Trump’s Chicago ‘carnage’ tweet a good start, but not enough

So, I arise to learn that President Trump tweeted the following last night: “If Chicago doesn’t fix the horrible “carnage” going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!”

If Chicago doesn’t fix the horrible “carnage” going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017

As I have read several articles about the tweet, I feel compelled to pose the following questions and answers.

1. Is Trump right about the carnage?

Yes, he is. Chicago, like most major cities, has far too many young Americans dying to senseless violence each day. More Americans die from gun violence at home than in theaters of war abroad, which is ridiculously reprehensible.

2. What does “send in the Feds” entail?

It is hard to glean understanding from the 144 characters allowable by Twitter — the preferred vehicle for Trumpian expression — but I assume that Trump means that he would consider mobilizing the Illinois National Guard to impose some form of martial law in Chicago.

3. Could martial law work?

{mosads}In the city that some call “Chiraq” because of the wanton violence, death and mayhem, I believe that martial law would work because most of the young men who shoot at each other and kill innocent bystanders each day would never squeeze off a shot against well-armed members of the armed forces.

Having represented in court or watched my fair share of misguided young men who use weapons to rob and kill — and seen them cry real tears when judges sentence them to 25 to life — I know most of these types ain’t ’bout that shooting-at-the-military life.

4. Should Trump impose martial law?

Having watched murder rates in Chicago rise and fall over the past two decades, I have called for martial law during the George W. Bush era and again during the Obama era.

Now, I am not now nor ever will I be a fan of Trump, but I am reasonable enough to recognize that there may be times in which he proposes a measure or does something that I will agree with — like the executive order pulling America out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership the other day.

This is another time where I would agree with some move to further police the streets of Chicago to help protect the many good and innocent people who are trapped in this vicious cycle of violent criminal activity.

5. Is martial law enough?

Hell no! To think that military/police force alone would solve the murder rates shows a complete lack of understanding of — or a conscious disregard for — the roots of the problem.

Under-resourced schools that feature underpaid teachers and administrators tend to produce underperforming students who eventually drop out. Upon dropping out, many of these kids become trapped in a vicious cycle of crime and violence because they lack the education or job skills to obtain meaningful employment.

If Trump wants to “send in the Feds” when he mobilizes the military, he needs to mobilize his business industry cronies to help establish teacher merit pay bonuses to attract and/or retain talented teachers while investing in job training programs, all the while insisting that his Republican-controlled Congress implement measures to help stimulate jobs by providing low-interest loans to entrepreneurs in Chicago who want to expand existing businesses or create new ones, and pushing for deep tax cuts for businesses who relocate in the area or other major urban areas.

If Trump pushes for military mobilization and eschews any efforts to address the deeper root issues of low education and no job prospects, then the violence will stop for a time to only begin anew once Trump or some successor president moves the troops out of the city.

6. What is Trump’s political angle?

Does Trump really care about Chicago or inner-city violence? I do not know Trump personally but I do know that football Hall of Famer Jim Brown and comedian Steve Harvey are two black celebrities who have suggested that Trump seemed genuinely concerned about America’s inner cities.

Of all of the black folks who have met with Trump to date — the ones that Morehouse College professor and fellow political commentator Marc Lamont Hill called “Mediocre Negroes,” warts and all — neither Brown nor Harvey have been “mediocre” with respect to the issue of ameliorating conditions for lower-income blacks. Giving them the benefit of the doubt in their assessments of this one issue, there is evidence, then, that urban renewal is something that Trump intends to address.

But the cynic in me thinks that Chicago is being chosen by Trump as the city to focus his attention because it is his predecessor’s hometown and led by Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D), President Obama’s former chief of staff.

I suspect that if Trump does the minimal, as I suspect — which is to mobilize the National Guard to establish “order” — and if there is a precipitous drop in the murder rates over the next two years, he will use that to convince Republicans and moderate to conservative leaning independent whites that he cares about the ‘hood and did something that President Obama could have done but chose not to.

Chuck Hobbs is a lawyer and award-winning freelance writer who is a regular contributor to The Hill. Hobbs has been featured in The New York Times and theGrio in addition to numerous regional newspapers. Follow him on Twitter @RealChuckHobbs.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.