David Axelrod Tells Pritzker What ‘Right Answer’ He Should Give Trump About Solving Chicago’s Crime Problem

Former President Barack Obama’s chief campaign strategist David Axelrod appeared on CNN’s “The Arena” Wednesday and advised Democrat Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker that his message to President Donald Trump should be to take all the “appropriate help.”

Since Trump’s suggestion on Aug. 22 that he would consider sending the National Guard to crack down on Chicago’s crime, Pritzker and Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson have repeatedly pushed back against the aid that Trump is offering. While discussing Pritzker’s “political performance” from Tuesday, CNN’s Kasie Hunt asked Axelrod for his reaction and mentioned how the Democrat governor’s response to Trump appears to set up his potential presidential campaign for 2028. (RELATED: DC Mayor Orders Local Cooperation With Federal Crime Crackdown)

“Yeah, and look, I have a lot of respect for JB Pritzker, but I think there is — I would be careful about playing 2028 politics on this issue because the right answer is, ‘We’ll take all the help we can get as long as it’s appropriate help, as long as it’s stuff that will really help.’ I mean, these National Guardsmen aren’t even trained to do that work. They’re not authorized to do that work,” Axelrod said.

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“So, you know, ‘Send us the resources that we need. We want to work with you. If there are people doing violent crimes here who are illegal immigrants, we want them out of our city. We’ll work with you on that.’ I think that’s the appropriate position to take,” Axelrod added.

Pritzker and Johnson have held multiple press conferences claiming that Chicago residents don’t want the National Guard to help reduce the city’s crime rate. In his press conference, held Tuesday, Pritzker said the city has already started to address its crime problem by investing in things like adding more law enforcement officers, mental health support and community intervention programs.

Some Chicago residents, however, have already begun to speak out against their leaders, asking that Trump bring in the National Guard.

In an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Aug. 25, Chicago resident and Chicago Flips Red co-founder Danielle Carter-Walters dared both Pritzker and Johnson to tour the south side of the city without their security details. She also described some of the incidents that residents have had to deal with due to high crime. In another interview with NewsNation, one Chicago resident, Jedidiah Brown, told the outlet that people in the city are living in “fear” due to all of the criminal activity.

Police data through Aug. 16 shows homicides in the city down 25% compared to 2023. There have been 474 homicides over the last 12 months, while the yearly average between 2021 and 2023 hit 722, according to ABC7 Chicago. Additionally, PBS affiliate WTTW reported that aside from June 2014, no other June has had fewer than 40 murders in Chicago since at least 1970.

The suggestion of aiding Chicago comes after Trump sent troops to Washington, D.C., on Aug. 11 and invoked Section 40 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act. Since the federal takeover of the nation’s capital, a total of 1,669 arrests have been made with 168 illegal guns seized, according to U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro on Tuesday.

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