Can Lightfoot, Preckwinkle connect? Or will the women be political rivals!

It was an intriguing political theory put forth by some – the notion that a Lightfoot political victory for mayor benefits African-American political empowerment by boosting the number of black people in the top government positions.

Lightfoot gets 5th floor office suite; Preckwinkle stays put in her half of city/county municipal building.. Photo by Gregory Tejeda

The way it was described by some, there were those people who wanted Toni Preckwinkle to not bother running for anything in this election cycle.

SHE WAS SUPPOSED to accept the Cook County Board presidency that she was re-elected to back in November – thereby leaving the mayoral post open for another black person to hold. Chicago’s local government structure would literally have its two highest-ranking positions held by African-Americans.

But that didn’t happen, as Preckwinkle insisted on running for mayor. Which creates the potentially awkward position of Preckwinkle and Lightfoot fighting it out for who is the more prominent black woman in our local politics.

Considering that Preckwinkle also holds the post of Cook County Democratic chairwoman, it means that Toni will be in a position where she could theoretically make life difficult for Lori Lightfoot.

She could decide to use the political party structure to thwart a “Mayor Lightfoot” from being able to accomplish much of anything – if she so wishes. Although admittedly, some people will dismiss her as petty and ignorant if she behaves that way,

The mayor 'elect' for a month

IS THIS WHAT is destined to happen, now that Election Day has come and gone – Lori Lightfoot having managed to come sweeping in and usurping the niche that Preckwinkle had planned on playing this cycle?

That of the “good government” type who engages in high-minded talk about the betterment of our society. Instead of the niche that Lightfoot wound up tagging Preckwinkle with – that of a political hack!

The question essentially becomes whether or not Preckwinkle and Lightfoot can “play nice” with each other and figure out ways in which the two can co-exist within the Chicago political structure for the betterment of our city.

Remains as 'mayor' of Cook County

Or are we destined to have the next three-and-a-half years become a period in which the Preckwinkle/Lightfoot rivalry takes on ugly overtones. Will Preckwinkle decide she needs to show us just how big a political “Boss!” she can be.

HERE’S ACTUALLY THE intriguing question, for those people who want to view this now-complete election cycle as one for the betterment of African-American political interests in Chicago.

Would those interests have been boosted more by having both a black mayor and black county board president? Or would they have been boosted had Preckwinkle prevailed and become the first person since Richard J. Daley himself to serve as both mayor and county Democratic chairman?

Would an all-powerful Preckwinkle have been a nice prize for black political interests? Or was it sexism that wound up making some people think that the two positions were simply too much power to put in the hands of a lone woman. Along with the notion that a “Mayor Preckwinkle” also would have created the chance for a “Cook County Board President John Daley” – a notion some black activists would find abhorrent.

How different scenario could be with Wilson win

Keep in mind that back when black political operatives were suggesting that Preckwinkle defer to another black candidate for mayor, the likely favorite was Willie Wilson. Considering how she managed to qualify for the Tuesday run-off while Wilson fell short by merely finishing fourth in the 14-candidate field, it’s not surprising she felt no need to defer to him.

THE RESULT OF all this political scheming is that we now have a mayor-elect who doesn’t come from the current political set-up. Lightfoot has been a corporate attorney and a federal prosecutor, in addition to a one-time member of the Police Accountability Task Force.

Daley remains as county finance chair

In short, the kind of person who might arouse suspicion from incumbent politicos.

But keep in mind that several people bearing the polical label of “Democratic Socialists” managed to get themselves elected to the City Council. There’s going to be an assortment of aldermen anxious to assert the fact that the city technically has a “weak mayor” system of government.

Lightfoot may get the title of “mayor,” but there will be many individuals anxious to tell her just how little she can do while in office. We’ll have to wait and see whether Preckwinkle will be their leader?

  -30-

What constitutes a diverse population?

