Axelrod Comments On Pritzker
It’s an old story with a fresh coat of political varnish: a city plagued by crime, a federal offer of aid, and Democratic leadership more concerned with appearances than outcomes. This time, it’s Chicago in the spotlight—and the script is playing out with almost theatrical precision.
Former Obama campaign architect David Axelrod, no stranger to political stagecraft, appeared on CNN’s The Arena to offer Governor JB Pritzker a little coaching. His advice? Take the help. Or at least say you’ll take the help—as long as you can qualify it with enough bureaucratic language to avoid looking like you actually agreed with Donald Trump.
The problem is that Trump didn’t propose anything outlandish. He suggested, on August 22, that he’d consider sending in the National Guard to assist with crime reduction in Chicago—a city that has, for years, been a national symbol of urban violence. This wasn’t a threat. It was a solution, or at the very least, a serious offer. And for that, he was met with knee-jerk resistance from both Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Pritzker’s response? More programs. More spending. More committees. And a talking point about how the people of Chicago don’t want the National Guard in their neighborhoods. But do they?
Danielle Carter-Walters, a south side resident and co-founder of Chicago Flips Red, dared Pritzker and Johnson to walk through her neighborhood without armed security. And in a separate interview, local resident Jedidiah Brown made it plain: people in the city are living in fear.
That fear is not theoretical. It is lived. Daily. In neighborhoods where gunfire replaces fireworks and police presence is scarce unless there’s a press camera nearby.
To his credit, Axelrod attempted a middle ground—acknowledging the seriousness of the crisis while urging caution in how it’s handled. “We’ll take all the help we can get… as long as it’s appropriate,” he said, before pointing out that the National Guard isn’t trained for urban policing. That may be technically accurate, but it ignores the political and symbolic weight of doing something. Right now, Chicago’s leadership appears to be doing everything except accepting help from the wrong president.
And yet, the data tells a complicated story. Homicides are down 25% compared to 2023, with 474 recorded in the last year—a significant improvement from the 722 average between 2021 and 2023. But “less horrific” is not the same as “safe,” and record-breaking murder totals over the past decade have conditioned residents not to trust statistics.
What Axelrod, Pritzker, and Johnson seem to underestimate is just how exhausted everyday citizens are with policy nuance. People aren’t parsing deployment protocol or federal statutes. They’re watching their neighborhoods fall apart. And if that means accepting help from Trump? Many would say: send the troops.