Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough was left visibly frustrated during Tuesday’s show when the progressive mayor of Chicago repeatedly refused to answer his question about policing the city.
The MSNBC star asked Mayor Brandon Johnson whether sending federal troops to Chicago would help reduce crime in the Windy City.
The testy exchange came after President Donald Trump said he would send federal troops to Chicago following the deployment of more than 2,000 National Guard members to Washington, D.C.
While Scarborough wanted a yes or no response from the mayor, Johnson evaded the question five times, repeatedly replying that policing alone is not the solution to tackling crime.
‘I’m asking would 5,000 more police officers on the street in Chicago be helpful to go along with all of those social programs that a lot of cities are engaging in and having success with?’ Scarborough asked.
Johnson fired back by saying that ‘we had 3,000 more police officers’ in the 1990s and ‘900 people [were] being murdered every single year in Chicago’.
Scarborough conceded that policing alone was not a solution before asking Johnson again if he believed the streets of Chicago would be safer if there were more uniformed police officers on the streets.
But Johnson deflected again, saying he believed Chicago would be safer ‘if we actually had affordable housing’.
Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough, seen with wife and co-host Mika Brzezinski, was frustrated Tuesday when Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson refused to answer a policing question with a yes or no answer
Mayor Johnson refused to answer whether sending federal troops to Chicago would help bring down crime in the Windy City
Trump said the Windy City would be ‘next’ target of his efforts to crack down on crime
‘That’s not the question I asked!’ an exasperated Scarborough responded, before asking again whether ‘5,000 more cops’ would make Chicago safer.
Johnson replied: ‘I don’t believe that we should narrow it down to just police officers… What I’m saying, that is an antiquated approach.’
Scarborough then told the mayor he agreed that social programs were also important in combatting crime, but continued to press him.
‘Are you hearing what I’m saying?’ Scarborough asked, before repeating the question.
But Johnson went back to his default response, telling Scarborough: ‘I don’t believe that just simply putting out an arbitrary number around police officers is the answer.
‘What I’m saying is policing and affordable housing. It’s policing and mental and behavioral health care services. It’s policing and youth employment. It’s a full package.’
On Friday, Trump said Chicago would likely be the next target of his efforts to crack down on crime, homelessness and illegal immigration.
He singled out the city, calling it a ‘mess’ and saying residents there are ‘screaming for us to come’ despite significant decreases in crimes of violence this year.
Trump has claimed victory in his deployment of National Guard troops to Washington D.C.
Johnson previously scoffed at Trump’s remarks. He conceded there was a crime spike in Chicago during the Covid-19 pandemic but hailed the city’s ‘historic progress driving down homicides by more than 30 percent and shootings by almost 40 percent in the last year alone’.
Johnson called Trump’s approach ‘uncoordinated, uncalled for, and unsound,’ arguing it ‘has the potential to inflame tensions between residents and law enforcement’.
It is unclear how Trump would pursue an effort in Chicago that is similar to his approach to D.C., where home rule laws give the federal government greater authority.
Meanwhile, in a post on X entitled ‘Things People are Begging For,’ Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, included cheaper groceries, no cuts to Medicaid or food aid for low-income families, and the release of federally held files on Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex trafficker and former Trump associate.
What they are not begging for, Pritzker continued, is ‘an authoritarian power grab of major cities’.
Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate’s number two Democrat, called Trump’s Washington, D.C. strategy ‘political theater.’
He said Chicago is ‘a beautiful, vibrant city with people from all walks of life’ and suggested pursuing ‘proven bipartisan solutions’ toward further crime reduction.
‘These unprecedented threats from President Trump are nothing more than a power grab to distract from his disastrous policies,’ Durbin said in a statement.
Additionally, Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Army National Guard combat veteran, criticized what she called Trump’s misuse of the military to ‘intimidate Americans in our own communities.’