Newly-elected state Rep. Anne Stava-Murray doesn’t seem overly concerned about appeasing potential voters to ensure she gets re-elected. Why else would she go about publicly labelling her home city of Naperville as white supremacist?

STAVA-MURRAY: Serious study, or self-attention?

True enough, Stava-Murray earlier this year used that label to refer to her DuPage County municipality (the fourth-largest city in Illinois) while responding to a Facebook post where somebody had described Naperville government as “the biggest bullies.”

TO ME, THE white supremacist label carries such a strong overtone that I wonder if it is too strong a label to use; one that distorts the reality of the situation.

Then again, there’s no disputing that Naperville is NOT a community where there are great numbers of African-American individuals living. For what it’s worth, an American Community Survey completed in 2016 showed more than three-quarters of the Naperville population being white – with people of Asian or Latino ethnic origins also existing in greater numbers than the 4.7 percent of those who are black.

Stava-Murray points out that many of the local public schools have next to no black students, and absolutely no black teachers.

Which might seem to be dooming any effort to get re-elected to her post come the 2020 election cycle. Then again, Stava-Murray (who has just begun her first term in office this month after being elected back in November) has already hinted she’s going to challenge Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., come the next elections.

COULD IT BE that Stava-Murray has already realized her ’18 election as a Democrat to represent a DuPage County district that historically has been Republican was a pure fluke? And that making such comments is meant to try to give her more appeal to those parts of Chicago where non-white voters are predominant?

I could see where many of those voters might think some white lady from Naperville wouldn’t know anything about them. Is this an attempt by her to show that she’s not totally clueless?

It had better work out that way. Because if it doesn’t, I could see where making such comments becomes a political “kiss of death” to any future she thinks she might have.

What should we think of Naperville community character?

Because she’s not going to make friends amongst the people she’s supposed to be representing in Springfield by implying they’re a batch of bigots. Although to be honest, it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that many of those living in Naperville are out there precisely because there aren’t a whole lot of black people amongst their neighbors.

THEN AGAIN, PERSPECTIVE on what constitutes “diversity” varies based on whom one is talking to.

I remember once covering a legislative hearing about redistricting and district boundaries where local officials from suburban Tinley Park described their hometown as a diverse community – largely because the white majorities also had significant numbers of people of Arab ethnic origins moving in, along with a growing number of Latinos.

The African-American legislators on that committee took offense to the “diverse” label being applied to the municipality, which had a black population of less than 2 percent.

They couldn’t comprehend use of the “diversity” label to a community where their numbers were so few. Still are actually, as the 2010 Census Bureau count showed Tinley with a 1.92 percent black population – and with the majority including American Indian, Asian, Pacific Islander and Latino, along with its white populace including significant tallies of people of Irish, German, Polish, Italian and Dutch ethnic origins.

THE POINT BEING that the “diverse” label being applied, or denied, to a community probably says more about the hang-ups of the person using the label – rather than the reality of the communities in question.

DURBIN: Stava-Murray likely opponent in 2020

For what it’s worth, I have a step-brother who lives out in that area, and a niece who attends high school within the Naperville district (which actually includes her home in neighboring Aurora).

While I’m not going to claim the area is most accepting to the presence of black people, it is far in character from the communities I have been in that truly do reflect a “white supremacist” attitude.

That goes even further in thinking that Stava-Murray’s use of the “white supremacist” label is most likely a campaign tactic; trying to build an image for the currently little-known legislator as she prepares for future runs for political office. Which also means we’re likely to hear similar trash talk during the next two years.

  -30-

EXTRA: A 'rap' about the news?

Is this a “first” in the history of the assorted outlets that attempt to report the news in Chicago – a transaction reported in a rap song?

CHANCE: New 'media' baron?

For it seems that Chancellor Bennett, the entertainer known as Chance the Rapper, has bought the rights to resume publication of the one-time website The Chicagoist – which died last year when its owner closed down partially in response to attempts to organize his web site labor with a union.

