It's been reasonably clear for a while that immigration and crime are Donald Trump's two best (relatively speaking) issues in a second-term agenda that is generally quite unpopular. These are also issues that tend to excite the MAGA base, particularly since the Trump-Vance campaign relentlessly combined them during the 2024 presidential election to suggest America was drowning in an immigrant-driven national crime wave.
John Oliver took aim at President Donald Trump's White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller on Last Week Tonight Sunday branding him a f*cking loser that even white supremacists must be embarrassed by, after the top aide's speech to police officers in Memphis last week. John Oliver slams Stephen Miller for his unhinged Memphis speech: "What a fucking loser. White supremacy has to be embarrassed. This is your champion?" pic.twitter.com/imiRTkLQ9T Blue Georgia (@BlueATLGeorgia) October 6, 2025
The Trump administration has controversially deployed federal agents in several U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Chicago, claiming it was necessary to fight crime. Local and state officials have publicly denounced the federal crackdown, but thus far the elected representatives from these areas speaking out in opposition have been mostly Democrats like D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
Throughout his time in office, Trump has criticized Democratic-led cities for what he calls "radical left" policies on criminal justice. Those attacks have grown sharper in recent days, as the president took the extraordinary step of nationalizing the D.C. police force and deploying the National Guard all while signaling other cities may be next. Democrats have decried Trump's actions, arguing that while crime did surge nationwide during the pandemic, numbers have since fallen.