--- title: Trump Threatens Chicago with 'Department of War' description: JB Pritzker called Trump a "wannabe dictator" after the president threatened Chicago with his newly-renamed Department of War. canonical: https://time.com/7315149/trump-chicago-threat-war-pritzker/ author: Rebecca Schneid article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-09-06T20:00:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-11T00:13:37.606Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Threatens Chicago with 'Department of War' og:description: JB Pritzker called Trump a "wannabe dictator" after the president threatened Chicago with his newly-renamed "Department of War." og:url: https://time.com/7315149/trump-chicago-threat-war-pritzker/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8051785b9022cda8/6998c995f1b0827f7d6f1a93/GettyImages-2232829652.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: US-CHICAGO-PRITZKER og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Threatens Chicago with 'Department of War' twitter:description: JB Pritzker called Trump a "wannabe dictator" after the president threatened Chicago with his newly-renamed "Department of War." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8051785b9022cda8/6998c995f1b0827f7d6f1a93/GettyImages-2232829652.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Provokes Anger After Threatening Chicago With 'Department of War' > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Rebecca Schneid](https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/)  ## Rebecca Schneid Reporter Sep 6, 2025 8:00 PM UTC  Illinois Governor JB Pritzker listens as Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson speaks during a press conference amid reports of federal deployments to Chicago on September 2, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will deploy National Guard troops to Chicago, calling the Democratic-run midwestern city a "hellhole" ravaged by gun crime. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker listens as Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson speaks during a press conference amid reports of federal deployments to Chicago on September 2, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will deploy National Guard troops to Chicago, calling the Democratic-run midwestern city a "hellhole" ravaged by gun crime. Kamil Krzacyznski—AFP via Getty  by [Rebecca Schneid](https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/)  ## Rebecca Schneid Reporter Sep 6, 2025 8:00 PM UTC President Donald Trump [threatened Chicago](https://time.com/7314593/chicago-trump-national-guard-ice/) with his newly-renamed “Department of War” on Saturday, prompting anger from city and state officials who have been preparing for a looming deployment of National Guard troops to the city for weeks. “‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning…’ Chicago is about to find out why it’s called the Department of War,” [Trump’s post on Truth Social said](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump?gsid=ef3f4656-1148-4f91-8c38-f366d22e9775), accompanied by what appeared to be an AI-generated depiction of himself as Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore from the 1979 Vietnam War film _Apocalypse Now_. The words “Chipocalypse Now” were emblazoned on the image,and the background showed helicopters flying away from a burning city. **Read More:** [_Trump’s Crackdown on Chicago Could Start This Weekend, Pritzker Says. Here’s How the City Is Preparing to Fight It_](https://time.com/7314593/chicago-trump-national-guard-ice/) The post prompted anger from state and city officials. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker called Trump a “wannabe dictator” and took the post as a threat to “go to war” with Chicago. “The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city,” Pritzker [wrote on X](https://x.com/GovPritzker/status/1964367057052701152). “This is not a joke. This is not normal.” “Donald Trump isn't a strongman, he's a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator,” he added. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson accused Trump of “authoritarianism.” “The President’s threats are beneath the honor of our nation, but the reality is that he wants to occupy our city and break our Constitution,” [he wrote on X](https://x.com/ChicagosMayor/status/1964384513548570871). The post follows Trump’s Friday [executive order ](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/restoring-the-united-states-department-of-war/)that rebranded the Department of Defense as the Department of War, a move the president claimed sent “a message of strength.” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said during the press conference Friday that the name indicates the department is "going to go on offense, not just on defense. Maximum lethality, not tepid legality. Violent effect, not politically correct." **Read More:** [_Trump Signs Executive Order Rebranding Department of Defense as the ‘Department of War’_](https://time.com/7314840/department-of-defense-name-change-department-of-war-pete-hegseth-trump/) Trump’s threats against Chicago follow his decision to [federalize](https://time.com/7308788/trump-washington-dc-national-guard/) D.C.’s police department and deploy National Guard troops on the streets on Aug. 11, citing violent crime—even though data showed that violent crime in the nation’s capital had already been [declining significantly](https://time.com/7308580/trump-dc-violent-crime/). Since then, the President has threatened similar deployments in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Baltimore, and Oakland. Johnson and Pritzker have both been staunchly opposed to Trump’s [threats of federal intervention](https://time.com/7314045/trump-announcement-chicago-baltimore-national-guard/). Last weekend, Johnson[ signed an executive order](https://time.com/7313566/chicago-johnson-national-guard-trump-ice/) directing the city’s police force not to cooperate with federal agents in a potential crackdown on crime and immigration. “We will protect our constitution. We will protect our city. And we will protect our people. We do not want to see tanks in our streets. We do not want to see families ripped apart,” Johnson said as he announced his executive order. Pritzker has said that he will “absolutely” sue Trump and the federal government if he actually does deploy troops, adding to the multiple lawsuits already filed by Chicago against the President since his return to office in January. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7315149/trump-chicago-threat-war-pritzker/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7315149/trump-chicago-threat-war-pritzker/"},"headline":"Trump Provokes Anger After Threatening Chicago With 'Department of War'","datePublished":"2025-09-06T20:00:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-11T00:13:37.606Z","description":"JB Pritzker called Trump a \"wannabe dictator\" after the president threatened Chicago with his newly-renamed \"Department of War.\"","url":"https://time.com/7315149/trump-chicago-threat-war-pritzker/","keywords":["Donald Trump","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8051785b9022cda8/6998c995f1b0827f7d6f1a93/GettyImages-2232829652.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rebecca Schneid","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8051785b9022cda8/6998c995f1b0827f7d6f1a93/GettyImages-2232829652.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-CHICAGO-PRITZKER","caption":"US-CHICAGO-PRITZKER","creditText":"Kamil Krzacyznski—AFP via Getty","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7315149/trump-chicago-threat-war-pritzker/","name":"Trump Provokes Anger After Threatening Chicago With 'Department of War'"}}]}] ```