AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R) criticized President Donald Trump for green-lighting the deployment of the Texas National Guard to Illinois, where state and local officials have resisted such deployments.
Under the pretext of fighting crime, Trump has deployed the National Guard in multiple cities governed by Democrats. That includes Chicago, which Trump has cast as a dystopian hellhole in desperate need of extreme measures. Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) volunteered his state’s National Guard, members of which began arriving in Chicago this week. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) and other officials in the state are challenging the deployment in court.
In an interview with The New York Times published on Thursday, Stitt, who is the chair of the National Governors Association, criticized the deployment.
“We believe in the federalist system — that’s states’ rights,” the governor said. “Oklahomans would lose their mind if Pritzker in Illinois sent troops down to Oklahoma during the Biden administration.”
Stitt said that while he supports Trump’s efforts to reduce crime and illegal immigration, using the National Guard to do so sets a bad example.
“I was surprised that Governor Abbott sent troops from Texas to Illinois,” the governor said. “Abbott and I sued the Biden administration when the shoe was on the other foot and the Biden administration was trying to force us to vaccinate all of our soldiers and force masks across the country.”
The governor added, “As a federalist believer, one governor against another governor, I don’t think that’s the right way to approach this.”
The comments appear to be the first criticism of National Guard deployments from a Republican governor. Pritzker and California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) have floated the idea of leaving the National Governors Association if it continues to remain silent on the issue.
The post GOP Governor Pushes Back on Trump Deploying Texas National Guard in Illinois: ‘I Don’t Think That’s the Right Way’ first appeared on Mediaite.
