Former President Barack Obama has weighed in on President Donald Trump’s latest escalation — sharply condemning the president’s call to jail Chicago’s mayor and Illinois’ governor for opposing his deployment of National Guard troops to the city.
Speaking on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast released Monday, Obama accused Trump of “politicizing the military” and warned that the deployment of troops to U.S. cities is “inherently corrupting” when used against civilians.
“When you have military that can direct force against their own people, that is inherently corrupting,” Obama said, adding that Trump’s moves represent “a deliberate end run around” laws barring domestic military policing.
Obama’s remarks came after Trump publicly lashed out at Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson for resisting the National Guard deployment — going so far as to demand their arrests.
Both Pritzker and Johnson have stoked the ire of the president after making a hardline pushback to Trump’s concerted efforts to expand his violent crime and immigration crackdown.
“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!” Trump wrote on TruthSocial.
Both elected officials took to social media to vilify Trump’s threat to arrest them.
“This is not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested. I’m not going anywhere,” Johnson posted on X.
“I will not back down. Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power. What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?” Pritzker also wrote on X.
Trump recently ordered the mobilization of hundreds of National Guard troops in Chicago, who have already raided parts of the city looking to curtail crime and arrest undocumented immigrants.
Residents in the South Shore community of Chicago called an overnight federal operation on their building violent, ruthless, and destructive after their doors were broken down and they were dragged out of their homes in zip ties, and detained for hours in vans without knowing the reason behind the raid.
ICE agents reported that they targeted the building to search for members of a Venezuelan gang. They arrested 37 people.
Federal officers have also clashed with protesters and journalists in demonstrations across the city.
In response, Johnson signed an executive order prohibiting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from operating on city-owned property, including public schools and parks, according to reports from The Associated Press.
The order does not direct Chicago police to confront ICE agents who violate the directive, but does open avenues for the city’s legal teams to take offending agents to court.
Johnson said the order was an attempt to rein in a “rogue administration.”
Gov. Pritzker has already launched a legal battle against the Trump administration for deploying the troops, arguing that the president’s efforts unlawfully encroach on the state’s sovereignty.
Obama, citing those very concerns, referenced the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act — which restricts federal military involvement in domestic law enforcement — warning that Trump’s actions “weaken how we have understood democracy.”
“We don’t want masked folks with rifles and machine guns patrolling our streets,” Obama said. “We want cops on the beat who know the neighborhood and the kids around and that’s how we keep the peace.”
Since returning to office, Trump has sent troops to Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Memphis. Orders for Portland and Chicago remain in limbo after court rulings paused the deployments.
Critics have noted that his threats to jail or criminally investigate politicians who oppose his agenda are nothing new. Trump has dubbed those who have prosecuted his companies or made outright objections to his initiatives as political adversaries, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey.
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