President Trump has never been one to suffer foolish questions lightly — and on Sunday, NBC White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor gave him another opening.
“Are you trying to go to war with Chicago?” Alcindor asked, referencing a meme Trump had posted the previous weekend.
The President’s reply was vintage Trump: sharp, dismissive, and unflinching.
“Be quiet, listen! You don’t listen! You never listen. That’s why you’re second-rate,” he shot back, before clarifying that the plan was about restoring law and order, not military combat.
“We’re not going to war,” Trump continued. “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.”
.@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
The so-called provocation? A meme depicting Trump as Robert Duvall’s character from Apocalypse Now, with the line: “I love the smell of deportations in the morning.” Supporters chuckled. The left, predictably, lost their minds.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker declared, “The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. This is not normal.” He then added that Illinois “won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.” Cue the melodrama.
Sen. Dick Durbin piled on, calling the meme “embarrassing.” But what’s actually embarrassing is the crime wave hollowing out Chicago while its leaders clutch their pearls over Trump’s social media posts.
As RedState’s Bob Hoge pointed out, Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies — from cashless bail to revolving-door prosecutors — have left cities like Chicago vulnerable. Each week brings another story of a career criminal out on bail committing yet another violent offense. Yet what really animates Pritzker and Durbin is a joke meme?
🚨BREAKING: President Trump just shared this hilarious meme saying he “loves the smell of deportations in the morning” as he prepares to send the National Guard into Chicago. pic.twitter.com/f7cZDLV5P1
— Bo Loudon (@BoLoudon) September 6, 2025
Trump, meanwhile, is weighing serious action: deploying federal agents — as many as 300 — to Chicago to help stem the chaos. The city has long been ground zero for violent crime, with weekend murder counts that rival war zones. But to Democrats, the real enemy isn’t lawlessness in their own backyard — it’s Trump mocking them online.
Alcindor’s question played directly into this narrative. She has a track record of clashing with Trump, often recasting his bluntness as misogyny or racism. Years ago, when he told her to “be nice” during a presser, she rushed to social media to portray herself as a victim. She has even accused him of turning the GOP into a “white nationalist” party — the sort of loaded claim she’s made her calling card.
But on Sunday, Trump didn’t bite. He dismissed her framing, reaffirmed his commitment to clean up America’s cities, and exposed the absurdity of the left’s outrage machine.
