If the president does send troops to Chicago, I hope there are massive peaceful protests that show the nation there are people who oppose Donald Trump.
I do hope Chicagoans keep one thing in mind: Mostly young men and women have signed up to be in the National Guard to do their duty to their country. They are not hardened fighters. Ask them where they are from. Maybe you’ve been there. Thank them for coming during the pandemic to help administer vaccines.
They probably don’t want to be here as much as we don’t want them here. Let’s show the nation a City of Big Shoulders and how peaceful protests and armed troops can coexist.
Prove Trump wrong about this big, beautiful city!
— Leland Meredith Livingston, Glen Ellyn
Week without murders
While Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson trip over each other to denounce and figure out how to fight President Donald Trump’s plans to use the National Guard in Chicago, perhaps their energy would be better spent on figuring out how to best work with the Trump administration to bring the full weight of federal agencies to help solve the rampant crime in Chicago.
Perhaps they can stop gaslighting residents about how crime has dropped. Any Chicago resident only has to read the news, know victims of crime, witness actual crimes or, even worse, be the actual victim of a violent crime to know that there are criminals running around our city with a well-founded feeling of impunity.
I, for one, would welcome the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the FBI; Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the National Guard; and any other agencies that can help us citizens who have been left to fend for ourselves by our politicians, who have promoted soft-on-crime policies. We finally have a state’s attorney who is working to reverse the damage done by her predecessor and enablers, but that will take years.
Imagine a week in Chicago with no murders like the District of Columbia saw last week. Who is against that?
— Edward Reagan, Chicago
Stop spread of guns
I don’t know exactly how big the District of Columbia is, but it seems to me with the amount of law enforcement personnel there and more coming, it would almost be enough to have law enforcement on every corner. I’m sure crime is down while they are present, but what will happen when they do leave? Or will they be there until Jan. 20, 2029?
I’m familiar with the city of Chicago and the surrounding area, and this is just a suggestion. We have a new head of the FBI and a new head of President Donald Trump’s law firm, formerly called the Department of Justice. I think if we got those two heads together and some federal agents who are streetwise, maybe they could come up with a solution to stop or slow down the spread of guns from neighboring states into Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. I think that would help stop crime in this area.
— Ray Lindsay, Joliet
Chicagoans opposed
Way to go, JB. Gov. Pritzker threw down the gauntlet, and now we can se what a horrible president we have. Tell him to send the National Guard to Houston where crime is rampant and see how they feel about it.
Chicago does not need or want the National Guard.
— Marsha Lieberman, Chicago
Crime is illegal, too
Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson speak about how safe Chicago is, but actions speak louder than words. If they think that Chicago is so safe, they should forgo their security details and walk, without an entourage, through high-crime neighborhoods at night.
Crime may be down, but it’s still too high. At least more criminal suspects are being prosecuted and taken off the streets, thanks to Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke.
Putting troops on our streets may be illegal, but so is crime.
— Larry E. Nazimek, Chicago
Guidance from board?
I have recently become a big fan of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. And I cheer on Gov. JB Pritzker’s matching insults with President Donald Trump (apparently inadvisable in the Tribune Editorial Board’s opinion, but not in mine). I am aware this entire theater of invectives and verbal abuse is inappropriate for anyone, let alone our elected leaders. Insults are the verbal currency of Trump, directed at his growing list of detractors.
I would like the Tribune Editorial Board to guide its readers as to which, if any, of Trump’s words or actions are advisable or appropriate.
— Moisette Sintov McNerney, Arlington Heights
Donald Trump a traitor
Andy Shaw’s cataloguing of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s crimes against humanity and President Donald Trump’s fawning praise of the demagogue was right on (“A warm US reception for Putin? These dissidents have died during his reign,” Aug. 22). However, it didn’t go far enough.
Trump has demonstrated for years, certainly as far back as his Helsinki disgrace, that he is in Putin’s pocket. He should be impeached for treason for his violation of Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution, which consists of “adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.” It shouldn’t matter that the votes aren’t there to convict him.
Trump needs to be called out for what he is — a traitor.
— Jerry Esrick, Evanston
Trump brokering peace?
Letter writer Dave Roberts (“Trump deserves praise,” Aug. 21) thinks President Donald Trump deserves praise for his attempts to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia. Working toward peace is a good thing, but It is unclear that is what Trump is doing.
This is due in part to the fact that Trump is ignorant of the facts. He has publicly stated multiple times that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is responsible for starting the war. This is not true. There is no dispute that Russia conducted an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Trump says ending the war is in Zelenskyy’s hands: Just stop fighting. Trump says that ending the war will just involve some “exchanging” of land. This exchange would involve Ukraine handing over territory Putin has not been successful in overtaking militarily. That is not a peace agreement. That is capitulation. Ukraine has been fighting these last three years for one reason only: to maintain its sovereignty.
Many of Trump’s overtures look more like extortion than good-faith negotiations. During his first term, Trump threatened to withhold support from Ukraine unless Zelenskyy dug up dirt on Biden’s family to be used against him during the election.
Why should Russian President Vladimir Putin stop? The wealth from Ukraine’s rare earth minerals will allow him to fund his goal of re-establishing Russia’s control over all territory that was formerly known as the Soviet Union.
— Janice Cody, Chicago
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https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/27/letters-082725-donald-trump-chicago/
