President Donald Trump engaged in a heated confrontation with NBC News White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor on Sunday, September 7, 2025, when she questioned him about his social media post threatening Chicago with the “Department of WAR.” The exchange occurred on the South Lawn of the White House as Trump prepared to depart for the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York.
The confrontation began when Alcindor asked Trump if he was trying to go to war with Chicago, referencing a provocative meme the president had posted on his Truth Social platform the previous day. Trump immediately dismissed the question, telling the reporter that her inquiry constituted fake news.
When Alcindor attempted to ask a follow-up question about his use of the Department of Defense, Trump became visibly agitated and cut her off. He told her to be quiet and listen, criticizing her for not listening and calling her second-rate. Trump then stated, “We’re not going to war, we’re gonna clean up our cities.“
The president’s aggressive response came one day after he posted an “Apocalypse Now”-themed meme on Truth Social featuring himself in a scene similar to Robert Duvall’s character from the 1979 film. The post included text stating he loved the smell of deportations in the morning and warned that Chicago would soon discover why his administration calls the military the Department of WAR. The meme showed Trump supervising helicopters over the Chicago skyline with flames and smoke in the background.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker responded strongly to Trump’s social media post on Saturday, accusing the president of threatening to go to war with an American city. Pritzker characterized Trump as a wannabe dictator and insisted that Illinois would not be intimidated by his actions. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson similarly condemned the president’s threats, describing them as beneath the honor of the nation and suggesting Trump wanted to occupy their city while breaking the Constitution.
The Department of WAR reference stems from an executive order Trump signed on Friday, September 5, 2025, which rechristened the Department of Defense with its pre-World War II era name. Trump has been threatening for weeks to deploy the National Guard to Chicago to address crime, similar to actions he took in Washington, D.C., where he also assumed control of the Metropolitan Police Department.
During the Sunday exchange, Trump justified his Chicago plans by citing gun violence statistics. He claimed eight people were killed in Chicago the previous weekend, with seven killed the week before, and 74 people wounded. The president argued that cleaning up cities to prevent multiple weekend deaths constituted common sense rather than warfare.
Trump has also floated sending troops to Baltimore and New Orleans, both cities with higher murder rates than Chicago but fewer overall killings. However, legal concerns exist about his authority to send the National Guard into cities without state governor consent. Illinois and Maryland are controlled by Democratic governors who have been mentioned as possible 2028 presidential contenders, while Louisiana has a Republican governor.
The president faced a legal setback earlier this month when a federal judge ruled he broke the law by dispatching the National Guard to Los Angeles in response to rioting. The California appeals court determined the deployment violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which largely prevents military units from being used in law enforcement activities.
Critics quickly condemned Trump’s treatment of Alcindor on social media, with many pointing to a pattern of disrespectful behavior toward Black female journalists. The National Association of Black Journalists defended Alcindor and emphasized the importance of respecting journalists and press freedom. NABJ President Errin Haines praised Alcindor as their 2020 Journalist of the Year and highlighted her professionalism and courage in carrying out her duties.
The confrontation represents the latest clash between Trump and Alcindor, who had several notable exchanges with the president during his first term. Trump has previously called her questions racist, untruthful, nasty, and snarky while telling her to be nice and not threatening during various press encounters.
Thousands of protesters demonstrated in Chicago against Trump’s proposed military actions and promised enhanced ICE operations as his administration attempts to escalate mass deportation efforts. The timeline for potential National Guard deployment to address Chicago crime remains unclear.