IT SEEMS THAT New York Public Radio had acquired the rights to the web site, along with similar sites in other cities. They have since been selling them off to local entities with an interest in resuming publication.

In the case of chicagoist.com, they sold the rights to Social Media LLC, a company created by Bennett to try to promote representation of more non-white people within the local media. He actually released (via the Internet) a rap song with lyrics about his new purchase ("I bought the Chicagoist just to run you racist bitches outta business," he sang, along with, "Rahm you done, I expect a resignation"), then a formal statement about his desires to have control over a media voice.

I can’t think of any past media purchase that quite got the word out through such a means.

It will be interesting to see what plans, if any, Bennett has for use of the new website (and its archives) he has acquired. Will it change much? Will it be The Chicagoist of old?

Two North Side-focused media properties now owned …

IT’S JUST THAT it strikes me change will need to occur because the Chicagoist web site always struck me as one put together by people whose view of Chicago focused heavily on those North Side neighborhoods where white people are in abundance – and the idea of people of color usually referred to the assorted ethnic restaurants one could find up there.

I can’t see how that would continue under new ownership. Not that there’s anything wrong with such change – unless the old readers are determined to reject the notion.

… by entities fully aware of 'black' Chicago

I actually have similar thoughts about The Reader, which the Chicago Sun-Times recently sold to the owner of the Chicago Crusader and its sister newspaper, the Gary Crusader. Those publications most definitely try to cover the parts of Chicago where black people are in abundance and other news outlets often ignore.

Whereas the Reader has always been a publication focused extensively on the north lakefront and where many South and West side residents can’t find a copy anywhere near where they live. Change is in the air, and we’ll have to see if we get a better-informed Chicago populace as a result.

  -30-

Sports fans say they want escape from life's tensions, but mostly only want their own attitudes reinforced

I found myself enjoying some baseball this weekend, in the form of the college baseball tourney recently renamed for one-time Chicago Cubs star Andre Dawson.

The new namesake of HBCU tourney

That tournament played this weekend in the much milder weather of New Orleans gave the University of Illinois at Chicago Flames a chance to start out their season away from the Saturday afternoon snowfall we had in Chicago. But the rest of the schools participating were southern in nature, and most were the HBCUs of the country.

THAT’S AS IN Historically Black Colleges and Universities – the schools that date back to when black people were excluded from traditional higher education, so a class of colleges sprung up to create opportunities.

Those colleges aren’t exclusively black enrollment anymore, but there are some people who feel more comfortable trying to get a higher education in an environment where they’re not the minority. This weekend, places like Alabama State, Alcorn State, Grambling, Southern, Prairie View A&M and Arkansas-Pine Bluff got to show their stuff on the baseball diamond.

I’m sure there are going to be some people who will be offended that such a tournament is taking place. The Major League Baseball website is filled with nameless comments calling the tourney "a joke" and emphasizing they'd never heard of it before. But then again, they’re the ones whose idea of integration is that everybody act as though they were white.

They are the first to scream “racist!” (or their favorite taunt, “reverse racism!”) whenever something comes along that forces them to admit racial bias still exists. They don’t want to be called out on their own Archie Bunker-like tendencies.

Helping to advise new HBCU tourney

IT WAS NICE to see that Major League Baseball is giving this particular tournament some support and publicity. What with Dawson (who played college ball at the historically-black Florida A&M University) giving his name, and one-time Chicago White Sox manager Jerry Manuel serving as a consultant.

For what it was worth, it was nice to be able to ignore the Saturday snowfall that reminded us winter ain’t through by any means to see baseball being played – with the Flames overcoming a 4-3 deficit in the 9^th inning to ultimately win the ballgame 9-5.

Which makes me feel sorry for those people who are going to want to think I wasted my Saturday afternoon away by watching some lower class of baseball. One they probably think is not worthy of any public attention.

Wrong sport? Or knucklehDeaded fans?

