Illinois Lt. Gov. Stratton Responds to Trump’s Imminent Invasion

Summary

Podcast Summary: The MeidasTouch Podcast

Episode: Illinois Lt. Gov. Stratton Responds to Trump’s Imminent Invasion

Date: September 7, 2025
Hosted by: Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas
Key Guest: Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton

---

Overview

This urgent episode addresses the increasingly fraught political climate in Illinois as the Trump administration gears up for a two-pronged federal operation in Chicago: an ICE “surge” targeting immigrant communities (including at courthouses), followed by a planned deployment of the military under the pretense of restoring order. The Meiselas brothers, joined by Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, break down the reality on the ground, the authoritarian nature of these moves, and what real public safety looks like in contrast to the administration’s tactics.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Manufactured Crisis: ICE “Surge” and Military Threat

• The Trump administration is accused of stoking fear and provoking unrest in Chicago as a pretext for military intervention.
• ICE agents are targeting vulnerable locations, including domestic violence courts, churches, and schools.
  • Victims and advocates fear that ICE is arresting women outside courthouse hearings, dissuading them from seeking justice or protection.
  • “Women are being forced to choose between staying in abusive relationships … or getting deported if they show up.” – Ben [01:17]

Notable Quote

"This is a manufactured crisis … there is no emergency in Chicago. We have made it very clear at every level of government we do not want them here … This is a classic page out of an authoritarian’s playbook."
— Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton [05:58]

---

2. The Chilling Effect on Domestic Violence Victims

• In a cited news report, witnesses describe ICE arresting a woman outside her scheduled court appearance. Local advocates worry the presence of federal agents deters survivors from seeking help, undermining trust in the legal system.
  • "Survivors are going to know ICE was here. They're going to have hesitancy about seeking protections..." – Tessa Kuipers, Victim Advocate [05:01]
  • The Network Advocating Against Domestic Violence urges for virtual hearings to protect vulnerable people.

---

3. Lieutenant Governor Stratton’s Response & Advice to Residents

• Stratton details the state’s clear opposition to federal intervention, urging peaceful protest:
  • “They want people to take the bait so that they can justify their authoritarian actions ... use your First Amendment rights, but do so peacefully." – Lt. Gov. Stratton [07:49]
• Warns provocations like masked, unidentified agents snatching people off streets are efforts to inflame tensions and provide excuses for military escalation.
• Emphasizes: Violent or chaotic responses, even if provoked, can harm the most vulnerable and play into the regime’s pretext.

Notable Quote

"Any good, decent human being would be heartbroken by what we're seeing and what we expect to see. But we need people to express themselves peacefully ... Don't take the bait."
— Lt. Gov. Stratton [07:49]

---

4. Root Causes of Community Safety vs. Militarization

• Ben notes that “heavy handed policing … is not a solution to a systemic crisis.”
• Stratton speaks from personal experience about community needs for safety—access to healthcare (including mental health), jobs, education, and opportunity. None of these are addressed by military occupation.
• The Trump administration is accused of stripping away violence prevention funding ($800 million) and social programs—thus fueling the very instability they claim to fight.

Notable Quote

"No one, and I mean absolutely no one, has said what we want is an armed military roaming the streets of our communities. That is not what makes people feel safer... What could do some good is Donald Trump releasing the $800 million in violence prevention funding that he has slashed for states like Illinois."
— Lt. Gov. Stratton [10:54]

---

5. Stratton’s U.S. Senate Run & Broader Political Stakes

• Stratton announces a campaign for the U.S. Senate, pledging to fight for stability, economic opportunity, and to push back against authoritarian tactics.
  • Calls for leaders with “new voices, fresh ideas” who won’t be rubber stamps for Trump.
  • “It’s not just about fighting against Donald Trump, although I’m ready to do that. It’s also about making sure that we fight for the people.” – Lt. Gov. Stratton [14:20]
• Points out widespread policy failures: tariffs harming the economy, rubber-stamp federal government, and lack of support for working families.

