29 Sep Chicago, Chicago
In 2013, a TV celebrity and New York businessman called rival city Chicago “a shooting disaster.” In 2019, during his first term in the nation’s highest office, that same showman labeled Chicago, “an embarrassment to the U.S.” In 2025, he wrote on his Truth Social platform that “Chicago is the worst and most dangerous city in the world, by far.” His current words for Chicago are “killing field” and “death trap.”
Coincidentally, that latest assessment from the White House occurred on the very day my wife and I were flying to visit our daughter and son-in-law in (you guessed it) Chicago. It is “Sweet Home Chicago” for them. Not the suburbs of Chicago, mind you, but big-shouldered Chicago proper.
Below is my report on the level of difficulty required to escape the death trap of which the president had so kindly warned us.
Touring the Killing Fields
The first day we were in town, our daughter took us to a hilltop that offers a panorama of the Chicago skyline (photo 1, above). I must admit I was looking mostly for the “killing fields.” We saw soccer fields where children kicked around balls, while adults took in the beautiful evening by sprawling on the grassy knoll. But, if such are the fields where killing takes place, we completely missed it. We moved on.
The nice neighborhood in which we stayed (photo 2 above, proceeding clockwise) was a logical place where evil thieves might seek to kill and destroy, but we spent two peaceful evenings there without incident, despite the heat of late summer. Neither was the night Chicago died.
Figuring out that if I was searching for crime (not to mention murder), it was best not to look out over the Loop or the fanciest areas, I decided to peruse the backstreets. The only thing I saw lying on the pavement, however, was a dog (photo 3), and it was alive. No corpses anywhere, no outlines of bodies drawn in chalk by detectives, not even any blood stains or bullet holes. The same dearth of criminal evidence was found in the parking lot of a very old church behind a mural-adorned building (4). It all looked kind of quaint to me.
I stuck my camera through fences to caputure views inside parks (5), where I have heard it is unsafe to go. Nothing. Certainly, I later decided, if there were a death trap, it would be under the freeway overpass (6). There, however, all I observed was some graffiti. There were no hordes of criminals, no illegal immigrants, not even any homeless people (or encampments).
Lastly, I looked down every dark or shadowy alley (7) I could find, and I didn’t see a single person I would not want to meet there, nor anyone who had met him and therefore met his or her maker.
Throughout my foot tour, vista visits, and car travel, I never heard a single gunshot. I did not even hear sirens, shouts, or screams.
On probably 100 previous trips, we visited the Bean, the White Sox baseball stadium on the South Side (and, of course, Wrigley Field to the north), the museums, the Chicago River, Lake Michigan, the Miracle Mile, the office towers and courthouses, and restaurants in Chinatown and every other ethnic and cultural neighborhood in the city. We have ridden the El, commuter trains, taxis, Ubers, and city buses. We have yet to see evidence that Chicago is – by far – “the worst and most dangerous city in the world.”
Not Saying There Aren’t Issues
As to the Chicago bashing, I assume you understand that the city is caught in the metaphoric crossfire between Illinois Gov. J.B Pritzker, who appears to want the Democratic nomination for the presidency, and the guy who runs our country right now. The latter thinks it behooves him politically to be viewed as “tough on crime in the big cities,” “cracking down on illegal immigration,” and “protecting Americans.”
It must be acknowledged that Chicago has topped the 400-mark in homicides every year for several decades, although the totals now are not nearly as high as in the early 1990s, when they were over 900 annually. In 2024, Chicago ranked 13th among the nation’s large cities in murders per capita. The Windy City (like other metropolises), also suffers from crumbling infrastructure. Thirdly, it also is true that Chicago (like most places) saw an influx of undocumented immigrants during the Biden administration.
Our current president is using those facts to score political points against Mr. Pritzker and to provide a justification for his immigration “crackdowns.” The administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz” and reference to the newly named Department of War are the latest tactics. “Chicago is about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” the Commander in chief wrote this month. “I love the smell of deportations in the morning.”
Later, the president told reporters, “We’re not going to war. We’re going to clean up our cities.” Nobody will object to that. Travelers like me also would welcome federal dollars for interstates, bridges, and other infrastructure needs.
I will continue to keep an eye on Chicago. For now, the scariest evidence of killing that I saw in Chicago was in the pre-Halloween display at Home Depot. I thought you would want photographic proof.
Written by Quentin R. Wittrock, founder of Principle Based Politics.
Look for his periodic posts, as this blog and the Extremely Non-Extreme podcast will explore and promote the ideas of principles and non-extremism in politics.
Principle Based Politics does not endorse or support any particular political candidate or party.
Rick F
Posted at 12:01h, 30 SeptemberGlad you had a nice trip. I did however see the police 1 block from where we had a nice steak dinner on Sunday night near the miracle Mile in downtown Chicago with the shooter still on the loose so streets were quite active, so very glad you had a much less “interesting” trip than we did four weeks ago. But there were hundreds of people along the streets (mostly police) so I never did feel that unsafe, and we didn’t stand around very long. We read in the paper the next day that the person that was shot had passed away so glad you guys had a much less uneventful trip. The previous year following the Vikings to Chicago, Paul Allen was in a clothing store and shooting was less than 50 feet from him and he reported that on his radio show multiple times. He was quite alarmed. Chicago is very safe, until it’s not. Minneapolis is very safe, until it’s not. Everything depends on personal experience, and sometimes luck. Good read as usual.
Quentin
Posted at 12:04h, 30 SeptemberThanks, Rick. Maybe we are just lucky. Safe travels to you this week.
