It’s an oddity that the owner of Chicago’s Trump International Hotel & Tower would visit the city in order to rain insults on it, but who are we to assess a real estate mogul’s marketing strategy — or political instincts?
The building owner, President Donald Trump, in a speech Monday called Chicago an embarrassment to the nation for its violent crime problem, which should sting. Except that when Trump delivers a campaign-style monologue he often veers between praise and insult, leaving behind a vapor trail of exaggerations, falsehoods and vulgarities. Trump’s fans love the straight-talk stylings he delivered Monday. Critics reacted grimly. Anyone in the middle political ground is best advised during these episodes to keep an ear out for valid policy pronouncements and discard the parts of Trump’s performance art that ring hollow.
Speaking at the annual gathering of the International Association of Chiefs of Police at McCormick Place, Trump criticized Chicago and lashed out at police Superintendent Eddie Johnson for skipping his appearance. This was Trump’s first visit to the city as president, but he’s dissed Chicago before — hotel room rates be damned — because this is not a politically friendly city to him. Claiming Chicago is soft on crime — a fallacy — allows him to sound tough without having to provide solutions.
“It’s embarrassing to us as a nation,” Trump said. “All over the world they’re talking about Chicago. Afghanistan is a safe place by comparison.” Not true as a statement of fact, but gun violence is one of Chicago’s great tragedies. Some shooting incidents have been so bloody and brazen that war zone metaphors are infuriatingly apt.
We’d welcome the president to dig into the details of Chicago’s violence and its complex roots in order to provide appropriate law enforcement support. While the Chicago Police Department already works with federal partners, Trump said he wants to help: “We’re waiting for a call from Chicago, because there’s no place we would rather help than Chicago.”
Legitimate offer? Johnson wasn’t on hand to make a determination, or to ask Trump for assistance. Johnson stayed away from the speech, saying attendance “just doesn’t line up with our city’s core values, along with my personal values.” Trump responded by calling Johnson’s values “a disgrace.” Mayor Lori Lightfoot also snubbed Trump and his “ignorant buffoonery.”
With the two sides talking past each other, Trump’s visit was easily written off as a day of political theater. The president came to Chicago to speak to a friendly audience of police chiefs and yank everyone else’s chain. Johnson and Lightfoot chose to respond with their own insults.
That’s a shame, because it’s legitimate to ask: What if Chicago, a city plagued by violence, lost an opportunity for dialogue on crime prevention with the head of the federal government?
Trump reviled the city he evidently loves to hate. Johnson and Lightfoot made known their distaste for the president. It added up to nothing.
Meanwhile, Chicago’s maddening violence continues.
— Chicago Tribune