Greetings and welcome to the current developments in US politics. We start with the news that a limited contingent of National Guard troops has begun guarding federal property in the Chicago area and supporting police operations in Memphis on Wednesday, as confirmed by authorities.
Troop Information
An unit of two hundred Texas military personnel were operating in the Chicago area, according to a spokesperson for the US Northern Command, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity in order to reveal mission specifics that have not been officially released.
The troops are in the city to secure US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities and other government properties and police officers, Northern Command said online.
The troops, along with about three hundred Illinois personnel, had reached on Tuesday at a US Army Reserve Center in Elwood, 55 miles southwest of Chicago. All 500 troops are under the Northern Command and have been deployed for 60 days. The spokesperson wasn't able to quickly provide information about how the personnel were equipped.
Political Context
It coincides with Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the imprisonment of Brandon Johnson, Chicago's mayor, and JB Pritzker, the state governor, charging them of not protecting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
"Chicago Mayor should be in jail for not protecting Ice Officers!" Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker also!"
Both the mayor and governor are members of the Democratic party. Trump's remarks coincide with national guard troops have begun arriving in the Greater Chicago region at the order of the Trump administration, despite opposition from state authorities, including the governor and mayor.
Other Updates
- The president announced that Hamas and Israel have accepted a provisional agreement to cease hostilities in Gaza, and free captured individuals and detained persons.
- Reports about the Gaza agreement was praised by GOP legislators, who called on Trump to be awarded the Nobel Peace prize this week, but received with greater caution by Arab-American communities.
- During presidential gathering, Trump seemed unfamiliar with the term 'Habeas Corpus' and referred to Kristi Noem. In May, the secretary gave a highly incorrect definition of the core legal principle that requires that the authorities provide a public reason for arresting and jailing people.
- All of the participants who contributed testimony at the White House "antifa roundtable" hosted by the president on Wednesday were self-described independent journalists who might better be called political content creators. The influencers report on liberal demonstrations in a highly political manner, more akin to opposition research than neutral journalism.
- Senate Republicans rejected a military authorization measure that would have limited Trump's authority to use deadly military force against alleged narcotics traffickers after opposition party tried to counter the government's extraordinary use of the armed forces to eliminate vessels in the Caribbean Sea.
- During the White House "political discussion" on Wednesday, at least one witness echoed Trump's false claim that large numbers of people have been murdered by political extremists in the Oregon city. The accurate count of fatal incidents by political activists in Portland is: one.
