Krasner says Trump wants ‘excuse to invade’ blue cities. He wants Philadelphians to get informed on troop deployment
Krasner, who is seeking a third term, has called on city residents to record troops with their cellphones should the president send them.
District Attorney Larry Krasner said President Donald Trump’s administration was looking for an “excuse to invade” Democratic-led cities by deploying National Guard troops, and he urged Philadelphians to attend town halls this week to discuss what residents can do if troops are sent to the city.
There is no indication that the White House is planning such a deployment in Philadelphia, as happened in Washington, D.C., last month and in Los Angeles earlier this summer.
“We find ourselves in a position where certain people want to claim a crime emergency that is completely false,” Krasner said during a news conference Tuesday to promote the “Be the Light, Bring the Light” event series.
Krasner, who is seeking a third term in the November election, said his office — and not his campaign — is hosting the events.
Trump announced this week that he intends to send soldiers to Memphis after suggesting for weeks he would deploy troops in Chicago — a move met with ardent resistance from that city’s Democratic mayor and governor.
But Krasner, joined by City Councilmembers Kendra Brooks and Jamie Gauthier, said they are ready for such a possibility in Philadelphia, a Democratic stronghold that has already been urged to cooperate with the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
The district attorney said the preemptive rejection of deployments by local leaders was successful in Chicago — evoking the phrase “Trump Always Chickens Out, or TACO” — leading the administration to shift its attention to other cities instead.
Meanwhile, Gauthier proclaimed that “Philadelphia is not [Trump’s] battlefield.”
“Troops in neighborhoods don’t make us safe,” she said. “Occupations don’t make us safe.”
The councilmember urged community members to attend the town halls, which are scheduled for Tuesday evening, as well as Wednesday and Thursday.
Gauthier asked residents to recall the last time Philadelphia saw federal troops on city streets during racial justice protests in 2020.
“I saw tanks roll in, releasing pepper spray on protesters” near 52nd Street, she said. “The trauma is still with West Philadelphia today.”
Brooks, a member of the Working Families Party, called Trump “the ultimate bully,” using federal troops and immigration agents as his “personal thugs” in cities across the country.
To that end, Brooks said she would introduce a resolution in Council this week to condemn Trump’s use of the National Guard.
Krasner said the purpose of the town halls was not for his office to instruct residents on what to do in the face of a deployment, but rather to spur conversations and crowdsource ideas. Earlier this month, he suggested that Philadelphians use their cellphones to film any instances of law enforcement overreach, should troops be sent in, and reiterated that Tuesday.
“Good luck erasing this history, because it is going to be all over the internet, it is going to be on servers, it’s going to be permanent,” Krasner said.
“Be the Light, Bring the Light” town halls will be held:
Tuesday, Sept. 16, at 6 p.m., at Salt & Light Church, 5736 Chester Ave.
Wednesday, Sept. 17, at 6 p.m., at Grace Baptist Church of Germantown, 25 W. Germantown Ave.
Thursday, Sept. 18, at 6 p.m., at Mother Bethel African Methodist Church, 419 S. Sixth St.