President Donald Trump is being used as a battering ram in the 2019 mayoral campaign in Chicago, with Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his opponent, fired Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, both invoking the commander-in-chief's name in a bid to discredit each other.
"Washington is in a world of hurt. We're in a place where our government is completely ineffective. And I think [Trump] is an incredibly polarizing figure — just like Rahm Emanuel … Absolutely, I do," McCarthy told the Chicago Sun-Times' Fran Spielman on Thursday.
Emanuel then released a web ad in which a narrator says, "Mayoral candidate Garry McCarthy has a very big fan," and switches to Trump saying, "The head of the police in Chicago is a person I know. He's a phenomenal guy." The narrator concludes: "The Trump-McCarthy ticket? Phenomenally bad for Chicago."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.