In yet another textbook case of Trump Derangement Syndrome clouding Democrat judgment, Chicago’s far-left leadership just got a rude awakening. Mayor Brandon Johnson, the poster child for progressive incompetence, apparently thought he could call President Trump’s bluff. Big mistake. Unlike the career politicians Johnson is used to dealing with, when this president says something, he means it — and he backs it up. Chicago, under its brainless leadership, just learned that the hard way.
First came the hammer blow in New York, where the Trump administration froze roughly $18 billion in federal funding for two massive infrastructure projects. The reason? To stop those dollars from being funneled through so-called “equity” requirements — what the administration rightly called “unconstitutional DEI principles.”
That should have been the warning shot heard around the country. But apparently, Brandon Johnson, like so many other clueless Democrats running America’s big blue cities into the ground, missed the memo. As such, Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), announced on Friday, via a post to X:
$2.1 billion in Chicago infrastructure projects — specifically the Red Line Extension and the Red and Purple Modernization Project — have been put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting.
And on Friday, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a statement:
This week, USDOT issued an interim final rule (IFR) barring race- and sex-based contracting requirements from federal grants.
To continue implementation of this rule, USDOT today sent letters to the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) to inform them that two projects — the CTA Red Line Extension and the CTA Red and Purple Modernization Program — are also under administrative review to determine whether any unconstitutional practices are occurring.
But when the obsession gets so bad that you start intentionally harming the very residents of your city — and on top of that, risk losing billions in federal dollars for critical infrastructure projects — well, at some point, the FAFO game stops being a game.
Then again, that assumes rational thinking, and if there’s one thing these leftist mayors have proven, it’s that rationality isn’t part of their playbook.
“Illinois, like New York, is well known to promote race- and sex-based contracting and other racial preferences as a public policy,” the [DOT] said Friday.
“Together, these critical reviews are intended to ensure no additional federal dollars go towards discriminatory, illegal, and wasteful contracting practices,” it continued. “The American people don’t care what race or gender construction workers, pipefitters, or electricians are. They just want these massive projects finally built quickly and efficiently.”
“Secretary [Sean] Duffy and USDOT are committed to conducting these reviews as fast as possible so reimbursements can move forward. Unfortunately, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries’ decision to shut down the government has negatively affected the Department’s staffing resources for carrying out this important analysis,” the Department of Transportation also said.