It's Obvious Why Chicago Politicians Hate What Donald Trump Says About The City
Authored by Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner via Wirepoints.org,
Presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump is in Chicago Tuesday for his latest campaign stop. While neither Chicago nor Illinois is in play this election, count on him to hit Chicago’s leadership hard for their many self-inflicted crises when he addresses the Economic Club of Chicago.
Trump has been highly critical of Chicago in the past, calling crime in the city “embarrassing to us as a nation” and “worse than some of the places…in the Middle East where you have wars going on.” He’s also decried its migrant policies: “New York City and Chicago play the Sanctuary City card, where criminals are protected…”
His rhetoric on Chicago can often be nasty and over the top, but it’s not wrong. Too many Chicagoans experience the high-crime, low-literacy, high-tax, low-opportunity version of Chicago – which we detail below – and which Trump is likely to point at. But because it’s Trump talking, expect the media and connected class to deflect or even deny that the city’s problems exist.
Their denials should anger many of the ordinary Chicagoans who live with the impact of these problems every day. There are the residents who feel threatened living in the nation’s long-running homicide capital – polls show nearly two-thirds of Chicagoans don’t feel safe from crime. There are the black residents who’ve made their voices heard in multiple hearings, frustrated by the attention and billions in financial and healthcare resources directed towards the city’s illegal immigrants. And there are parents who feel their children’s education is secondary to the extreme demands of the Chicago Teachers Union – one reason why 110,000 black children have fled the public school system since 2000.
Most of these problems have been inflicted by the city’s political class. They’ve stopped prosecuting many criminals. Most students aren’t taught to read or do math proficiently. Fiscal failures have the city, CPS and the regional transit authority all stuck with near one-billion-dollar deficits. And all of that mess is wrapped up in endemic political corruption, of which former Ald. Ed Burke and former House Speaker Mike Madigan are just the latest examples.
Chicagoans’ concerns have merit, and the failures of the city’s politicians deserve to be discussed. If the Economic Club of Chicago was to have an open, honest conversation about the city with Trump, here are five key goals that should get deeper attention:
1. Start arresting, prosecuting and sentencing again. Protect victims, make crime criminal.
If not, Chicago will likely continue to lead the nation in total homicides as it has for the last 12 years. If this year’s murder trend stays on track, it will be 13 years in a row. Overall violent crime will also continue to threaten Chicagoans. Through August of this year, violent crimes were running at a six-year high, over and above the jump in violent crimes last year.
2. Bring back literacy and numeracy. Set ambitious proficiency targets, make those targets public, and then aggressively track and report progress to all Chicago parents. And begin the nation’s most ambitious school choice program.
If not, Chicago Public Schools will continue to fail the city’s children. Just 20% of minority children at CPS are proficient in reading and they all get moved along the system, grade after grade, until they’re pushed out via graduation. It’s been happening for decades.
The most recent years show that 70% to 80% of black students graduated from CPS, though just 10% to 15% were proficient on the SAT. It’s similar for the city’s Hispanics.
3. Obsess about economic growth and job creation. Reduce spending. Cut taxes. Tackle corruption with ethics reforms. Make Chicago attractive, affordable to job creators.
If not, Chicago will continue to suffer a poor jobs climate. Chicagoland, as recently as June, had the highest unemployment rate – 6.2% – out of all big metro areas nationwide.
For the city’s black community it’s far worse. Chicago’s black unemployment rate, at 12.3%, was the worst among the country’s biggest cities in 2023. And the poverty rate for Chicago’s black residents – 26.4% – was also the highest among big cities as well.
4. Support and prioritize Chicago’s citizens. End the city’s sanctuary status.
If not, Chicago will continue to spend hundreds of millions on the city’s illegal migrants each year, stretching the city’s finances and making it worse for citizens most in need. It’s simply not sustainable for a city that’s one notch away from a junk credit rating, and a school district that’s already junk.
Illinois has already spent more than $2 billion dollars on “welcoming” programs, including healthcare for recent arrivals. The costs are far larger when what’s spent on all illegal immigrants is included.
5. Obsess about attracting people to Chicago again. Fixing the problems of crime, education and jobs is just the start. Combined with reforms, Chicago can grow its way out of its many problems.
If not, the city will continue to lose people. Chicago and Detroit are the only major cities, among the 15 largest cities in 2000, to lose population since then.
Fewer residents means higher debts and taxes on the people who remain. Those higher costs – along with the city’s many other problems – in turn drive even more people out of the city in an ever-worsening downward spiral.
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