Democrats are not serious about fighting crime. Donald Trump is.

We can certainly debate the merits of Trump’s decisions to deploy the National Guard to help combat crime in Washington, DC, Memphis, Portland, and Chicago. Democrats are absolutely litigating Trump’s moves, fighting harder against that than they do against the crime running rampant on their streets.

The latest legal move came late Sunday, when U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut, a Trump appointee, temporarily blocked the administration’s order to send troops to Portland, Oregon. The crux of the issue is that after her temporary restraining order against sending Oregon National Guard troops, Trump instead said he’d deploy California National Guard personnel — over the objections of Democrat Governors Tina Kotek and Gavin Newsom.

“Donald Trump tried to turn our soldiers into instruments of his political will,” Newsom crowed, “and while our fight continues, tonight the rule of law said ‘hell no.’”

Next up is Illinois. According to Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, “Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders like [Democrat Governor JB] Pritzker have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has authorized 300 national guardsmen to protect federal officers and assets.”

Pritzker, who runs a sanctuary state for illegal aliens, pushed back, posting in a long X thread, “It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”

“We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion. It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another state’s military troops,” he continued. “There is no reason a President should send military troops into a sovereign state without their knowledge, consent, or cooperation.”

President Abraham Lincoln, call your office.

Now, let’s back up a minute and consider why Trump is doing what he’s doing.

The why is the important part, according to Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell. “I have no desire to put [criminals] in jail,” even after multiple crimes, he said. Instead, “I don’t know his or her story. Maybe they were abused as a child. Maybe they’re hungry. But my remedy is to find their life story to see how we can help.”

Trump was born in… Okay, I’m kidding. We won’t back up that far.

In DC, Trump’s rationale was pretty simple: Democrats in charge of the federal district’s government were not doing their job to clean up the streets, so he took charge. Despite Democrat denials, it worked.

His authority in other cities is less clear, but the rationale is largely the same. A key difference is that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and facilities have come under attack in Portland and Chicago, and Trump aims to secure federal property and personnel. Democrats have run both cities for a long time, and both are infamous for their lawlessness and rampant crime.

On Saturday, Judge Immergut contended that there is “substantial evidence that the protests at the Portland ICE facility were not significantly violent or disruptive in the days — or even weeks — leading up to the President’s directive.” While she was issuing her order, law enforcement officers were using pepper balls and chemical irritants to battle an unruly mob gathered outside an ICE facility.

There is concern in Portland that the city’s police department is effectively complicit with antifa thugs. In fact, the Justice Department has opened an investigation to determine the extent of this issue after videos revealed officers arresting a journalist and letting thugs go.

Also on Saturday in Chicago, what the media call “a female motorist” rammed her vehicle into ICE vehicles as part of a coordinated attack by “protesters” in other vehicles that boxed in ICE agents. An armed agent shot her. The assailant was also armed at the time, and other people threw bottles and rocks at enforcement officers.

Law enforcement officers are putting their lives on the line for the Rule of Law, and Pritzker blames them for the chaos.

“They are the ones that are making it a war zone,” Pritzker argued of ICE agents. “They want mayhem on the ground. They want to create the war zone, so that they can send in even more troops.”

Remember that, just a couple of weeks ago, a man with a rifle ambushed an ICE facility in Dallas, aiming for agents but killing two detainees. He was motivated by the kind of rhetoric Pritzker continues to spout daily. In between the Dallas and Chicago attacks, Pritzker called ICE agents “jackbooted thugs.”

Chicago police, by the way, were ordered away from the scene of the ICE attack, and then the department lied about it.

Still think Trump has no reason to send Guard troops to secure certain cities?

“They are just putting out their propaganda,” insists Pritzker.

Given the choice between supporting violent criminals and Donald Trump, Democrats are choosing the violent criminals every time.

Follow Nate Jackson on X/Twitter.

Update 10/6: Pritzker filed suit on Monday.