WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Trump on Sunday said, “We’re not going to war,” when he was asked about an AI-generated post on his Truth Social account threatening Chicago with deportations and referencing the recently renamed Department of War.
The post depicted Trump dressed in a uniform labeled “US ARMY” and standing in front of a burning Chicago skyline, with the words “Chipocalypse Now,” a reference to the 1979 fictional Vietnam War movie “Apocalypse Now.”
It garnered strong pushback from Democratic leaders in Illinois, including from longtime Sen. Dick Durbin who called it “disgusting.”
What we know:
But on Sunday, Trump was asked by a reporter if he was planning on “going to war with Chicago.”
He responded in part, “That’s fake news.”
Then he added, “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.”
The president made the comments in front of gaggle of reporters in front of the White House before boarding Marine One to travel to New York to attend the U.S. Open Men’s Singles Final.
The comments also came a day after thousands of people demonstrated across the Chicago area in protest of the administration’s rhetoric about sending in immigration agents or even the National Guard to Chicago.
Local Democratic officials, and even some supportive of the president, have criticized such plans.
