MAGA governors and lawmakers fawn over Trump, plead for federal crackdown on their cities

WASHINGTON, DC: Red state leaders aren’t just cheering for President Donald Trump’s National Guard deployments — they’re practically rolling out the red carpet for tanks and boots on their own streets.

In just three months, the commander-in-chief has already shipped thousands of troops to Los Angeles and Washington, DC, and he’s openly mulling which city is next. His choice targets are Democrat-run strongholds like Chicago and Baltimore, but he's now gunning for New Orleans.

Louisiana Gov Jeff Landry wants troops from 'New Orleans to Shreveport'

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry isn’t just tolerating the idea, he’s celebrating it. “We will take President Donald Trump’s help from New Orleans to Shreveport!” Landry declared last week on X (formerly Twitter).

Shreveport is tucked away in the northwest corner of Louisiana and happens to be the state’s third-largest city, but Landry is clearly thinking statewide. He doubled down at a press conference on Wednesday, September 3, marking the launch of “Louisiana Lockdown,” a brand-new immigration detention facility at a notoriously tough state prison.

“President Trump is focused on getting control of our cities, but not doing it the way past presidents and other administrations have done, where it’s temporary. What he wants to see is permanent safety for Americans,” the governor said.

He wasn’t alone. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill also slammed local Democrats for resisting Trump’s show of force.

“Whether it’s the January 1 terror attack, the Orleans Parish Jail escape, no one monitoring ankle monitors, or countless other failures — People continue to die in New Orleans because ‘leaders’ refuse to accept the resources that are available to them. If your gut reaction is to reject the President’s offer for assistance without condition, perhaps you’re the problem — not him,” Murrill said on Wednesday.

Trump's offer to send troops to New Orleans

Jeff Landry’s praises came after Donald Trump himself mused about the Big Easy as a possible next stop for the Guard.

“Do we go to Chicago or do we go to a place like New Orleans, where we have a great Governor, Jeff Landry, who wants us to come in?” Trump asked reporters in the Oval Office last week.

Naturally, Louisiana Republicans jumped on board.

House Speaker Mike Johnson told the Associated Press on Monday that he’s all for it. “New Orleans, like most Democrat-run cities, has a high crime rate, so it would be helpful.”

Senator John Kennedy was even more blunt, saying he’d be “delighted to bring in the National Guard." He told the outlet, “We need all the help we can get."

In a similar tune, Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that mayors of cities would be "glad to have the help" and that "big city Democrats are really making a mistake" by not welcoming the troops.

Democrats push back

But not everyone in Louisiana is thrilled about camo on Canal Street. “Militarizing the streets of New Orleans is not the solution for our public safety. Period,” Democratic congressman Troy Carter fired back in a Thursday letter to Trump.

Preliminary police data from August 30 shows that overall crime in New Orleans has actually dropped 20% since last August. Meanwhile, Blue state leaders in Trump’s other target cities are just as furious.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott told WYPR that his city is already weighing legal options.

“Depending on what happens, when it happens, if it happens, we’ve looked at what kind of legal actions we could take. We’ll just be prepared to do whatever we need to do in that moment,” Scott said, after a social media spat between Trump and Maryland Governor Wes Moore ended with the president threatening to send troops to Charm City.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker was also having none of it. “When did we become a country where it’s OK for the US president to insist on national television that a state should call him to beg for anything, especially something we don’t want?” Pritzker told reporters last week.

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