U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy his newly rebranded “Department of War” to Chicago, igniting fierce backlash from state and city officials. 

The warning came via a post on Truth Social, where Trump shared an AI-generated image of himself styled after a character from the Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now, captioned: “Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR”.

The post, which also included the phrase “I love the smell of deportations in the morning,” was widely condemned by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. Both officials accused Trump of authoritarian overreach and vowed to resist any federal intervention. “The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. This is not normal,” Pritzker wrote on X.

Trump’s remarks follow an executive order signed Friday that officially renames the Department of Defense as the “Department of War,” a move he claims signals a shift toward “maximum lethality” and aggressive federal enforcement. The president has also floated plans to deploy National Guard troops and immigration agents to Chicago, citing crime and illegal immigration, despite data showing a decline in violent crime across the city.

Legal experts and civil rights advocates warn that such deployments could violate the Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts the use of military forces in domestic law enforcement. Meanwhile, protests have erupted in Chicago, with demonstrators blocking federal facilities and demanding the protection of civil liberties.

As tensions mount, Illinois officials are preparing legal challenges and executive measures to block any federal incursion. Mayor Johnson has already signed an order instructing local police not to cooperate with federal immigration raids, calling the president’s threats “beneath the honor of our nation”.

This unfolding confrontation raises urgent questions about the limits of presidential authority, the politicization of federal power, and the future of democratic governance in America.