Oklahoma’s Republican Governor Criticizes National Guard Deployment in Chicago
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, a Republican and the chairman of the National Governors Association, on Thursday criticized the deployment of Texas National Guard troops to Illinois as a violation of his beliefs in federalism and “states’ rights.”
His comments, in an interview with The New York Times, marked the first time a Republican governor has questioned the interstate deployment of National Guard troops over a governor’s objections. Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois and other Democratic elected officials have been strongly critical of the move and have implored Republican governors to join the opposition.
Mr. Stitt on Thursday said, “We believe in the federalist system — that’s states’ rights,” adding, “Oklahomans would lose their mind if Pritzker in Illinois sent troops down to Oklahoma during the Biden administration.”
Mr. Stitt stressed that he supported President Trump’s efforts to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and ensure “law and order” in cities like Chicago and Portland, Ore. But he worried about the precedent that was being set by the guard deployment and how it could be used by a president from another party.
Instead, Mr. Stitt said, Mr. Trump should have moved to federalize the troops in Illinois first.
Mr. Stitt pointed to his opposition during the pandemic to federal mandates around vaccinations and directions on masking under then-President Joseph R. Biden Jr., an opposition shared by Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, a fellow Republican.
“I was surprised that Governor Abbott sent troops from Texas to Illinois,” Mr. Stitt 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.”
He added: “As a federalist believer, one governor against another governor, I don’t think that’s the right way to approach this.”
Mr. Stitt said that he had not discussed the issue with Mr. Abbott but that the two governors would be together this weekend in Dallas, for a heated football rivalry game between the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas.
“I’m sure it’ll come up,” he said, adding that he and Mr. Abbott enjoyed a good relationship. “I would send troops to the southern border on his request, anytime he wanted them, and I know he would do the same for me.”
Mr. Stitt is currently the chairman of the National Governors Association, a century-old bipartisan organization of state leaders whose aim is to find solutions above the usual partisan fray. He said his comments reflected his own views as the governor of Oklahoma and were not meant as a statement from the association.
Mr. Pritzker, as well as Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat, have threatened to leave the association if it did not come out against the Texas deployment. So far, the association has been silent on the issue. Mr. Stitt said weighing in on such matters was not part of its role.
“The N.G.A. is an educational organization under I.R.S. code,” he said. “And so we’re not going to be weighing into the politics. That’s not our lane.”
But Mr. Stitt said that he hoped more Americans would accept that “elections have consequences.” That applies both for Democrats who dislike Mr. Trump and for Republicans who oppose elected state leaders such as Mr. Pritzker and Mr. Newsom.
“They’re doing what they think is right for their state or their country,” he said. “Let’s give the other side the benefit of the doubt.”
He continued, “I would tell the other side, let’s give President Trump the benefit of the doubt; don’t just always attack him for trying to protect these cities.”
Asked if he thought other Republican governors might also speak up against the deployment on federalism grounds, he said he thought more would. “Maybe you just haven’t asked the right ones,” he said.
J. David Goodman is the Houston bureau chief for The Times, reporting on Texas and Oklahoma.
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Y'all need to wake up from Trump's dream of retribution and revenge else it will inevitably be followed by revenge and retribution in a level far exceeding any Hatfield/McCoy nonsense.
The Hatfiel/McCoy feud was also egged on by a pig, so good analogy.
Revenge blinds all senses.
Yikes! OKC is burning to the ground!
I was unoffended by this article till I got to this line -
There is a desire by Trump to send soldiers in blue cities, but its not to protect their citizens. He has done it three times now, Washington DC , chicago , and Portland. In DC , Trump wants to be king, so controlling local law enforcement makes him feel lordly. Chicago was chosen because it has been a perennial right wing whipping boy ever since it provided the first black president, and Portland was chosen because it is an easy target ever since there were "antifa" incidents there years ago and antifa obviously means "unAmerican" .
We're still waiting for any evidence that any of these places are "hell holes" requiring soldiers patrolling the streets. What we are mostly seeing are very small ongoing protests where sometimes minor violence has developed. Calling these protests an insurrection would be like calling the water coming out of your bathtub faucet Niagra Falls. Trump says Portland is burning down. How big an idiot do you have to be to believe that? I guess we are finding out.
Simple minds equate a higher than average crime rate with "hell hole". Large urban populations always breed more crime than a small town, this goes back to Rome 2000 years ago. If one city has 10 victims of violent crime per 1000 people and another city has 25 per 1000 people, is the one with the two and a half times larger figure now a hell hole ? That would be news to the people, in the city with the larger figure, among the 97.5% who are not victims. The real problem in inner cities is lack of jobs, ie money , and poor schools, which help to perpetuate the crime issue.
I forgot Los Angeles, my bad. It belongs near the top of my little list. Trump hates LA because it is in California, the place he gets crushed every election and loses by millions of votes. Also home to Nancy Pelosi, Gavin Newsome, and Kamala Harris. Oh lets not forget Hollywood which mocks Trump constantly.
Uh oh, a Republican saying the quiet part out loud? He'd better be careful, they don't like them kind a folks round them parts... you know, Trump traitors, who are defined as anyone doing anything or saying anything that could be viewed as a criticism of their dear Leader which is a capital offense among the MAGA party.
Doh! I spoke too soon. He immediately groveled before his dear Leader after speaking a smidgen of truth.
The failures of State and local government, failures of law enforcement, etc. have brought us to this point. The misinformation about what the NG's task is and who sent them doesn't help either. Misinformation like:
Gov Abbott didn't send the troops. He may have volunteered them but has no authority for such movement or task.
So what are they doing there?
Texas National Guard arrives in Illinois, as Gov. Pritzker calls for end of Trump administration's 'authoritarian march'
Your own link tells you all that.