Megyn Kelly Breaks with Donald Trump over Sending Troops to Chicago

Donald Trump is facing criticism from a longtime supporter over his plans to crack down on crime in Chicago.

On her SiriusXM show on Wednesday, Sept. 3, conservative commentator Megyn Kelly addressed Trump’s plan to bring the National Guard to Chicago, following his ongoing militarization of Washington, D.C.

“It very clearly is not constitutionally permissible,” Kelly said. “He cannot do it.”

Kelly’s comments came after a federal court ruled on Tuesday that Trump acted illegally in June when he defied California Gov. Gavin Newsom and deployed thousands of soldiers to Los Angeles amid protests.

The ruling, though limited to his actions in California, suggested that Trump may face additional legal roadblocks if he continues sending troops to blue-state cities.

Trump announced his takeover of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department on Aug. 11, telling reporters that he was seizing control of the police and deploying the National Guard in order to fight crime and target the city’s homeless population.

In the month since, the president has touted D.C. arrest numbers and promised to expand the program to other blue-state U.S. cities like Chicago, Baltimore and New York City.

“The people of Chicago… are screaming for us to come. They’re wearing red hats, just like this one,” Trump told reporters on Aug. 22, referencing his latest personalized merchandise: a red baseball cap that reads, “Trump Was Right About Everything.”

“African-American ladies, beautiful ladies, are saying, ‘Please President Trump, come to Chicago, please,’ ” the president, 79, said. “I did great with the Black vote, as you know. They want something to happen… So I think Chicago will be our next, then we’re gonna help with New York.”

On Tuesday, Trump admitted that there was not yet a concrete plan to send troops into Chicago, however, he told reporters, “Well, we’re going. I didn’t say when. We’re going in.”

He also took shots at Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, saying Pritzker should call him for help after gun violence in Chicago left several dead over Labor Day weekend.

Hours later, Pritzker fired back at Trump in a press conference.

“When did we become a country where it’s OK for the U.S. president to insist on national television that a state should call him to beg for anything — especially something we don’t want?” he said. “Have we truly lost all sense of sanity in this nation, that we treat this as normal?”

Pritzker said, “There is no emergency that warrants deployment of troops. He is insulting the people of Chicago by calling our home a hellhole, and anyone who takes his word at face value is insulting Chicagoans, too.”

Despite their opposing political parties, Kelly expressed her agreement, albeit reluctantly, with the Illinois governor on Wednesday.

“We can’t have Trump going in without the invitation of this governor. I’m sorry, but we can’t have it,” she said. “He does not have the constitutional permission to do it.”

She continued, “I really hope he doesn’t do it, because I don’t want a world in which I’m siding with Gov. Pritzker over President Trump. But I will if he does it, because he can’t do it legally.”

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On Wednesday, after the court ruling over his militarization of Los Angeles had come in, Trump changed his tune and suggested that he may wait to send troops to Chicago until he is asked by Pritzker.

He then pointed his focus to combatting crime in New Orleans for now, noting that Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry — a Republican — wanted his help.