Veronica Schmidt Harvey
Posted at 13:47h, 30 SeptemberAon, the company I worked with for over 18 years had their HQ in Chicago and I have been there many many times. It is a great city and I have never felt unsafe. Portraying cities like Chicago as “the jungle” is just pure craziness. Is there crime? Yes. But you can find that pretty much anywhere.
DKnight
Posted at 15:44h, 30 SeptemberChicago is a great city–took my sons to the museums there years ago. We are blessed to have a big, beautiful and vibrant country, with many great cities and national parks, etc. Yet, why do we choose to accept 500 murders per year–for a decade–in such a cool city? I took another recent trip to St. Louis, also a great place with the amazing Arch. And–we could hardly find an open, functioning gas station in the city. Our cities have been declining in general under deep blue control. We need some political balance in these areas, and we should not accept this decline. Many, many businesses have exited Minneapolis in recent years–why is that? How about LA? Philly? San Francisco? NYC? My oldest son recently took a trip to NYC and reported the subways were a dangerous circus. We have unacceptable murder rates all over the place. Sadly, it is not often the tourists that experience the day-to-day degradation of our great cities, it is the people who live there. Nobody wants militarization or a zillion cops everywhere. But we can still do better–a lot better.
Gary Russell
Posted at 16:51h, 30 SeptemberVeronica is correct. As one of my favorite conservative commentators, Sarah Isgur, likes to say: “Everything’s a trade-off.” To me, the question is NOT if Chicago (or Portland, Memphis or Wash, DC) is safe or not; it’s what freedoms are we willing to trade for more safety? Want to reduce highway deaths to near-zero? Just lower/enforce the speed limit to 10 mph. Same argument holds for drugs, DUIs, gun violence, hate speech, etc. Call it a “spectrum of freedoms” or whatever, but this is the discussion we should have – without “labels”. The American experiment.
V. Putin
Posted at 17:20h, 30 SeptemberHad a chance to visit Pearl Harbor. Didn’t see a single Japanese Zero or any other planes attacking that beautiful island.
Now I’m starting to think they made the whole thing up.
Quentin
Posted at 17:53h, 30 SeptemberPoint well taken, Mr. Rosha. But, didn’t you at least appreciate my musical and poetry references?
Karen Schrempp
Posted at 22:58h, 30 SeptemberI too have been to Chicago many times. Downtown, Wrigley Field, and Lincoln Park. No problems during the day. But never ventured to the Southside at night as that is where the crime is concentrated. Just like I don’t venture out to the Northside or Southside of Minneapolis at night. I had three relatives murdered in north Minnepolis.
Quentin
Posted at 23:46h, 30 SeptemberSorry to hear about your relatives! It is true that most of the shootings are in certain spots.
Rich Shirk
Posted at 13:06h, 01 OctoberQuentin – Congratulations on your trip to Chicago, sounds like you had a perfectly pleasant, normal experience. I dare say, your experience would be common place for the vast majority of people in any major city.
My job required me to travel to most of the major cities of the US, often to commercial and industrial neighborhoods. Even to places like the South Side of Chicago and East St Louis, Newark and Camden New Jersey and Birmingham. I have witnessed the blight in these places. They are difficult neighborhoods, no doubt. But they have existed for centuries, not decades, under both Democrat and Republican administrations and been equally troubled under both. Criticism of that leadership is fair. But none of these places are the “war zones” that are being described and I doubt that many of the detractors have ever been to these places.
Some of these places, like Camden, have undergone remarkable transformations.
What seems to be wholly lacking in the current round of criticism is any acknowledgment of progress. If the standard for silencing critics is to have zero crime and zero murders, then let’s hold both parties equally accountable. Nationwide, violent crime rates have plummeted from the highs of the 70’s and 80’s and, in many of these cities, are at historic lows. Are 500 murders in Chicago too high? Yes. Are there riots in the streets? Mass protests and massive social unrest? No. This is not the mid and late 60’s.
Has there ever been a large city with highly concentrated populations that has been crime free? Name one, if you can. I am not defending any urban violence. I am saying that context is lacking in most of these discussions and accusations.
Now, pull back from the city level to the state level and discuss violent crime rates at that level. Acknowledging that D.C. has the highest murder rate, by far, in 2023, the most recent numbers I could find, 14 of the 16 highest murder rates, at the state level, are ruby red states where those rates are sometimes double the national average. New York came in 40th and California came in 26th. Illinois was in 16th, or 17th spot. Seems that this conversation is equally as valid as the one about city level violence.
Again, I want to say very loudly, I am not an apologist for any violence. Prosecute the perpetrators and lock them up. Please. But do not use misrepresented data as a pretext to federalize cities where violence is actually declining, by significant numbers on an annual basis.
I had lunch with a former business associate who traveled here from Dallas two weeks ago. They were staying at the Hilton in downtown Minneapolis for a number of days. They were amazed at how vibrant and busy downtown Minneapolis is. Additionally, I have friends that live downtown, near the Vikings stadium. They love it there.
We can freely acknowledge that there are problems that need attention in every major city. That acknowledgement does not give license to federalize those cities but should engender thoughtful, practical assistance to remedy those problems.
Gary Russell
Posted at 17:47h, 01 OctoberRich – more great comments. Recently, I heard a comment that these “military interventions” were being unevenly applied to sanctuary/”blue” cities. So I was curious if the readers here felt that same way? For anyone who feels these are the “right” actions, do you also feel they should be applied to all the cities with high crime, regardless of political leanings?