'We're Going In'

Plus: Bombing "narco-terrorists" in the Caribbean, American manufacturing shrinks for the sixth consecutive month, Massie wants the Epstein files, and more...

President Donald Trump's national tour of performative authoritarianism will roll into Baltimore and Chicago at some point later this year, the president announced Tuesday.

"We're going in," Trump said from the Oval Office.

Trump called Chicago and Baltimore "a hellhole" and said his decision to send federal troops—likely a mix of immigration enforcement police and National Guard troops, as was done previously in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.—was not "a political thing." The White House is framing the effort as an attempt to stop the high levels of gun violence that have plagued parts of those cities for years.

But it's telling that the Trump administration has made little effort to manufacture a crisis in Chicago that might justify the deployment of federal troops. Instead, this looks pretty clearly like the president using routine crime—undeniably an issue for the local and state governments to address—as a justification for whatever it is that the White House is planning.

"Know your rights." In response to Trump's announcement, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker reiterated that there is no emergency in Chicago that demands the attention of the National Guard and said Trump's planned deployment would jeopardize law and order in the city.

Pritzker, who has so far handled this situation about as well as could be expected, also encouraged Chicagoans to remain peaceful and to keep an eye on the feds.

"What you can do is look out for your communities and your neighbors. Know your rights," he said. "Film things that you see happening in your neighborhoods and your streets and share them with the news media."

Can Trump do this? As Reason's J.D. Tuccille explained last week, Trump has limited legal standing for rolling troops into any place that isn't Washington, D.C., which is uniquely vulnerable to any president's whims because of its unique status as a federal district. "Chicago is not a federal district. It's a city in a state that has its own sovereign authority under the U.S. Constitution. [Brandon] Johnson is the mayor, and Pritzker is the state's governor. They're responsible to their voters," Tuccille wrote. "And while the city has a serious crime problem, data suggests it's falling, not getting worse."

On Tuesday, a federal judge in California ruled that Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles violated the Posse Comitatus Act, the 1878 law that forbids the use of the U.S. military for law enforcement purposes. That ruling may complicate the administration's ability to drop the National Guard into other jurisdictions. However, Trump has previously claimed (no surprise here, given his general disregard for laws limiting executive power) the authority to do "anything I want to do" with the National Guard.

(There are many overlapping and somewhat contradictory federal laws in play here. Read Reason's Jacob Sullum for more on that.)

While there are obviously some worrying constitutional and legal issues here, libertarians should also object to the cost of these operations. In D.C., part of the National Guard's duties included providing tremendously expensive and heavily armed trash collection services.

DC's cleaning crews cover around 81 miles/day for around $150K/day.

National Guard has cleaned a total of 3.2 miles and costs more than $1M/day.

It's about 170X more cost efficient per mile to fund DC's existing work. https://t.co/G62nkpb9yb

— Samuel Littauer (@swlittauer) September 2, 2025

An extrajudicial assassination in the Caribbean Sea. A video released Tuesday by the White House purportedly shows a military strike against what Secretary of State Marco Rubio said was "a designated narco-terrorist organization." The Trump administration says 11 "terrorists" were killed in the attack.

This ought to raise several red flags. There is no evidence, aside from the Trump administration's claims, that the boat was carrying drugs. Even if it was, drug trafficking is not a capital offense and does not carry the death penalty. Even if it did, courts and juries and legal processes would be the proper way to enforce that punishment. The president does not have the authority to assassinate suspected drug traffickers on the high seas—even if they are part of a claimed criminal gang. If Trump wants that power, he should ask Congress for a declaration of war against Venezuela or for an authorization for the use of military force against gangs operating in the region.

Congress has not authorized military hostilities against Venezuela. There's no exception permitting unilateral action because it's "drugs" or "terrorism" or a "designated organization."

The "peace president" strikes again. https://t.co/WiO0NP2YwB

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) September 2, 2025

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Scenes from the trade war: Yikes.

ISM: "US manufacturing contracted for a sixth straight month in August as factories dealt with the fallout from the Trump administration's import tariffs, with some manufacturers describing the current business environment as 'much worse than the Great Recession'"

Brutal: pic.twitter.com/x7DQirmdPh

— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) September 2, 2025

Extra yikes.

The argument is: We're all meant to sacrifice a bit, so that tariffs can help rebuild American manufacturing. Let's ask American manufacturers whether they're helping. pic.twitter.com/UWWmjKcWXe

— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) September 2, 2025

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QUICK HITS

• • Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.) is still pushing for a House vote on releasing all of the Department of Justice's files on Jeffrey Epstein, despite efforts by some Republican leaders to block the vote. "It seems to be very out of character for [Speaker of the House Mike Johnson] to cover up for sex trafficking ring. But that's, that is what's happening right now," Massie told Politico.
  • The U.S. Space Command will be relocated from Colorado to Alabama because President Donald Trump is mad about mail-in voting—no, I don't understand the connection either.
  • A federal court has struck down a California law that banned AI-generated political satire.
  • Polish President Karol Nawrocki arrives in Washington, D.C., for a visit. His position is described by The New York Times as "largely ceremonial," and wow, that sounds like a great idea.
  • Venmo me!

lol, I just noticed that "digital content creators" are included in the "no tax on tips" rule. I wonder how this changes the Substack business model! pic.twitter.com/uSB03UeOWW

— Jordan Weissmann (@JHWeissmann) September 2, 2025