Probably the same kind of people who get upset whenever anybody points out the declining number of black ballplayers currently on Major League rosters. They’ll argue black people just don’t play baseball that much, and we shouldn’t think it an issue.

LIKELY, THEY BELIEVE the lasting lesson of 2014 and the Little League World Series that the Jackie Robinson West team from Chicago is that a majority-black ball club can only win if it cheats.

Yet this kind of attitude isn’t limited to baseball and springtime. Take hockey, where also on Saturday several Chicago Blackhawks fans were ejected from the United Center for their racially-tainted taunts of visiting team players.

Specifically, of Devante Smith-Pelly, a forward for the Washington Capitals who is one of the few black players in the National Hockey League.

When he was sent to the penalty box during the game, Blackhawks fans taunted him with a reminder that they thought he was playing the wrong sport.

FOUR FANS WERE kicked out of the stadium and the Blackhawks issued an apology, yet the Internet is filled with rants (anonymous, of course) contending that people were too sensitive about the slur (which was “basketball, basketball, basketball).

Black Lives matter activists “can call for the deaths and killings of police officers and that’s considered free speech?... Enough of this out-of-control absurd political correctness,” one Chicago Tribune commenter wrote.

Now playing for Toronto, Granderson was on hand to root for alma mater Flames

Of course, the very phrase “political correctness” has become a way of judging one’s racial attitudes – the ones who toss it out usually are upset that they’re being called out for their own bouts of verbal nastiness. As though their free speech right entitles them to the last word on EVERYTHING!

The sad part is that it means we can’t get away from this racial nonsense even at the ballpark or the stadium. Even though the ironic part is that many sports fans claim they follow ballgames as a form of escape – what they really seem to want is to have their own close-minded thoughts reaffirmed.

  -30-

Let’s not presume that Trump and his political ilk are beaten quite yet

I’m just as eager as anybody else who was appalled by the 2016 presidential victory of Donald J. Trump to believe that the electorate will come to its senses and dump Trump the first chance it gets.

Alabama provided nation with encouraging boost

But knowing what I do of the quirks of electoral politics makes me realize there are so many things that can occur that can throw the whole process out of whack. Consider that Trump “won” despite getting some 3 million votes less than his Democratic opponent.

WHILE I GOT some joy (shock was more the truthful reaction I felt) from the electoral victory last week of Douglas Jones, a federal prosecutor, over right-wing crackpot judge Roy Moore for a U.S. Senate seat from Alabama, I’m trying not to get too overly optimistic about there being any lasting political trend.

Particularly all the talk about how the African-American vote, particularly from black women, were the key to Jones’ victory.

I don’t doubt the black vote was significant in keeping Moore and his “10 Commandments” kick from becoming a part of the U.S. Senate. Exit polls showed black voters went in excess of 90 percent in support for Jones. Largely because they detested the idea of a Trump-type getting elected to yet another government post.

Some are already speculating that similar turnouts in future election cycles will further undermine the influence of those people who think Trump should be taken literally when he wears his silly red “Make America Great Again” cap.

WHAT I FEAR could happen is that those people will feel motivated to make sure they turn out in force in future election cycles.

As it is, we’ve already seen from 2016 that they can win even if a majority of people want somebody else. This is the “46 percent” president we’re talking about.

For all I know, those people who think there was a past version of this country that was an ideal that we’ve got away from, the lesson they may want to learn from the Alabama special election is that the black vote needs to be controlled.

Alabama election just another step, and not the whole journey, to a progressive future

Either overwhelmed by a white vote, or perhaps they fantasize of the days when things such as poll taxes and other racially-motivated tactics kept people who couldn’t be counted on to vote reliably from actually being able to cast ballots.

MY POINT IS that I expect a backlash from that element of society who seriously believed Roy Moore and his desire for teenage girls was somehow more in line with moral values than any possible Democratic Party candidate.

