President Trump on Sunday snapped at a reporter who asked if he planned to “go to war with Chicago,” following his post of a meme warning the city would soon learn about the “Department of War.”
NBC News White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, who frequently clashed with Trump during his first term, posed the question that triggered his response.
“When you say that, darling, that’s fake news,” Trump said nicely while gaggling with reporters ahead of his trip to New York to attend the US Open. Alcindor then tried to object, but Trump forcefully cut her off.
“Be quiet, listen!” Trump snapped. “You don’t listen! You never listen. That’s why you’re second-rate. We’re not going to war, we’re gonna clean up our cities. We’re gonna clean them up, so they don’t kill five people every weekend. That’s not war, that’s common sense.”
PLAY:
.@POTUS BODIES @Yamiche for asking if we’re “going to war with Chicago”:
“You never listen. That’s why you’re second-rate. We’re not going to war. We’re going to clean up our cities… so they don’t kill five people every weekend. That’s not war. That’s common sense.” ? pic.twitter.com/SJluB8lbyX
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 7, 2025
On Saturday, Trump needled Democrats in Chicago with a wild Apocalypse Now-style meme on his Truth Social accounts that read, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning.” He added: “Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.”
Last Friday, Trump signed an executive order renaming the Department of Defense the Department of War, reviving its pre–World War II title.
He has since hinted at deploying the National Guard to Chicago to combat crime, as he did in Washington, D.C., where he also assumed control of the Metropolitan Police Department last month. Trump has further floated sending troops to Baltimore and New Orleans, which have higher murder rates than Chicago but fewer total homicides, the New York Post reported.
