Donald Trump, pretending to be a military officer from the movie Apocalypse Now, wrote the following on Saturday:

Chipocalypse now.

I love the smell of deportations in the morning . . . Chicago is about to find out why it’s called the Department of War!

The US Constitution, Article III, Section 3, Clause 1 (1789):

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them . . . .

Professor Paul Gowder, Northwestern University School of Law, (Sep. 7, 2025)

The first thing that the treason clause says about that crime is that it is constituted by levying war against the United States. I don’t understand how we can interpret that threat as anything other than a threat to levy war against a city in the United States.

The picture of an American city in flames with the statement that Chicagoans are going to see why it’s called the Department of War is a quite clear implication that it’s a threat to wage war against the city of Chicago.

See CBS News, Chicago leaders slam Trump’s “Chipocalypse Now” threat to send troops; “It’s really the act of a tyrant”

Among the thousands of idiotic, offensive, and unlawful things Trump has said, his threat to wage war on the City of Chicago—and hence the state of Illinois—has to be a contender for the worst. And that is saying a lot!

Indeed, the statement was so offensive and inappropriate that Trump has attempted to walk it back—something he almost never does.

He even relied on the odious thug Tom Homan to run interference on the Sunday talk shows, where Homan claimed that the statement was “taken out of context,” a laughable defense given that the “context” of the threat was superimposed over a graphic of a city in flames. To the extent that “context” is added, Trump’s statement becomes even more of an explicit threat to wage war on the City of Chicago.

Other Republicans are attempting to revise the statement to suggest that it was a threat to fight drug cartels and capture people breaking the law—something the statement does not say. It does refer to “deportations” and the “Department of War”— activities the Department of Defense is prohibited from engaging in by the Posse Comitatus Act.

Trump seemed to soften his bellicose rhetoric when asked about the remarks by reporters on Sunday, but he cannot erase the never-before-in-the-history-of-our-nation threat by a president to wage war on a US city and state.

It is possible that Trump has been slowed by the aggressive pushback from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and the people of Chicago.

Over the weekend, Pritzker posted

This is not a joke. This is not normal. Donald Trump isn’t a strongman; he’s a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.

And the people of Chicago made their voices heard in large protests outside Trump Tower in Chicago on Saturday. See CBS News, Chicago protesters defiant in face of Trump’s deportation threats.

If Trump deploys National Guard troops or ICE shock troops to Chicago, he should expect larger, continuous protests that will undermine the effectiveness and morale of the National Guard and ICE agents

Chicago may become the testing ground for the hypothesis that mass mobilization can shut down the actions of the federal government. Trump understands that it will take only one successful mass mobilization to prove the hypothesis that he can be stopped—if enough Americans join the ongoing grassroots efforts.

Frankly, the sooner that test materializes, the better off we will be. Trump is hinting about national emergencies surrounding the November 2026 midterms. We need to demonstrate to Trump before the midterms that there is a tipping point for the American people and that when that point is reached, Trump will be checkmated by mass mobilization at every turn.

We are bigger, more powerful, more courageous, and more dedicated than Trump. We can beat him. We are in the process of doing so. We need our protests to get bigger, louder, and more frequent. When we do that, we will stop Trump’s reign of political terror and anti-democratic rule.

The potential government shutdown at the end of September

The US is facing a potential government shutdown at the end of September. Here’s why: The federal fiscal year begins on October 1st. Congress must pass twelve appropriations bills before October 1. If it fails to do so, those portions of government that have not had their appropriations bill passed and signed into law will not be authorized to spend funds and will be forced to shut down. There are, of course, exceptions to the shutdown for “essential services.”

So, whatever happens, the “shutdown” will affect only portions of the US government. Social Security and Medicare benefits will continue unabated.

Republicans need the cooperation of Senate Democrats to pass either (a) the remaining appropriations bills (unlikely) or (b) a continuing resolution to keep the government operating at last year’s funding levels.

If neither of those options is approved by Congress (with the help of Democrats), then some portion of the government will “shut down.” See National Law Review, Potential Outcomes If Congress Misses the Federal Funding Deadline.

The question Democratic leadership will face in September is whether they will help Republicans keep the government open, as they did last March, when DOGE was in full swing. In March, congressional Democrats appeared to be caught flat-footed and in disarray. They were heavily criticized by their constituents for tacitly approving the carnage being inflicted by DOGE.

