When all else fails, just blame President Trump. That seems to be Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan. Friday Emanuel called out President Trump and the “toxic environment” he has created as playing a role in Jussie Smollett’s hate crime hoax.

“Look, I’ve always said from day one, this is a Trump-free zone, the city of Chicago, and I mean it,” Emanuel said during a press conference on Thursday. “Let me be really clear about something: The only reason Jussie Smollett thought he could take advantage of a hoax about a hate crime is for the environment, the toxic environment that Donald Trump created.”

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Blames 'Toxic Environment' Created by Trump for Jussie Smollett 'Hoax' (Video) https://t.co/AnPJnpJh7t pic.twitter.com/BBL0ZCyiS8

— TheWrap (@TheWrap) March 29, 2019

The mayor of America’s third largest city declared that city “a Trump-free zone”, which means the president is not welcome. This is Chicago we are talking about. Emanuel has enough problems trying to run the city without including President Trump as a part of Smollett’s phony hate crime drama. Emanuel went on to justify his remark by bringing in a favorite trope from the left’s book of talking points. He said Trump drew a moral equivalency between the good and bad people involved in the Charlottesville protest from almost a year ago.

Emanuel said the “moral equivalency” Trump drew between promoters and opponents of “bigotry” was unacceptable, calling out Trump’s declaration last April that there were good people “on both sides” of the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, which left one person dead.

“ President Trump should literally take his politics and move it aside. He’s created a toxic environment. Now he’s created a toxic vicious cycle in my view,” he added. “The only reason Jussie Smollett thought he could get away with this hoax about a hate crime is because of the environment President Trump created.”

An easy counter to Emanuel’s accusation against President Trump is the environment created by the mayor himself. Yes, he declared the city a “Trump-free zone”, which is absurd on its own but he also sides with lawlessness over federal law. The reason Emanuel made headlines about Trump not being welcome in Chicago was over Trump’s crackdown on sanctuary cities. Emanuel sided with DREAMers and illegal aliens over the citizens of his city. He put politics above the rule of law. He also said that Chick-fil-A values “are not Chicago values” back in 2012. He sided with a Chicago alderman’s plan to block the chicken sandwich chain’s plan to open an additional restaurant downtown.

So, the same reason Jussie Smollett gave for his phony attack is the same reason Emanuel is giving for the phony attack. It’s the fault of the bad Orange Man and his supporters. This is quite an intersection of Trump Derangement Syndrome. If a potentially mentally unstable television actor snaps and blames others for a publicity stunt gone bad, that is one thing. For the mayor of one of the country’s largest cities to blame the President of the United States for a phony hate crime committed in his city, well, that’s a whole new layer of crazy.

Emanuel was not happy that Trump commented on the Smollett case in the press. The president said he’ll have federal look into Smollett’s case after the charges against him were dropped this week. Emanuel’s response was to tell Trump to butt out.

“My recommendation is the president go to Opening Day baseball, sit on the sidelines and stay out of this,” Emanuel told a group of reporters.

That’s not exactly Emanuel taking it to the mattresses against Trump but I guess that is the best he’s got now. Chicago is not exactly a shining example of stalwart leadership. Emanuel’s declaration that President Trump isn’t welcome in the city implies that Trump supporters are also not welcome. Rahm should welcome all the help he can get.