Sep 6

Sep 6 Where Were You?

Chicago, Crime, Demonstrations, Donald J. Trump, Performance, Protest, Public Declarations

“The sound of gunfire off in the distance
I’m getting used to it now
Lived in a brownstone, lived in a ghetto
I’ve lived all over this town
This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco
This ain’t no fooling around
No time for dancing, or lovey dovey
I ain’t got time for that now”

— Talking Heads, Life During Wartime, from Fear of Music (1979)

In the normal course, quoting the lyrics I’ve just quoted strikes me as sophomoric. When first published forty-six years ago—yes, it was that long ago— the Talking Heads’ lyrics and the underlying concept were so RISD—not to be confused with the au courant “Rizz.” Too many people have since returned to that well, leaving it dry long ago.

Yet, Life During Wartime took on new resonance at 10:36 AM (CST) today when Donald J. Trump pumped out a highly inflammatory twit. In it, he fashioned himself as Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore (Robert Duval), a fictional Vietnam-era commander who ordered a napalm strike, and then matter-of-factly told a subordinate, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”

In his twit, Trump’s image is displayed immediately adjacent to the phrase, “Chipocalypse Now,” a play on the title of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film, Apocalypse Now, which was also released not so coincidentally forty-six years ago. “Chi” refers to Chicago, which is not hard to ascertain because the Ai-generated image places Trump against the Chicago skyline, with attack helicopters flying overhead and fire engulfing the city.

Yesterday, Trump issued another one of his infernal Executive Orders; this one supposedly changing the Department of Defense’s name to the Department of War. The name can only be changed by act of Congress. Undoubtedly, the lickspittles in the majority will acquiesce in another one of Trump’s fantasies. As a boy, he loved the opportunity to play soldier when his father shipped him off to military academy. “Play” being the operative word, because just a few years later, he had the opportunity to serve in Vietnam, but miraculously developed bone spurs. For lifelong consistency, he might have opted for swollen ankles as the excuse that would spare him combat duty.

In completing his twit, Trump reveals his thinking behind the executive order retitling the Department of Defense, stating:

Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR

Trump has effortlessly filled every day of the last eight months with his reckless stupidity in an effort to tear down the architecture that underlies our democracy. But of all the things he has done and all the inane things he has said, Trump outdid himself this morning. He thinks by cluttering the Oval Office with gold-plated accoutrements that he is bringing dignity to the presidency. The same can be said for his desecration of the White House Rose Garden, replacing it with a Mar-a-Lago style patio, which he has dubbed Club Rose Garden. Today’s twit conclusively reveals that the Trump presidency is anything but dignified.

What president would joke about bombing an American city, let alone the third largest one in the country. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan made an ill-advised, off-the-record joke, exclaiming, “We begin bombing in five minutes.” But at least it was in reference to our Cold War adversary, the Soviet Union.

Trump thinks he is being funny, despite his credible threat to deploy the U.S. military to Chicago’s streets in a provocative move that he hopes will spark a violent response, permitting him to further his autocratic aims. Never have I been so disgusted and offended.

Apparently, thousands of Chicagoans agree with me. Late this afternoon, somewhere between 3,000 to 5,000 people turned out at the intersection of Ida B. Wells Drive and Michigan Avenue for a previously scheduled rally in opposition to Trump’s plans to militarize the streets of Chicago. Curiously, the City of Chicago has designated this location the Congress Park Gardens despite the absence of any flowers, tree, or grass; just concrete and stone.

I don’t recall seeing such a large turnout for a demonstration at this location. The plaza was thick with picket-style signage. Following 45 minutes of speeches and chants, the demonstrators marched through the Loop, passing such strategic landmarks as ICE’s Midwest headquarters; the Everett M. Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, now surrounded by anti-scaling fencing in anticipation of Trump’s troop deployment; Trump Tower; and the Fox News local outlet’s studios.