There is, therefore, a serious question about whether congressional Democrats should help Republicans keep the government open past September 30. Trump is ignoring congressional appropriations, violating the Posse Comitatus Act, using the military to engage in extrajudicial killings, imposing illegal tariffs, threatening to interfere in state control of elections, and (most recently) threatening to wage war on a US city.

If Trump is ignoring the Constitution on a daily basis, why should Democrats enable him by helping to keep the government open? Shouldn’t Democrats use their leverage to extract promises that Trump will abide by congressional appropriations, stop using the National Guard for law enforcement, stop imposing illegal tariffs, stay out of state oversight of elections, etc?

The answer to the above question should be a resounding “Yes!” Democrats must use this moment to reassert congressional control over the budget and oversight over the president. If they fail to do so, they will embolden Trump—and we should expect even greater violations of the Constitution.

There is, of course, political risk in shutting down the government. As always, there will be a tussle over who “gets the blame” for the shutdown. But congressional Democrats cannot repeat their mistake of last March. Indeed, one reason for the low favorability rating of the Democratic Party is that its leaders have failed to show sufficient courage and tenacity in standing up to Trump.

Dozens of readers sent me an op-ed by Ezra Klein of the New York Times, Stop Acting Like This Is Normal. (Accessible to all.) Klein covers the above issues (and more) in great detail. While he stops short of calling for a government shutdown, the entire structure and logic of his analysis effectively begs Democrats to shut down the government as a way of wresting back control of the government from Trump.

Ezra Klein is on my “do not bother to read” list of commentators. On many issues, he is out of touch, engaging in rococo analysis that makes sense only to those in the inner sanctum of power in Washington. But, on the merits, Klein’s arguments are worthy of serious consideration by congressional Democrats as they face a tough choice.

Still, I must take issue with one aspect of Klein’s analysis. As with nearly all commentators, he equates “Democrats” with “Democratic leaders in Congress.” He couldn’t be more wrong—or out of touch. There are about a dozen “Democratic leaders in Congress” and about 44 million “Democrats.”

While it may be marginally, directionally correct to say that some Democratic leaders in Congress have treated Trump 2.0 as if it were “normal,” not so with the 44 million Democrats across America. I urge Ezra Klein to take a month’s sabbatical and attend protests and pro-democracy rallies across America. If he does, he will start focusing on the part of the Democratic Party that will save us—the grassroots activists, the volunteers, the everyday Americans who are raising the alarm as best they can, only to watch mainstream media like The New York Times ignore them.

So, Mr. Ezra Klein, there are tens of millions of Americans who are not “acting like this is normal.” You have apparently not met them yet. But they are out there, on freeway overpasses and streetcorners and townhalls, just waiting for you to discover them. They call themselves “the resistance,” and they aren’t acting like this is normal.

Concluding Thoughts

This is how dire things are for Trump: He had planned to attend the U.S. Open as the guest of Rolex. The USTA knew that Trump would be greeted by a chorus of boos. So, the USTA asked the broadcasters to mute the crowd noise when showing Trump on screen! See The Guardian, The USTA’s censorship of Trump dissent at the US Open is cowardly, hypocritical and un-American.

Muting boos and jeers directed toward Trump is the functional equivalent of asking Texas to redraw its congressional maps because Trump knows he will lose control of the House in 2026. He knows he is wildly unpopular and is doing everything he can to forestall the consequences.

Despite Trump’s efforts, the American people will not be intimidated or silenced. We are not university presidents or law firm leaders who fear for our jobs or multi-million dollar salaries. We are Americans who care about democracy. And when caring about democracy means that we must boo our leaders to express our displeasure, we will not be silenced. See HuffPo, Trump Is Repeatedly Booed At The U.S. Open | Multiple broadcasters captured the jeers despite the USTA’s reported efforts to silence them.

Keep up the good work, everyone!

NOTE: Jill and I are back at our mountain cabin. If you received this, it means that our new internet satellite connection is working (after driving to a clearing in the trees and finishing the newsletter from my truck). Jill is on hiatus through Thursday unless we can figure out how to upload her videos (EveryDayWithJill.com)—which is tomorrow’s project!

Daily Dose of Perspective

The Cone Nebula is approximately 2,700 light-years from Earth and is 4 light-years across at its widest point.

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