If You Live in Chicago, Move Out ASAP

Chicago has an awful lot of isolated incidents. 

Each crime is unique, of course, because if you decide to go granular enough, every single thing is unique. Each atom, proton, muon, or, in this case, obscene criminal act is unique. 

But trends are made up of lots of unique events with qualities similar enough to create a category, and the latest outrage from Chicago is part of a horrifying trend.

Woman, 26, is set ablaze on Chicago train by male passenger months after Ukrainian refugee died at hands of subway rider https://t.co/FefXjd579a

— Daily Mail (@DailyMail) November 18, 2025

There is a video on social media of the event, but I decided not to share because…well, it was a woman set on fire by a career criminal, and if you want to see it, go find it yourself. If this were simply an isolated event, I wouldn’t be writing about it anyway. It would be a horrific tragedy, not yet another tale of a Blue city with policies that put every citizen at risk every day. 

Judge Teresa Molina-Gonzalez: “I can’t keep everybody in jail because the State’s Attorney wants me to.” So she released a man who had just knocked a woman unconscious, and then he set another woman on fire on the #cta.https://t.co/unHZpWedlR

— Evan McKenzie 🏰 (@evanmck) November 21, 2025

The man who committed this horrific act wasn’t just some rando who had a psychotic break. As horrific as it is, no government, no matter how vigilant, could prevent every tragedy. People have psychotic breaks, and you can’t always predict who or when. 

But no, this was a career criminal whom the State’s Attorney begged the judge to detain because he was a dangerous man bound to commit horrific crimes, but in Brandon Johnson’s city, horrific crimes happen on every day ending in “y,” and he—and Governor Pritzker—are just fine with that. 

Chicago judge named and shamed after she ignored prosecutor’s pleas to jail serial criminal before he
‘boarded train and set woman on fire’ pic.twitter.com/vpxggCGbMr

— Simo Saadi🇺🇸🇲🇦 (@Simo7809957085) November 21, 2025

That’s not the accusation of some right-wing commentator hoping to score political points off a tragedy. It’s just a fact. Brandon Johnson and the entire criminal justice system have created a city where crime isn’t just a fact of life, but the result of public policies that have defined criminals as victims who should be coddled and set free to terrorize the community. 

Chicago, after ditching Lori Lightfoot’s chaos, you somehow handed the keys to Brandon Johnson, a former teachers’ union organizer whose “progressive” agenda has tanked the city’s approval ratings to historic lows. But was this really the people’s choice, or a backroom install… pic.twitter.com/96CYtjyav3

— 🇺🇸Steve2A🇺🇸God🇺🇸Family🇺🇸Country🇺🇸 (@lakemonstercl1) November 21, 2025

It’s not just that the criminals who make Chicago the murder capital of America are “known wolves,” although they are. The police have an awful time knowing what to do with people who look ready to pop but who have yet to commit the crimes they are determined to. Precrime is not a thing in America, and we have no systematic way to force people into isolation in mental health facilities. 

But in Blue cities, and especially Chicago, the vast majority of the people terrorizing the citizens are actual criminals who have been arrested time and again, and the system lets them go. There is no need to keep a watch on people with the potential to commit crimes here; they have been caught and released, despite the obvious danger they present. 

The criminals are responsible for each individual act they commit, but the judges and politicians are responsible for intentionally creating a system that points them at innocents and invites them to do their worst. 

How does this happen? It’s the public employees’ unions for the most part, and Brandon Johnson is the perfect candidate for them. His career has been about pillaging the city for the benefit of the Marxist teachers’ union, and public employees’ unions are the largest and most reliable voting bloc in any major city. 

We often blame the entire population for the election of radical leftists in Blue cities, and I admit that there is some justice to the accusation. If all working-class people rose up as one, they would, collectively, outmass the voting blocs that back Democrats. But that almost never happens, because a huge fraction of people don’t vote for any number of reasons, while the Democrat blocs who live off the taxpayers are reliable, and heavily concentrated in urban areas. 

Throw in the cultural elite, the propaganda mills of the media, and the left is almost unstoppable. That’s how you get the Brandon Johnsons in power. 

Ordinary citizens are left with a choice: leave, or put up with it. And leaving is incredibly expensive and can tear apart lives that have been embedded in places for decades or even generations. 

The pendulum will swing back, but just a bit, I am afraid. Look at Detroit, which, while inching back after half a century of decline, is miles from recovering from horrific leftist rule. It will never recover. 

Neither, I am afraid, will Chicago. 

Join Hot Air VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.