Deploy National Guard to Chicago? Trump Says He Has 'The Right to Do Anything I Want to Do.'

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: New York Times

Aug. 26, 2025, 10:22 p.m. ET


President Trump declared on Tuesday that he had unlimited power as president to deploy the National Guard in any state, after musing whether people would call him a dictator for doing so.

In a televised cabinet meeting that lasted more than three hours, Mr. Trump attacked Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois, a Democrat who has pushed back against a threat by the president to deploy troops in Chicago in an expansion of the crackdown on crime he is conducting in Washington.

“You have a guy in Illinois, the governor of Illinois, saying that crime has been much better in Chicago recently and Trump is a dictator,” Mr. Trump said. “Most people are saying, ‘If you call him a dictator, if he stops crime, he can be whatever he wants’ — I am not a dictator, by the way.”

About half an hour later, Mr. Trump said that he “would have much more respect for Pritzker” if the governor approved a National Guard deployment in his state. “Not that I don’t have — I would — the right to do anything I want to do,” Mr. Trump said. “I’m the president of the United States. If I think our country is in danger — and it is in danger in these cities — I can do it.”

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/us/politics/trump-national-guard-chicago-dictator.html

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No paywall (gift)

Nixon (to David Frost in 1977): Well, when the president does it … that means that it is not illegal.

(although unlike 45, Nixon was literally an entrenched "government man" - served in the military, elected to the U.S. House and then the U.S. Senate, and was a VP for 8 years before becoming President for 6 years)

[twodogsbarking]

1. Epstein is haunting him.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. It definitely must be bad.

Although we though the "Access Hollywood" tapes would be "bad".

[marble falls]

5. I hope it only gets worse for him.

[RainCaster]

7. He needs to commit suicide like Epstein did

Follow in your buddies footsteps, moron. It will be the bigliest suicide ever, many people are saying.

[Puppyjive]

3. Can the governor call up the guard first?

If the guard is already deployed by the state, the president can't activate them. Can we send the guard after the guard? I know it sounds silly, but Trump is forcing our hand.

[popsdenver]

15. With all the hiring of more ICE, etc

going on in the background, I wonder if the Repubs and Trump aren't assembling a secret mass of Militia in the shadows, starting with all the Insurrectionists he pardoned, as well as the militias across the nation................There were 5,000 at the Insurrection, 3,500 that weren't caught and charged yet..........

[marble falls]

4. Other than in his own mind, where the "anything right" enumerated exactly in the Constitution and by law????

[thesquanderer]

9. SCOTUS gave him that power when they say he was immune from legal consequences for any official action.

So, back to the OP, Nixon essentially ended up being right, he just didn't have the right court to confirm it.

[twodogsbarking]

6. Melaaaaaaaniaaaaaaah says no he can't in five languages.

[OldBaldy1701E]

8. Yeah? Well, we the people have the right to remove you by any means necessary.

How about that, Cheetolini?

[2na fisherman]

10. Anything?

So when he:
takes all the gold out of Fort Knox and keeps it for himself,
rapes a 13 year old girl,
assassinates all his political opponents,
has protests declared illegal assemblies and all participants shot by soldiers,
has complete control of the media,
awards himself a Nobel Prize,
declares himself Emperor of North America,
it is because he has the right to do anything as President of the United States.

[Bayard]

11. He can rape a 12 year old girl, "in the middle of Fifth Avenue," no doubt

We need a new organization: GAT. Governors Against Trump.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

18. Want to bet the mushroom doesn't measure up!

Nor rise to the occasion? Ask Ms. Daniels.

[republianmushroom]

12. ...to Do Anything I Want to Do.' Tell me supreme court

justice roberts is this correct ? You created this, now control it. If you can.

[Beartracks]

13. Hey, you "Constitutional originalists"...

...The President having "the right to do anything he wants to do" is not in there.

==================

[SoFlaBro]

14. Orange Bastard is a stupid motherfucker. Piss on that fucking turd.

[czarjak]

16. Dictators do deadly deeds.

[The Wizard]

17. The Mediocre (formerly Supreme ) Court

gave Trump immunity. Giving an arch criminal the golden ticket nullifies the law. We are a lawless nation on the precipice of chaos.