Brandon Johnson has reached the 100-day mark as mayor of Chicago. His actions and statements in that time suggest that the city will face continued decline. He remains beholden to the group most responsible for his election: the Chicago Teachers Union. And when it comes to the twin dangers shadowing Chicago’s future—crime and fiscal irresponsibility—he has set the stage to make them even worse. …
The one short-term hope for Chicago may be, of all people, Illinois governor J. B. Pritzker, who has presidential hopes for 2028 and must know that they would be dashed if Chicago were to fall into chaos and insolvency. Pritzker has already blocked Johnson’s idea of a transaction tax on finance—one of Chicago’s most mobile industries. Look for the governor to try to rein in Johnson where he can while pretending to support him. Still, when left to his own devices, Johnson is on course to be the most damaging Chicago mayor in living memory.
[All I can do is note that Johnson will have stiff competition for that ‘honor,’ but he’s off to a fast start. I doubt that anyone other than the local teachers union had much hope that Johnson would address the real issues, but perhaps no one could have guessed that he’d be quite as determined to ignore them in favor of his own hard-Left priorities as Johnson has proven thus far. — Ed]
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