Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez didn’t mince words when he told Fox News that the city’s liberal leadership is doing a great disservice to ordinary Chicagoans by turning politics into a shield for criminals. He warned that endless virtue signaling and anti-Trump posturing are getting people killed while the political class tweets and preens. The blunt message from a Democrat on the ground should be a wake-up call to any elected official who still thinks grandstanding keeps communities safe.
Lopez pressed Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor J.B. Pritzker to stop the petty tit-for-tat with the President and to pick up the phone and coordinate on public safety instead of posture for cable news. He asked the question everyone in the suffering neighborhoods is asking: how many victims are we willing to tolerate while leaders wage partisan wars? That demand for basic cooperation is not radical — it’s the minimum obligation of public office, yet too many Democrats refuse it.
When federal agents targeted violent gang elements in an apartment building, Lopez said residents were relieved to finally see action against the drug dealing, human trafficking, and prostitution that had plagued their block. He pointed out that local people who live with the consequences of soft-on-crime policies welcome enforcement that restores order and protects kids and seniors. If city leaders actually cared about victims over ideology, they would stop protecting criminals and start working with law enforcement at every level.
Democrats and the media rushed to spread lurid, emotional stories about children being zip-tied during the raid, but the Department of Homeland Security publicly refuted those claims and called such reports “a shameful and disgusting lie.” The rush to demonize law enforcement before facts were verified perfectly illustrates the dangerous, reflexive hostility some local leaders show toward any federal effort to secure our streets. That manufactured outrage has real consequences for officers, residents, and the rule of law.
Alderman Lopez even accused members of his own party of being, in effect, enamored with criminals because they prefer to score political points rather than reduce victims, and he demanded honest leadership instead of partisan theater. That’s a rare and welcome admission that the left’s sanctuary-first mentality has become a policy choice that sacrifices public safety. Conservatives should amplify that message: protecting citizens is not political football fodder, it is the core purpose of government.
Chicago’s collapse in public safety didn’t happen overnight, and it won’t be solved by performative outrage or grants to ideologues who insist law enforcement is the enemy. Real solutions mean empowering police, supporting federal partners who target transnational gangs, and holding local officials accountable when they prioritize political grudge matches over residents’ lives. Lopez’s island of common sense in a sea of left-wing hysteria shows there are still elected officials willing to put people ahead of party.
Hardworking Americans watching this should be furious that mainstream Democrats would choose optics over outcomes while neighborhoods burn and families mourn. If conservatives want to win hearts and votes, we should back every leader — regardless of party label — who stands with victims, supports the rule of law, and refuses to let ideology excuse criminality. The people of Chicago deserve leaders who protect them, not politicians who exploit their pain for headlines.
