Stephen A. Smith: 'No problem' with Trump sending National Guard to Chicago

Sports commentator Stephen A. Smith said Tuesday he has “no problem” with President Trump sending the National Guard to Chicago.

“In the city of Chicago, I don't give a damn what they say, I have no problem with sending in the National Guard. They were a problem before [former President] Obama got into office, when he was a junior senator,” Smith said during an event by the outlet Front Office Sports, in a clip highlighted by Mediaite.

“They was a problem when he was in office for eight years as a president. They've been a problem now, and I've seen Black people come on television, locally and nationally, crying for support, whether it's the National Guard or whatever it takes. In other words, the city of Chicago has had ample opportunity to do something about it, and I do think it's a crisis in that city,” he added.

In the last few months, Trump deployed National Guard troops in Los Angeles, to quell protests over immigration raids, and in Washington, D.C., where the focus has been on crime. Those actions have drawn intense blowback from Democrats. 

Trump also created the Memphis Safe Task Force on Monday to repeat in the Tennessee city the recent federal law enforcement crackdown in the nation’s capital.

“This task force will be a replica of our extraordinary successful efforts here, and you’ll see it’s a lot of the same thing,” Trump said while discussing Washington in the Oval Office.

Late last month, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) pushed back against Trump sending National Guard troops to Chicago, which the president has teased several times.

“Earlier today in the Oval Office, Donald Trump looked at the assembled cameras and asked for me personally to say, ‘Mr. President, can you do us the honor of protecting our city?’” Pritzker said during a previous press conference.

“Instead, I say, ‘Mr. President, do not come to Chicago. You are neither wanted here nor needed here,’” he added.