Chicago Mayor Decries Trump Threat To Defund Democratic Cities

CHICAGO — Mayor Lori Lightfoot called President Trump's threat to defund big cities controlled by Democrats an act of "foolishness" aimed at bolstering support for his re-election campaign.

"Unfortunately, now, we're going to see more of this nonsense from now until Election Day," Lightfoot said at an unrelated news conference.

On Wednesday, the Trump White House published a memorandum calling for a review of federal funding to state and local governments "permitting anarchy, violence and destruction in American cities."

The memo calls for, among other things, "identifying anarchist jurisdictions" and establishing policies to limit the distribution of federal funds to cities that have "permitted violence and the destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures to counteract these criminal activities."

The White House memo specifically called for cutting funding to New York City, Portland, Seattle and Washington D.C, and did not mention Chicago. Still, Lightfoot promised that she would take the Trump administration to court if actions are taken to pull federal funding from the city.

"If the president and his team are foolish enough to think they can unilaterally cut off our funding because we are not bending to his will, as if he is an emperor and not a president who is responsible to the people, once again we will see him in court, and we will win," Lightfoot said. "When we win, we will make him pay for what his foolishness has brought to the city of Chicago."

Chicago's mayor also taunted Trump on Twitter Thursday over the White House memo.

"If @realDonaldTrump wanted “law and order,” he'd start with the White House. 1,000 people die daily from his failure on the pandemic. Instead of taking ownership, he chooses to play politics with lives," the mayor wrote.

Lightfoot called Trump's rhetoric "very sad" and "unfortunate" for people looking for leaders to bring unity amid national civil unrest.

"It's unfortunate that the president as part of his reelection efforts thinks that he can demonize cities like Chicago, mayors like me. .... We're not going to have that happen," she said.