Donald Trump branded ‘wannabe dictator’ after ‘I love the smell of deportations’ post

Donald Trump has posted a bizarre AI-generated image comparing his planned federal crackdown in Chicago to the 1979 film ‘Apocalypse Now’, sparking a furious backlash

Donald Trump has been slammed as a “wannabe dictator” after sharing a peculiar AI-generated post on social media that likened his planned crime offensive in Chicago to “Apocalypse Now”.

The US President uploaded a screenshot to Truth Social on Saturday declaring: “‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning …’ Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.”

The artificially created image seems to mock the classic war film by casting Trump in the role of Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, one of the movie’s primary villains.

The post has triggered fierce condemnation across Chicago, with the state’s governor denouncing the President as a “wannabe dictator” ahead of the looming federal intervention.

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Taking to his own social media account in response, JB Pritzker, amongst Trump’s harshest opponents, accused the President of “threatening to go to war with an American city”. He posted on X: “The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city.”, reports the Mirror.

“This is not a joke. This is not normal. Donald Trump isn’t a strongman, he’s a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.”

In a brief yet forceful retort, Illinois Democratic representative Mike Quigley declared that Trump had “spoken like a true tyrant” with his statement. Meanwhile, Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson penned his own X post, writing: “The President’s threats are beneath the honor of our nation, but the reality is that he wants to occupy our city and break our Constitution.

“We must defend our democracy from this authoritarianism by protecting each other and protecting Chicago from Donald Trump.”

The statement and subsequent backlash follow the President’s pledge that the federal government would be “going in” to Illinois’ biggest city.

During an event last week where he revealed that US Space Command would relocate from Colorado to Huntsville, Alabama, Trump finally put an end to weeks of conjecture by confirming his intention to deploy federal forces to the city. He informed journalists: “We’re going in. I didn’t say when, we’re going in.”

The declaration signals the President is pressing forward with proposals for a federal intervention in Chicago as part of his efforts to tackle what he has branded as spiralling crime.

He faced recent criticism for executing a similar manoeuvre in California, where he sent federal troops to Los Angeles in a contentious bid to tackle illegal immigration. A federal court in the state determined last week that he had breached the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act and unlawfully deployed National Guard and active-duty US Marines to Los Angeles.