Chicago Braces After Trump Threatens 'War'

After President Trump threatened the city with war, then appeared to retreat, Chicago prepared Sunday for the arrival of federal troops. Residents protested on Saturday and heard sermons about how to handle the intervention on Sunday. Developments include:

• Presidential post: Trump put a message entitled "Chipocalypse Now," a reference to the 1979 film "Apocalypse Now" on social media on Saturday. The images included helicopters, flames, and the Chicago skyline, the New York Times reports. "Chicago about to find out why it's called the Department of WAR," the post said.

• Rephrased: Asked Sunday at the White House if he was threatening Chicago with war, Trump answered: "We're not going to war. We're going to clean up our cities." He also called NBC News reporter Yamiche Alcindor's question "fake news" and told her to "be quiet," per WMAQ.
• Response: "The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city," Illinois Gov. JD Pritzker posted. "This is not a joke. This is not normal." Appearing on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday, Trump's border czar argued that the war comment was "taken out of context," per the Times. Tom Homan said the administration is "going to war with the criminal cartels; we're going to war with illegal aliens, public safety threats."

• Protest: Crowds heard speakers and marched down Michigan Avenue on Saturday, per WMAQ. Marchers carried signs reading "No ICE, No Trump, No Troops" and "ICE out of Chicago." The Rev. Ciera Bates-Chamberlain told the crowd: "Trump has spent billions on federal guards and the militarization of our community, pouring money into weapons and intimidation instead of investing in schools, hospitals, jobs, and housing. He has stripped us of vital resources meant to help us live, only to use them to try to break our spirits."
• In church: At New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, the Rev. Marshall Hatch counseled the predominately Black congregation on Sunday about what to do if troops arrive, per the AP. "You need to start telling people about your whereabouts, so you don't disappear," Hatch said. "We're not going to despair. We're not going to feel threatened. We're not going to give up and give in to fascism and authoritarianism." Congregations at other churches received similar messages, including advice to carry necessary documents. "It feels like anything can happen at any moment," said the Rev. Paco Amador of New Life Community Church in the largely Mexican Little Village neighborhood. "It would be irresponsible not to talk about this."