They’re going to go about thinking that Moore was deprived of what should have rightfully been his seat in the U.S. Senate. This was the man whom polls showed leading by about 22 percent until the tales of his involvement with a 14-year-old girl when he was 32 became publicly known. He wound up losing by about 1.5 percent.

Just as they’re going to go about thinking that Trump’s victory was the salvation of our society, no matter how many stupid and nonsensical things he says or does while in public office.

I suspect the people who voted for Trump will go to their graves convinced they did right for all of us – even if we, the majority of society, are too ignorant to appreciate that fact.

Would Barry Goldwater have been offended by Moore?

SO WHEN I think of upcoming elections, I’m keeping in mind that it ultimately turns out to be an issue of turnout.

It becomes a matter of which campaign can get its followers most worked up to show up at the polling place on Election Day to cast their ballots.

As for the black vote in Alabama, it was good to see that segment of the electorate (as much as 77 percent turnout in heavily-black counties) decide to make a priority of voting.

But if we’re going to truly restore some sense of sanity to our society, it’s going to take a strong turnout from many more segments that make up our masses to overcome that outspoken minority that wishes we still lived in the 19^th Century.

  -30-

Is government too political?

Sometimes, I think what is most wrong with our government is politics.
 

PRECKWINKLE: 18 months of caution to get re-elected

Now I know some of you are going to be confused by such a statement; largely because you use the words “government” and “politics” as though they’re inter-changeable.

BUT GOVERNMENT IS the process by which our elected officials create public policy for our benefit – the work that some political observers sarcastically refer to as “the people’s business.”

Politics, meanwhile, is the process by which our government officials get elected, thereby enabling them to do the people’s business for a living. Which causes circumstances by which people focus too much attention on getting themselves elected – and wind up slacking off in the process of operating the government!

Repeatedly this week I have been sensing the equivalent of slaps across the face from government officials behaving in ways meant to ensure they remain in office for many more years – rather than focusing on their current positions.

Take the circumstances of Toni Preckwinkle, the Cook County Board president, who in recent radio appearances has said she’s seeking re-election come November 2018 – which is a year-and-a-half away from now.

BUT SHE’S ALREADY focusing her attention on getting term number Three, which is a potentially-risky spot for a public official to be in.

EMANUEL: Already garnering re-election endorsements

Because the official has to convince the electorate that we really ought to want to have that person return. Many of us may be tired of that face and wish for someone new, and the people who have been building up grudges against Preckwinkle during the past six years will most definitely want to see her gone.

Meaning Preckwinkle will have to be particularly cautious during these next 18 months to ensure she doesn’t do anything to offend – and also has to hope there are no circumstances arising that will create a controversy that could drag her down.

Of course, if she manages to make it past this point, she then becomes such a part of the political scene that people won’t be able to envision a government without her.

TRUMP: Some prefer 4 more years to Rahm?

JUST AS IS the case with Jesse White, the Illinois secretary of state, who is coming up on 20 years in that post and where Republicans are getting desperate in their tactics to try to depose him.

Of course, it isn’t just Preckwinkle. I was amused by the six aldermen who felt compelled to publicly endorse Rahm Emanuel for re-election to a third term as mayor. The six, who are all black, are pleased to see appointments of African-American persons as city water management commissioner and budget director.

How premature is this? He doesn’t have to worry about running for re-election until 2019, and is hoping that his appearance as the political force who can stand up to Donald Trump’s Chicago-hostile and erratic presidency is sufficient to keep him in office.

CULLERTON: Tried to govern

Although it should be noted there are those who want to believe it will be Emanuel’s own bordering-on-obnoxious persona that will ensure Trump ultimately succeeds. Are there people who despise Rahm so much that it drives them into the Trump Camp? We’ll have to wait and see.

POLITICS ALSO IS managing to intrude its way into the Springfield Scene and the attempts Tuesday by the Illinois state Senate to pass measures that would FINALLY give state government a balanced budget.

Democrats led by state Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago,  banded together to pass a budget, only to have Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, issue a non-committal statement that didn’t reject the plan, but sure didn’t commit to supporting it either.