Notable Quote

"Because he's a failure, he wants to distract by doing things like threatening states like Illinois and cities of Chicago, because we won't bow down to him. And you're right, we will not."
— Lt. Gov. Stratton [14:20]

---

Memorable Moments and Key Quotes

• Ben outlines the regime’s two-pronged plan and discusses the chilling ICE presence at domestic violence courts, making victims “choose between safety and deportation.” [01:17–03:08]
• Local Advocate Tessa Kuipers: “Just making people, survivors, unsafer.” [04:38]
• Lt. Gov. Stratton calls for peaceful resistance and urges Illinoisians not to “take the bait.” [07:49]
• On what really makes communities safer: Stratton points to restored social programs—not soldiers in the streets. [10:54]
• On her Senate run and Illinois’s stance: “We will not bow down to him … Government should be a partner and not a roadblock.” [14:20–16:27]

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Protests and ICE tactics in Chicago: [01:17]–[05:33]
• Lt. Gov. Stratton joins, discusses manufactured crisis: [05:33]–[07:00]
• Advice for peaceful protest, parallels to LA: [07:00]–[09:21]
• Community safety, root causes vs. militarization: [09:21]–[13:29]
• Senate run, stakes for democracy and stability: [13:29]–[16:27]
• Campaign info & sign-off: [16:27]–[16:48]

---

Conclusion

This episode sounded the alarm about civil rights, democratic values, and real solutions for public safety. The MeidasTouch hosts and Lt. Gov. Stratton expose the manufactured nature of the “crisis” and call for peaceful resistance and systemic investments in communities, not the escalation of military force. Stratton’s Senate run embodies a broader call to fight back against authoritarianism and failed leadership at the federal level.

To learn more about Lt. Gov. Stratton’s campaign: [julianastratton.com]
Podcast Merch, further info: [store.meidastouch.com]

“Don’t take the bait.” — Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton [07:49]

Transcript

[A]

This episode is brought to you by Lifelock. When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID and contact details. It's just one of the many places that has your personal info and if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft. Lifelock monitors millions of data points a second. If you become a victim, they'll fix it, guaranteed or your money back. Save up to 40% your first [e-mail] podcast terms apply.

[B]

Back to School is better With Family Freedom from T Mobile, we'll pay off four phones up to $3200 and give you four free phones, all on America's largest 5G network. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com FamilyFreedom up to $800 per line via virtual prepaid card typically takes 15 days. Free phones via 24 monthly bill credits with finance agreement eg Apple iPhone16128 gigabyte $829.99 Eligible trade in eg iPhone 11 Pro for well qualified credits end and balance due if you pay off early or cancel contact T Mo.

[A]

That was from the no Kings protest. Chicago's been the site of the largest peaceful protests across the country, 100% peaceful protest taking place there and now the Trump regime wants to invade it with the United States military. They have a two prong plan for an invasion plan. Part one do an ICE surge, put all the ICE agents, attack the community, provoke people, make people angry, try to get people to resist ICE and then swoop in with the military. We saw this in Los Angeles and say now we need to save you from the violence we're provoking on the street. I just want to show you again just an overhead view of the size and scale of that no Kings protest in Chicago back in June. Let me just show you one more clip of it now. One of the things we're seeing ICE agents doing to try to provoke the community, community as well is there. We know that they're in immigration courthouses, but they're now arresting women outside their domestic violence hearings starting in Chicago. And so women are being forced to choose between staying in abusive relationships and not or not calling out their abusers and getting assaulted or killed or getting deported if they show up. That's one of the domestic violence courts is where ICE is hunting, where they're trying to find their prey. Just show you a short clip and of it's a longer story that local CBS News in Chicago did a great story here. Play this clip.

[C]

Witnesses tell us that agents took at least one person into federal custody ahead of their scheduled court appearance. Our Sabrina Franz has been looking into that case. Sabrina Victim advocates are saying that this has people turning away from their scheduled appearances. Marie it would appear that's already happening. We were standing in the lobby of this courthouse today and while we were there, folks were asking for people who would otherwise be in court, whether they be defendants or plaintiffs in cases that were heard today. Those people were not there and the reason given they were too afraid to be there. The courthouse at 555 West Harrison opens at 8:30 each weekday. One woman whose name we are withholding because of the nature of her case was set to appear at 9am we're told she didn't make it there. She was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement according to this court document. Witnesses say they saw this man, who they believe to be a federal officer, assist in her arrest outside the courthouse about 15 minutes before her scheduled time to appear. A victim advocate asked why she was being arrested and told us an agent said, quote, we're going to speak speak to her about her immigration status before putting the woman in handcuffs. CBS News Chicago has learned the woman in this case was the accused abuser arrested by the Chicago Police Department and charged with two misdemeanor counts of domestic battery. Court records say the charges were dropped today. Sounds like as soon as we got word my advocates and a bunch of other advocates and legal aid attorneys came down and started passing out know your rights information. Tessa Kuipers works as a victim advocate at the courthouse. She says she worries this will deter victims of domestic violence from reporting their abusers. Just making people survivors unsafer.

