“Chicago is the murder capital of the world,” Donald Trump declared on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday. Over the Labor Day holiday weekend alone, 58 people were shot in the city – eight of them fatally – in 37 separate incidents. Those grim statistics contribute to the total of 278 murders in the Windy City so far this year.
According to the Chicago’s mayor’s office, that should be counted as some sort of success. Yes, it’s a reduction on 2024’s even bloodier homicide figure, but it remains high enough to put the city on track to be one of the most dangerous in the United States for yet another year. Crime rates in other categories also remain high in Chicago. Motor vehicle theft rates, for example, are almost double what they were in 2019.
