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The White House punched back at Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Wednesday after the progressive mayor claimed President Donald Trump neglected compensation for descendants of formerly enslaved Black Americans while favoring the wealthy.
Johnson appeared on the “Native Land Pod” podcast Sunday to discuss his administration’s crime-reduction efforts in Chicago, where violent crime rates have fallen sharply, according to the Johnson administration and Chicago Police Department data.
Speaking with hosts Angela Rye, Bakari Sellers, and Andrew Gillum, Johnson argued that public safety “has to be something more than just policing,” highlighting city investments in “mental behavioral healthcare, promoting detectives, and expanding and investing in CVI (community violence intervention).”
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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and President Donald Trump have butted heads over law and order in the blue city. (Scott Olson/Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The podcast hosts turned to a recent Truth Social post by Trump targeting Illinois leadership over crime.
“Chicago is suffering an unprecedented and particularly violent crime wave that is getting worse by the day,” Trump posted on Oct. 6. “The Federal Government can extinguish it quickly and completely, but the Mayor of Chicago, or the Governor of Illinois, must ask for our help. What is wrong with them? Why aren’t they asking? TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! President DJT.”
Johnson pushed back against the president’s statement, alleging Trump enriched wealthy Americans while ignoring the demands of “descendants of the formerly enslaved.”
“He’s so sorry. It’s real pathetic, right, because it’s so disingenuous … This is the president who just released the largest upward transfer of wealth into the hands of the ultrarich at the expense of the demands of those of us who are descendants of the formerly enslaved,” Johnson said.
“The largest upward transfer of wealth at the expense of education, housing, health care, transportation, good-paying jobs, which literally were all the demands of the formerly enslaved,” he added.
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While President Trump didn’t name Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson personally, the Illinois Democrat has been vehemently against reforms imposed by the Trump administration in the Windy City. (Joseph Weiser/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Johnson also said Trump “cut [the] violence prevention budget by 800 million dollars,” slamming the president for being concerned “about the wrong borders” as illegal weapons pour into Chicago.
“He cut the ATF budget by 30%. My local police department has worked in tandem with the AFT to get illegal weapons off the streets of Chicago. This year alone, we have removed almost 9000 illegal weapons off the street.”
The White House dismissed Johnson’s claims and called on the mayor to focus on local public safety.
“Government programs that dole out money based on race are illegal,” a White House spokesperson told Digital on Wednesday. “Chicago would be better served if Mayor Johnson focused more on lowering his city’s homicide rate instead of advocating for divisive, unconstitutional government action.”
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According to the mayor’s office, Chicago has seen notable drops in violent crime since Johnson took office in May 2023, including double-digit decreases in homicides, shootings, and overall violent crime.
Chicago has “achieved historic double-digit decreases in crime and violence” in 2025, a spokesperson for Johnson told Digital, and is on track to see even further decreases in violent crime in 2026, with homicides down 3.8%, shootings down 1.3%, and robberies down 20.9% from the same period last year.
While Johnson did not explicitly use the word “reparations” during the interview, a spokesperson pointed Digital to the city’s reparations initiatives.
Johnson previously signed an executive order establishing a 40-member reparations task force intended to address “historical harms committed against Black Chicagoans and their ancestors.”
In March, Johnson announced the “Repair Chicago” public engagement initiative aimed at gathering lived experiences from Black residents to inform future municipal policy and direct equity measures.
The push for reparations in the region comes as the federal government ramps up legal scrutiny of local programs. Nearby Evanston, Illinois, launched a first-of-its-kind reparations program in 2021 offering $25,000 grants to eligible Black residents or their direct descendants for housing and home repairs, funded by local taxes on legal recreational marijuana sales.
To date, Evanston has distributed more than $7 million of an allotted $20 million fund. Earlier this year, the city’s Reparations Committee cleared an additional wave of funding for 44 residents.
However, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) has signaled plans to challenge race-conscious distribution models. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division previously told Digital that local officials pushing these measures are “virtue signaling” to win votes.
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A White House spokesperson pushed back on Mayor Johnson’s reparations demands, in comments to Digital. (Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images)
Federal intervention is expanding elsewhere as well. In September last year, the DOJ warned officials in Buncombe County, North Carolina, that it would investigate potential civil rights violations if local leaders approved recommendations from the Asheville-Buncombe Community Reparations Commission.
Responding to Johnson’s remarks on the podcast, White House Spokeswoman Allison Schuster emphasized that the administration remains committed to dismantling race-based initiatives.
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“President Trump was resoundingly elected with a mandate to end divisive, racist policies and restore merit and efficiency,” Schuster told Digital. “DEI ran rampant during the Biden Administration, and Americans ultimately paid the price for these destructive policies with a restricted labor pool, higher operational costs, and workforce inefficiencies. The Trump Administration will always promote equal treatment under the law for every American, regardless of race or ethnicity.”