RAUNER: Prefers politicking

Meanwhile, Gov. Bruce Rauner seemed more interested in his 2018 re-election bid, indicating a willingness to reject this budget plan because it doesn’t fit his vision of what the state needs. Which is using the budget and state government operations as a pawn to tout political pot-shots at organized labor’s influence.

We’re likely to see our state’s Legislature finish yet a third session without being able to do a budget to ensure government operations, all because the process of mere governing doesn’t fit into the political visions of our alleged-government officials. Too common a phenomenon these days across government’s multi-layers.

  -30-

Carson: blacks are "immigrants," no wonder Trump finds him fit for Cabinet

I once knew someone who would argue against the need for Affirmative Action by saying it stigmatizes black people and creates the impression amongst everyone else that African-Americans can't possibly compete in our society.

CARSON: Fits in w/ Trump crowd

He would always cite himself as an example -- an educated black man who was working his way up through the process of trying to achieve success as a broadcaster. In fact, these days he's a person of some success working on the local radio scene in Indianapolis. He and his family, he'd say, managed to achieve success without any help!

I COULDN'T HELP but think of my old friend (whom I must confess I haven't seen personally for several years) when I learned of the nit-witted rant that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson went on earlier this week -- the one that compared the transport of all those Africans to this continent to serve as slave labor to the travails  faced by immigrants who chose to come to this country in search of a better life.

I'm not surprised that Carson would think such thoughts. I have known of black people who resent the fact that many in our society are willing to acknowledge the hassles confronted by immigrants while refusing to acknowledge anything difficult about the travails that black people have faced in trying to find a niche in this society.

So maybe he's merely trying to boost up the situation of black people. Although I doubt his motives are that simple.

I'd be more likely to think that he's trying to drag down the circumstances of all those people whose ancestors had a relative or two (in my case, it was both of my grandfathers and my paternal grandmother) whose desire to escape whatever hellish existence they were enduring in the "old country" was so strong that they put up with having to learn how to exist in a completely different environment.

Only someone blinded by ideology would think ...

AND NOT ONLY that, but to get ahead in the strange settings. That's why it can be argued that the immigrants amongst us are usually our society's greatest strength, and that if we really wanted to become a "Third World nation," we should go ahead and impose the nativist-inspired policies that often are touted by the most intense backers of our newly-elected president.

Our nation would really become Mississippi, which certainly isn't something we ought to be striving for. If anything, we ought to be doing everything in our power to bolster that state because the jokes we make about its economic conditions really aren't funny and do go a long ways to holding us all back.

But back to Carson, who used his first major public appearance since being confirmed as HUD secretary to make such comments at a time when his boss is trying to push the Republican majority in Congress to impose hard-core changes in immigration policy to further restrict the kinds of people who can seriously consider relocating to a life in the United States.

... people in these two predicaments are similar

I know some people argue that all these foreigners coming into this country are actually harming the interests of black people by ensuring that many of them remain perpetually at the bottom ring of our society.

THESE ARE THE people who object to the argument being made that immigrants do the jobs that our citizens just won't do. They say we ought to use the black masses of unemployed to do such work.

Although I know one of my former work colleagues who is black would retort to that line of logic by saying, "We already did our time picking cotton!"

So when I hear that Carson has made such comments, I have to shake my head in dismay. Even though I realize that he probably has gone through a lifetime of having the bigots amongst us make presumptions that any success he achieved wasn't deserved.

But in making such comments, I can't help but feel that Carson is trivializing the situation not only of immigrants but also of black people. He's providing aid and comfort to those who have a racial hang-up to his success in life (he was a neurosurgeon, although his latest theories about being able to trigger presise memories in one's brain sounds more like Dr. Frankenstein at work).

HE'S HURTING HIMSELF and the circumstances of the many black people who probably could have made something successful out of their lives and made worthy contributions to our society if only they hadn't to deal with the interference of policies such as "Jim Crow" in the South and other nonsense from people who just couldn't deal with the idea of an equal playing field.

