Is Trump Really Shaking in His Boots Over JB Pritzker? The Illinois Showdown No One Saw Coming!

Ah, fall—the season of crisp air, pumpkin spice, and apparently, federal troops on parade. You’d think the smell drifting from the grill would be just tacos, but nope—there’s also the scent of political theater, sizzling hot debates, and a whole lot of urban wrangling. Now here’s the kicker: should troops march into Chicago, famously tough and governed by a Democrat who’s been kicking back hard, or is New Orleans the softer target with its own spicy mix of challenges and a governor more than ready to roll out the red carpet for Uncle Sam’s finest? It’s a question that smacks of strategy, optics, and maybe a bit of, let’s call it, “tactical diplomacy.” And while the cities chew over federal plans and local politics, the real crime scene might just be the salsa dance happening behind the scenes. Curious to untangle this political gumbo? LEARN MORE

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Nothing says fall like the aroma of TACOs on the ol’ grill. From Politico:

“We are making a determination now: Do we go to Chicago? Or do we go to a place like New Orleans where we have a great governor, Jeff Landry, who wants us to come in and straighten out a very nice section of this country that has become quite – quite tough, quite bad?” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting alongside Poland’s new president.

That was a walk-back of his declaration just 24 hours earlier that “we’re going in” to Chicago, a city he has long maligned for violent crime but has a Democratic governor who opposes Trump’s deployment of federal troops in his state. While he again credited the federal troops for D.C.’s drop in crime since their deployment last month, the president’s shifting plans for the next phase in his crackdown on urban crime marked a tacit acknowledgement of the legal challenges he’ll face going beyond his authority within the District of Columbia.

He suggested he’d be holding off on sending more federal troops into states where governors oppose such a move.

Oh, he did, did he? I’m sure it had nothing to do with Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s kicking his ass around the block every day since he first broached the idea of invading Chicago. In New Orleans, he has a pliant MAGA-adjacent governor in Jeff Landry, who not only would welcome the invaders, but who would also eagerly sign onto whatever lie the administration wants to tell about the effect of the invasion. Moreover, LaToya Cantrell, the city’s Democratic mayor, was indicted by a federal grand jury in August on charges of conspiracy and fraud related to an alleged affair Cantrell was having with her bodyguard. (Ah, New Orleans.)

And New Orleans has a serious violent crime problem, even though the rate of violent crime has dropped this year. It also has a long, sad history of police violence against the (largely black) residents of the city, which probably has Stephen Miller’s toes tingling. All in all, New Orleans is a far easier hunting ground than Chicago would be. And if you’re keeping score at home, the best fish TACOs in New Orleans can be found at the Rum House.