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Former President Barack Obama criticized President Donald Trump for deploying the National Guard to Chicago to address crime, asserting that it is “inherently corrupting” for a president to utilize the military “against their own people.”
Obama expressed his dissatisfaction with Trump during the concluding episode of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, released on Monday. The former president stated his belief that Trump had “weakened” democracy throughout the initial year of his second administration.
“When you have military that can direct force against their own people, that is inherently corrupting. And so when you now start seeing the politicization of the military — deliberately, right—” Obama said.
“They just landed in Chicago!” Maron jumped in to add.
Obama continued denouncing Trump right after.
“When you have what looks like a deliberate end run around not just a concept but a law that’s been around for a long time, Posse Comitatus, that says you don’t use our military on domestic soil unless there is an extraordinary emergency of some sort; that when you see an administration suggest that ordinary street crime is an insurrection or—” Obama said.
“A terrorist attack,” Maron chimed in.
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“A terrorist attack,” Obama continued, “That is a genuine effort to weaken how we have understood democracy.”
Obama’s remarks follow President Trump’s deployment of 200 National Guard troops from Texas to Chicago last week.
President Trump expressed his desire to diminish crime in Chicago, citing his revulsion at news stories detailing the number of shootings that occurred over Labor Day Weekend.
“When I watch television last night, and I’m watching the news and I see that nine people were killed in Chicago and 54 were badly wounded with bullets, I say, ‘That’s not our country. We have to do something,’” Trump said in early September.
ABC 7 in Chicago reported that 58 individuals were shot in the city during the holiday weekend, representing an 87% increase compared to the same period the previous year.
The president’s initiative to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago, along with ICE and Border Patrol officials for the deportation of undocumented immigrants, has encountered opposition from Illinois Democratic Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Last Monday, two Democratic politicians initiated legal action against Trump to prevent the deployment of National Guard personnel.
On Monday, Obama remarked that it was “mind-boggling” to consider how Fox News would have responded had he employed the National Guard as Trump has. He also stated that the president had significantly harmed the nation since resuming office in January.
“I think there is no doubt that a lot of the norms, civic habits, expectations, [and] institutional guardrails that we had — that we took for granted — for our democracy have been weakened deliberately,” Obama said.
“I don’t think they’re destroyed, but I think they have been damaged, and [the Trump Administration has] been systematic about it,” Obama added.
Ray Lopez, a Democratic alderman representing Chicago’s 15th Ward, voiced support for Donald Trump’s decision to increase the number of federal personnel deployed to the city, saying many of his constituents agree with the move.
“There are many people in the city of Chicago who completely support having the additional resources to keep both ICE agents and community protesters safe,” Lopez said.
He then ripped Pritzker and Chicago leaders for having an adversarial relationship with an administration simply attempting to make the city safer.
“What we have seen is a complete abdication of responsibility, both by Governor Pritzker and by the mayor of the city of Chicago, who have refused up until this point to allow police just to maintain the peace for protesters and for ICE agents doing their job,” Lopez continued.
“We need to bring some sanity back to the conversation, and a majority of Chicagoans want to see that happen,” he added.
