The president would’ve “preferred” to send federal forces to Chicago, but after facing resistance, he’s settled on one of Tennessee’s largest cities.
Trump announces plan to deploy forces to Memphis, claims it’s ‘deeply troubled’ www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
— @jimrissmiller.bsky.social 2025-09-12T21:41:14.784Z
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-announces-plan-deploy-forces-memphis-claims-s-deeply-troubled-rcna230787
The news was apparently a little late, but on Friday morning, Trump made an unexpected announcement during a Fox News interview. The Associated Press reported:
President Donald Trump said Friday he’ll send the National Guard to Memphis to address crime concerns there with the support of the mayor and the governor. Trump, a Republican, said on Fox News Channel ‘the mayor is happy’ and ‘the governor is happy’ about the pending deployment. The mayor is a Democrat, and the governor is a Republican.
He said the city is
“deeply troubled” and “we’re going to fix that just like we did Washington.”
Trump: "Maybe I'll be the first to say it right now -- we're going to Memphis. Memphis is deeply troubled. The mayor is happy. He's a Democrat. And the gov is happy. We're gonna fix that just like we did DC. I would've preferred going to Chicago ... we'll bring in the military too if we need it."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-09-12T12:25:50.332Z
By all appearances, this looks like a situation in which the president wanted to send troops into a Democratic-led city in a blue state, faced resistance and quickly pivoted to a Democratic-led city in a red state.
Indeed, Trump effectively said as much during his Fox News appearance, conceding,
“I would’ve preferred going to Chicago.”....
The latest CBS News/YouGov poll found that a 58% majority of Americans are against the deployment of National Guard troops to American cities to address street crime. Evidently, that isn’t stopping the president or his administration.
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