Trump to send national guard to Memphis and says Chicago is ‘probably next’

Donald Trump on Monday announced that he was sending in the national guard and other federal authorities into Memphis, in a “replica” of the administration’s expanding military-led response to urban crime in Democratic-run cities.

Announcing the taskforce in an Oval Office meeting, Trump vowed to end the “savagery” and said Chicago was “probably next”.

“We’re going to fix that just like we did Washington,” Trump said.

The move was welcome by Tennessee’s Republican governor, Bill Lee, who stood behind Trump in the Oval Office as he signed a presidential memo establishing a Memphis Safe Task Force.

“I’m tired of crime holding the great city of Memphis back,” Lee said. “I want to say thank you.”

Trump told Lee that the crime-fighting crackdown “will be your proudest moment”.

Trump was also joined by the state’s Republican senators, Marsha Blackburn and Hagerty.

Trump deployed national guard troops to Washington last month and federalized the city’s police force to “crack down” on crime in the nation’s capitol. Violent crime was already at a 30-year low in the city.

Speculation had centered on Chicago as Trump’s next city to send in the national guard and other federal authorities. But the administration has faced fierce resistance from Illinois’s Democratic governor, JB Pritzker, and the city’s Democratic leaders.

Trump also said he would consider sending troops into St Louis and New Orleans. “We want to save these places,” he said.