In the wake of 58 people shot and eight killed in Chicago over Labor Day weekend, Mayor Brandon Johnson made what sure sounded like a public call for insurrection against the federal government if President Trump sends troops into Chicago to quell the city's egregious crime rate.
During another astroturfed demonstration — this one called Workers over Billionaires, ironically almost assuredly funded by billionaires through a labyrinth of leftist dark money — Johnson held a rally in which he whipped up the crowd like any good Third World revolutionary: "Are you prepared to defend this land, this land that was built by slaves, a land that was built by indigenous people, a land that workers build. Are you prepared to defend this land? The people united will always prevail."
This is not just nonsensical pablum; it is a dangerous lie. Chicago was never a slave city, and Illinois was not a slave state. It fought on the side of the North to free the slaves. So that's a lie. And most indigenous people in America were nomads, particularly in the Midwest, where Chicago is. They built very little, as it was not part of the culture to create permanent structures. Additionally, their numbers are teeny tiny compared to the overall population. So that is also a lie.
But like 58 people being shot in his city, niggling factual realities are of no consequence to a Marxist revolutionary like Brandon Johnson. But it is of consequence to our President. Trump wrote, "Chicago is the worst and most dangerous city in the World, by far. Pritzker needs help badly; he doesn't know it yet. I will solve the crime problem fast, just like I did in DC. Chicago will be safe again, and soon."
Days before the normal spate of weekend killings, Johnson signed an executive order that prohibited Chicago police from cooperating with federal agents or military personnel on immigration enforcement or criminal patrols. The order stated: "...we send a resounding message to the federal government: we do not need nor want an unconstitutional and illegal military occupation of our city. We will take any action necessary to protect the rights of Chicagoans."
Any. Action. Necessary. Taken literally, that is clear language of insurrection. From there, he went on to encourage labor leaders, who were part of organizing the rally, to lead the effort by enlisting their thousands of members to "defend" Chicagoans' rights. But exactly what rights are being protected? The only people being targeted are illegal aliens and criminals. Illegals do not have the right not to be detained and deported; that's the law. And criminals, by definition, do not have the right to commit crimes.
However, remember that a Marxist revolutionary is not primarily concerned with the people or their rights. That's just leverage language. He's about destroying a nation and rebuilding something different from the rubble, or what genteel revolutionary Barack Obama called "fundamentally transforming the United States of America."
Johnson shouted at the crowd, "No federal troops in the city of Chicago, no militarized force in the city of Chicago. We're going to protect the humanity of every single person in the city of Chicago." I have no idea what that vacuousness means, and neither does he. In reality, he's not doing much to defend the actual lives of humans. There were 572 murders in Chicago last year under his watch. But hey, you've got to break a few eggs to make that Marxist omelette.
Digging deeper, Johnson openly threatened federal law and order with an increasingly emotional appeal to the mob: "We're gonna take this fight across America, but we gotta defend our home front first."
The speech makes pretty clear what Charlie Kirk wrote, "Is the wildly unpopular Mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, calling for an insurrection against the federal government? This is quite literally how you get the National Guard to show up in your city, Mr. Mayor. This communist clown should be prosecuted for inciting violence."
This is exactly where one would expect to end up, given the unhinged rhetoric of Democrats and the media since Trump's re-election.
Rod Thomson is a former daily newspaper reporter and columnist, Salem radio host and ABC TV commentator, and current Founder of The Thomson Group, a Florida-based political consulting firm. He has eight children and seven grandchildren and a rapacious hunger to fight for America for them. Follow him on Twitter at @Rod_Thomson. Email him at [email protected].
