President Donald Trump previewed Wednesday an upcoming announcement that he would act to secure some of America’s largest cities facing a surge in violence.
“Next week, we’re going to have I think a very exciting news conference because we’re talking about some of these cities where some of the Democrats running them have just lost control of the cities,” Trump said. “So that will be very interesting.”
The president spoke after receiving a law enforcement briefing from Attorney General Bill Barr about the success against MS-13 and other transnational gangs.
“We’re going to straighten things out,” Trump said, describing “out of control cities” that were “like war zones.”
Trump on Monday described cities like Chicago as “worse than Afghanistan” as several major cities are experiencing a crime wave.
The president blames the radical left, which has threatened to defund its police forces, for the rise in crime.
“Far-left mayors are escalating the anti-cop crusade, and violent crime is spiraling in their cities,” he said Monday. “It’s all far-left cities, where they have no understanding of what has to be done.”
He noted that all of the cities experiencing a rise in crime were led by the left.
“I don’t say this for political reasons. They’re all democrats; they’re liberal left-wing democrats, and it’s almost like they think this is going to be this way forever,” Trump said.
The president noted that in Chicago alone, 68 people were shot with 18 dead.
“We’re not going to put up with that,” Trump said.