Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson said President Trump's continued suggestion that he'll order the National Guard troops into the city is another reflection of what he called "the illness of militarism" ... and forcefully denounced claims that federal intervention is needed.
Reporters have asked the mayor for weeks about the prospect of military forces being sent to the city ... and for weeks, he's answered with numbers showing reductions in violent crime - and a commitment to continue, as he puts it, investing in people.
But when asked at City Hall Tuesday afternoon what else the city and state have to offer to people concerned about violence, he grew visibly and audibly frustrated.
"I get so sick and tired of people in this country and in this city who believe that the only thing you can offer black people and poor people is jails, incarcerations and police officers," said the mayor.
He said no one ever said a word about sending federal troops into the city in the 1990s, when the murder tally was higher than it is now, and insisted that the military is an answer to a question that no one's asking.
"No one has asked me to send federal troops into this city to make it safe. It has never come up," he continued. "The fact of the matter is that we are driving violent crime down in this city, and we are using every resource that's available to us. Jails and incarcerations and law enforcement is a sickness that has not led to safer communities. "
He says people want jobs, mental health care and affordable housing, and that's what he says he and his administration are delivering.