TRUMP: Filling his staff w/ such people

It's why my own Facebook account is now filled with people who felt compelled to show diagrams of slaves jammed into ship cargo holds and mockingly say those are "immigrants, traveling in steerage" or wisecracks that "Harriet Tubman must have been a very successful travel agent."

Carson is showing just how out-of-touch with reality he is, although I suspect that's probably the very reason why Donald J. Trump took him seriously and gave him a cabinet appointment. Just as I'm sure the contempt felt by many towards Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (who himself has often spoken out against affirmative action) only adds to the support felt for him by the conservative ideologues.

That kind of split may well be piece of evidence Number One on the list of reasons why we can't come together as a society.

  -30-

Could Trump solve Chicago’s problems within a week? Only in his mind!

It seems that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s failed attempt to hold a campaign rally last spring at the University of Illinois at Chicago made a bigger impression on him than we would have envisioned.

 

Has Trump ever really been in Chi outside his tower?

But in true Trump fashion, the event has become a distorted twist of fantasy that makes no sense on just about any level.

FOR MEMORIES OF that time came up during television interviews on the national cable news channels as Trump and his allies tried to seriously twist the happenings of that Friday night into something it was not.

The reality was that the would-be rally Trump wanted to hold on the Near West Side campus wound up being cancelled because the unruly crowds of spectators got out of hand – although Chicago Police have since said they never advised Trump to cancel the event outright.

It was Trump himself who didn’t have the backbone to face off against people inclined to be critical of him. It is to be expected considering that most Trump rallies are programmed to devolve in the true faithful harassing, intimidating and even beating on the candidate’s critics.

Which is what made the comments by Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, during an interview with CNN all the more laughable.

HE TRIED TO describe that Chicago appearance as one in which Trump tried to speak out to African-American voters, only to be rebuffed by them.

As Lewandowski said, Trump, “went to the heart of Chicago to go and give a speech to the University of Chicago in a campus, which is predominantly African-America, to make that argument. And you know what happened? The campus was overrun, and it was not a safe environment.”

It seems to me that Trump, if he really believes this, didn’t have a clue what was going on – and not just because he wasn’t anywhere near the Hyde Park neighborhood that actually has the University of Chicago.

Or that the University of Illinois at Chicago is in a neighborhood bordering on upscale that has more white people living in it than any other type.

PERHAPS TRUMP THOUGHT he was at Chicago State University? Then again, probably all Chicago college campuses look alike to Trump because they’re not a part of Trump University.

The reality is that Trump wasn’t anywhere near the “ghetto” that he envisions all of Chicago is. Perhaps he has spent too much time watching reruns of “Good Times” and comedian Jimmie Walker’s humor-tinged vision of life at the old Cabrini-Green.

But if that wasn’t ridiculous enough, Trump himself had to open his mouth during a Fox News Channel interview, saying he had met with high-ranking Chicago Police Department officials who he says told him they could “stop much of this horror show that’s going on” if they were let loose to actually enforce the law.

As Trump then put it, the officer said, “I’d be able to stop it in one week.”

GEE, ONLY ONE week to resolve the problems confronting Chicago? It’s just too bad that the likely solution suggested by this mythical cop is use of more force that would actually enhance the real problem law enforcement has in dealing with people.

Plus, there’s also the fact that Chicago Police officials on Wednesday insisted that no department officials ever met with Trump. Which leads me to believe this may have been a lone cop who was present at the University of Illinois at Chicago that night who was just shooting his mouth off.

Similar to how Trump often engages in that phenomenon known as “diarrhea of the mouth.” Saying whatever thoughts come to mind without regard to whether they make any sense.

Which is why those people who get all worked up over the violence level of Chicago (personally, I remember the late 1980s when it was much worse) are living in the ultimate fantasyland if they think a vote for Trump means a thing!

  -30-