Richard Luthmann and I were back for the twenty-fifth edition of the Unknown.
It was another jam-packed episode talking about Elon Musk promising to save American taxpayers $4 billion daily, Trump wanting to take over Gaza, and fourteen minutes in we did another edition of What the Hale$.
An hour and fifteen minutes in, we welcomed Zoe Leigh. Zoe is part of a group trying to turn Chicago red.
Chicago Flips Red aims to turn Illinois into a red state, push out corrupt officials and hold leaders accountable.
The organization demonstrates that even within the solidly “blue wall” of Illinois, where Donald Trump lost by 11 percentage points to Kamala Harris, and in Black Chicago, there exists a faction of dissatisfied Black voters who would instead identify as “red” and look forward to these next four years with Trump as President.
They believe that Trump’s presidency could spur progress, restore the city’s integrity and benefit Black people.
“People are reaching out to us, wanting to take this movement nationwide,” said Jessica Jackson, a Chicago Flips Red activist. “It made sense at one point for Black Americans to support Democrats, but times have changed, and we need to understand what each party stands for in terms of economic survival.”
Like counties in other states that have successfully flipped, fought for resources, and secured their rights, CFR is committed to fighting for African Americans who aspire to stability and to keep what they deserve. The organization also wants to spark conversations about critical topics in the Black community, like financial literacy, knowledge of the law and political empowerment.
Core members Jackson, Patrice Stewart, Zoe Leigh, Danielle Carter, David Mason and others have united over personal injustices they say they’ve incurred from the city government and the challenges posed by what they see as illegal immigration in Chicago.
We spoke with her about that, but before talking Trump, we talked about Jackie Sample, and the abuse in her court case.
Zoe said there was enormous abuse and corruption in Jackie’s case. There’s so much abuse that Zoe told us that Jackie could only get relief in federal court.
Jackie’s ex-husband has absconded with tens of millions in assets the two accumulated during their decade long marriage. This was done brazenly while several DuPage County judges looked the other way.
Jackie and several of her friends believe that this is done in part because she is a woman and black. Zoe disagreed that the corruption was racial or sexist, but she said that there was still significant corruption.
I don’t know if there is a racial or sexist element, but having been at multiple hearings, there is a palpable difference between the way Jackie is treated and everyone else who is in front of the same judge: lawyer, litigant, or court appointee.
On the issue of politics, Zoe told us that Democrats have taken the African American community for granted for six decades.
She said the inner-city neighborhoods are full of blight and crime, and the Democratic leadership have ignored them, assuming those votes.
She told us that President Trump is the right man to change things and to make a huge shift in voting patterns because he has faced lawfare.
He has fought off, she told us, several criminal cases and civil cases, and he’s still standing.
If he can defeat his political enemies, he can make inroads into the African American community.
Zoe agreed with me that the issue of illegal immigration may be potent.
She said that she believed that African American residents in Chicago have no use for illegal immigrants, nor do they have any use for the sanctuary city policies of the Democratic machine.
Chicago residents are voicing frustration with Mayor Brandon Johnson’s commitment to shielding the city’s undocumented migrant population from federal immigration crackdowns, citing concerns about community safety and strained resources.
This comes as border czar Tom Homan declared that Chicago would be "ground zero" for immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans.
Mayor Johnson has doubled down on his opposition, vowing to uphold Chicago’s sanctuary city policies."I find it unconscionable that this administration would attempt to create not just division but fear within our public schools," Johnson said, referring to potential federal raids. He directed city departments to "stand firm and uphold the local ordinance" in compliance with the Illinois Trust Act, which prohibits local law enforcement from assisting federal immigration enforcement efforts.
However, many residents feel the city’s priorities are misplaced. P Rae Easley, a Chicagoan and host of "Black Excellence Hour," voiced her concerns during a recent appearance on "Fox & Friends First," Thursday.
I asked Zoe about the photo essay of the south side of Chicago I did, where I found all sorts of garbage everywhere but a garbage can.
I asked her if the residents bore any responsibility for letting their neighborhoods disintegrate in garbage.
Zoe disagreed. She said the problem with the lack of resources: the lack of streets and sanitation picking up the garbage.
She said that the problem was much bigger than garbage in the streets, but a lack of resources.
It will be a tough climb to turn Chicago red. The last Republican Chicago Mayor was “Big” Bill Thompson, who was mayor from 1915-1923 and 1927-1931. His final four years were especially notorious as Thompson took millions in bribes from Al Capone and his organization “The Outfit”.
During his return in 1927, backed by Al Capone, Thompson’s political antics took a turn for the surreal.
The alleged infusion of a quarter-million dollars into his campaign by Capone is a of how deeply crime syndicates had infiltrated the political system.
After Thompson’s disastrous reign- which included the St. Valentine’s Day massacre remaining unsolved- Democrat Anton Cermak took over. Cermak took a bullet for Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR). He was followed by Democrat William Kelly, who first created the machine.
Richard J. Daley perfected the machine; his son, Richard M. Daley, kept it going.
Meanwhile, Republicans have been left rudderless, gaining less than twenty percent of the city’s vote.
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