The organizers included a number of Progressive groups operating as the Coalition Against the Trump Agenda. Among the groups were the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression; the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights; and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Immediately prior to the demonstration, Chicago’s Palestinian Community held a rally at the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive. I did not cover that demonstration, but I did see many of the organizers at the demonstration opposing Trump’s Chicago occupation.

Disturbingly, no Illinois politicians turned out for today’s demonstration. Not Governor J.B. Pritzker; not Mayor Brandon Johnson; not Senators Durbin or Duckworth; and not a single congressperson. One or two Chicago alderpersons might have been present, but none spoke.

Yet, earlier in the day, at a Mexican Independence Day Parade in Pilsen, Senator Durbin, Congressman Quigley, and Congressman Jesús “Chuy” Garcia all made comments addressing Trump’s threats to occupy Chicago. Governor Pritzker and Mayor Johnson apparently did not attend the parade, but have been supportive of Mexican Independence Day celebrations and have also condemned Trump’s planned occupation.

Those politicians missing in action at today’s Congress Plaza Gardens demonstration and march are emblematic of a larger problem. Despite several notable exceptions, the members of the far-Left have shouldered the burden when it comes to speaking out against Trump and his agenda. Pritzker and other mainstream politicians are seemingly reluctant to share the stage with far-Left groups.

With presidential aspirations, Pritzker obviously doesn’t want videotape showing him “collaborating” with pro-Palestinian groups. Other politicians may be more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, but they have similar concerns when it comes to associating with groups labeling themselves socialists or revolutionary communists. In one sense, I don’t fault these aspirants to higher office. Despite repeated thrashings, the Progressives have refused to trim their sails, tacking toward the electorate’s center.

The politicians, however, are not solely at fault. I am regularly asked, “When’s the next demonstration?” Despite giving the time, date and location, the inquirers never turnout. Huge segments of the population are both outraged and distressed by Trump, yet they remain silent. To their thinking, the 2026 mid-term election is the cure all.

What the silent majority doesn’t take into account is that by then, Trump will have: (i) appointed more unprincipled, politicized judges to the Federal bench; (ii) captured the Federal Reserve; (iii) deployed the military on the streets of other large cities; (iv) fired supposedly independent members of government agencies and commissions, replacing them with pliable people that fit the Hegseth, Noem, Pulte, and Leavitt mold; (v) allowed Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to curtail vaccine development for the 2026 flu and Covid season; (vi) extorted more universities, law firms, and businesses, thereby creating a captive and pliable private sector; (vii) started a war with Venezuela and Mexico; (viii) ceded Ukraine, Moldova, Estonia, and Finland to Putin; (ix) driven America’s longstanding allies into welcoming Chinese arms; (x) allowed China’s Xi to develop a technological monopoly on solar and wind power; (xi) collected more grift; and (xii) do who knows what else?

In short, until those who are not regulars at the annual May Day celebrations turnout in mass, Trump will continue to run rampant over our rights and democracy. Most organizers would welcome a turnout numbering 3,000 to 5,000, but 30,000 to 50,000 people should have been in the streets today. It is time to set aside any differences that otherwise separate those who oppose Trump. If you oppose Trump, you need to unify with everyone who opposes Trump. Those who oppose Trump must tear down their silos before Trump buries them alive in those very silos.

Today’s demonstration, as photogenic as it might have been, was a failure. A split-decision. The regulars turned out, but far more people sat at home watching college football or headed to the golf course, hoping to take advantage of one of the last opportunities to walk nine holes this year. Even threats of the U.S. military in Chicago’s streets didn’t bring them out.

Where were you today?

And as an afterthought: Will Trump once again sanction the AP if they continue to refer to the Department of War as the Department of Defense? If Trump once again singles them or anyone else out for Orwellian sanctions, the media outlet should simply respond, “Go jump in the Gulf of Mexico!”

[Click on an Image to Enlarge It. The Images Are Not Necessarily in Exact Chronological Order]