ruthless Lt. Col. Kilgore, portrayed by Robert Duvall.
Trump’s weekend message follows his repeated warnings to include Chicago amongst other Democrat-controlled cities he’s earmarked for enhanced federal enforcement.
His administration is poised to intensify immigration enforcement in Chicago, mirroring actions taken in Los Angeles, whilst deploying National Guard forces. In addition to deploying troops in Los Angeles in June, Trump has also stationed them in Washington since last month, marking an unprecedented law enforcement takeover of the nation’s capital.
He has also hinted that Baltimore and New Orleans could receive similar treatment, and on Friday even suggested federal authorities might head to Portland, Oregon, to “wipe ’em out,” referring to protesters. He may have been mistakenly describing footage from protests in that city years ago.
Details about Trump’s proposed operation in Chicago have been scant, but opposition is already widespread. City and state leaders have announced plans to sue the Trump administration.
Pritzker, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, is also vehemently against it.
The president “is threatening to go to war with an American city,” Pritzker wrote on X over an image of Trump’s post. “This is not a joke. This is not normal.”
He added: “Donald Trump isn’t a strongman, he’s a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.”
Trump has suggested that his powers to deploy the National Guard are virtually limitless. At times, he’s even touched on questions about him being a dictator.
“Most people are saying, ‘If you call him a dictator, if he stops crime, he can be whatever he wants’ – I am not a dictator, by the way,” Trump said last month. He added, “Not that I don’t have – I would – the right to do anything I want to do.
“I’m the president of the United States,” Trump declared. “If I think our country is in danger – and it is in danger in these cities – I can do it.”