Donald Trump threatens Chicago with “war” using AI images inspired by “Apocalypse”

You need to know

• Donald Trump used an AI image that appears to threaten “war” in Chicago on September 6th. This image portrayed him as a character from Robert Duval Apocalypse now

• JB Pretzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson immediately fought back against the president

• “We're not going to war, we're going to clean the city,” Trump told reporters, working on a true social post on September 7th

Donald Trump is again using AI caricatures to share a strong message.

On Saturday, September 6th, the 79-year-old president posted an AI-generated image of a true society, along with a threatening message directed at the city of Chicago. The image is inspired Apocalypse nowdirected by Francis Ford Coppola, shows Trump as the character of Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore's Robert Duval.

Coppola's 1979 film takes place in South Vietnam and Cambodia during the Vietnam War era, but Trump's AI parody depicts Chicago, with the city skyline painted a helicopter. In the image, the president is also taller on the city's beaches covered in fire and smoke, appearing to mimic the active war zone.

Trump accompanied AI Image.Chipocalypse now”), a threatening message, nods to his plan to take the National Guard to Chicago.

“Chicago is trying to find out why it's called the Department of War 🚁🚁🚁🚁🚁” reads as a reference to Trump's plan to rebrand the Department of Defense. The caption also nods to Trump's aggressive ongoing immigration enforcement campaign. Apocalypse now.

“I love the smell of morning deportation…” Post said. (The original quote was published by Duvall, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”)

The obvious threat arises, as Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker warns Chicago residents of a surge in ice agents in the city, according to ABC 7 Chicago. The governor, who is a Trump voice opponent, said there could be up to 300 ice agents in Chicago this weekend, citing local officials, the outlet reported.

It didn't take long after Trump shared the posts of Pretzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.

“The US president is threatening to go to war with American cities. This is no joke. This is not normal,” Pretzker wrote to X.

Meanwhile, Johnson wrote: “The president's threat lies under the honor of our nation, but the reality is that he wants to occupy our city and break the constitution. We must protect democracy from this authoritarianism by protecting each other and protecting Chicago from Donald Trump.”

Since sharing AI photos and messages, Trump has insisted that he has not threatened war. “We're not going to war, we're going to clean the cities,” the president told reporters on Sunday, September 7th, according to ABC 7 Chicago.

“We'll clear them, so they don't kill every five people every weekend,” Trump added. “It's not war. It's common sense.”

Trump first announced the acquisition of the DC Metropolitan Police Department on August 11, informing reporters that he is deploying National Guard to take control of police, fight crime and target the city's homeless population. He then promoted DC's arrest numbers and shared plans to expand the program to US cities in other blue states, including Chicago, Baltimore and New York City.

“The people in Chicago are yelling… we should come,” Trump told reporters on August 22. “As you know, I did great with the Black vote. They want something to happen… so I think Chicago will be our next one, and we're going to help New York.”

Trump said on September 2 there were no concrete plans to send the troops to Chicago yet, but he told reporters, “Well, we're going. When did I say? He also took a shot with a Pretzker, saying that the governor should ask him for help after gun violence in Chicago left several deaths over Labor Day weekend.

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A few hours later, Pretzker returned to Trump at a press conference. “When did the US president become a ok country for them to insist on national television that the state should ask him to ask him for something? The governor of Illinois said. “Have we really lost all of the sanity in this country? Are we treating this as normal?”

“There is no emergency that guarantees the deployment of the troops. He is shaming the people of Chicago by calling our homes hell. Anyone who takes away his words at face value is shaming the Chicagoans,” Pretzker said.

Read the original article from People