[A]

Right.

[C]

Obviously survivors are going to know ICE was here. They're going to have hesitancy about seeking protections, about connecting with their advocate and or to protection and criminal charges that might be a tool for safety for them. The CEO of the Network Advocating Against Domestic Violence encouraged virtual hearings moving forward, adding in part, quote, these actions will undermine survivors trust in our legal system to be a resource for them and will discourage survivors from coming forward if they fear immigration will be at their next court hearing and take their loved ones.

[A]

Let's bring in lieutenant governor from Illinois, Juliana Stratton. Lieutenant Governor Stratton, want to talk to you about everything that's going on in the state. That two prong plan ICE looking to provoke the people so that there can be a military invasion. Like the fact that I even have to say that in the United States of America is shocking. What's the latest well, the latest that.

[D]

We know is that the ICE surge is going to begin perhaps as soon as today, and it's going to be exactly that. This is a manufactured crisis. Let's start with this surge. We're going into places like churches and schools and as we just saw courthouses and stoking fear and knowing that people are going react. And then when people do react, when they raise their voices, when they resist and protest, then the Trump administration is going to claim, well, now we have to come in and restore order. There is no emergency in Chicago. There's no emergency in Illinois. We have made it very clear at every level of government we do not want them here. And there's no need to federalize the National Guard and have a military presence on American soil here in the city of Chicago. This is a classic page out of an authoritarian's playbook.

[A]

What should the people know right now? Because obviously the plan is to provoke them. I live in Los Angeles, so there was a very small area in downtown, a few city blocks, where there were some arrests that were taking place. And, and there were some actions by people that objectively you can say should not have taken place. Overwhelmingly 98% peaceful, but the whole entire pro. The whole situation was in the smallest city block area. And the Trump regime used that as a pretext to say the entire city is burning down and we need to invade. And then they use that as the prediction. So how do we avoid that situation in a city like Chicago?

[D]

Well, the same thing. I mean, we have made it very clear. The governor and I have both made it very clear that we know that people will want to raise their voices. They should do so peacefully. They should express their. The power of their voices as the way to push back. And it should be done so peacefully because we know that the goal is that they want us to take the bait. They want people to take the bait so that they can justify their authoritarian actions. And so we have told everyone we know that this is going to want you seeing people snatched off the streets by masked agents who don't have any markings on their uniforms being stuffed into unmarked vans. It's going to provoke people wanting to raise their voices and protest. People are going to be upset. Any good, decent human being would be heartbroken by what we're seeing and what we expect see. But we need people to express themselves peacefully because any form of violence or that type of, you know, intensifying those efforts could really lead to the most vulnerable and the people that we are really trying to protect being harmed. And we can't let that happen. So we have to be focused. Don't take the bait if you're going to lift your voices. And I believe that everyone should and use their First Amendment, exercise their First Amendment rights, but do so peacefully, because we are not going to take the bait and let them think that they can justify what they're trying to do.

[A]

You've devoted your life to addressing criminal justice, the criminal justice system and systemic root causes of crime. How to stop it, proactive measures, community engagement, building trust in communities. There is a lot that is required there in order to bring down the root causes of crime, in addition to just heavy handed policing, which in some cases is needed. But there is, you know, but there is a need for community involvement and building that trust. And it seems that one of the things this Trump regime has been doing is removing the types of funding and programs and economic opportunities. We saw the horrible jobs report coming out on Friday. And when those things start to happen, we know just like during the first Trump administration, you start to see homicide rates creep up and crime creeps up. And that to me is an untold story that he's, he's bringing in the military, but he's also creating the circumstances to allow for crime to rise. After years and years and your career of, of dealing with it and trying to find how do we systemically address bringing in the military is not a solution at all yet alone a systemic solution to a systemic crisis?

[D]

Absolutely. I mean, I think about the fact that I have personally been impacted by gun violence. My family has been impacted, and I've talked to so many people. I live on the south side of Chicago and I've talked to so many people about what they need in a moment like, like this. What do people need to heal their communities? What do they need to feel safe? And I can tell you unequivocally to all of the experts that I've spoken to, and I'm including as experts people who have been directly impacted survivors. No one, and I mean absolutely no one, has said what we want is an armed military roaming the streets of our communities. That is not what makes people feel safer. We, what makes people feel safer are the exact things that Donald Trump is stripping away. Access to health care, including mental health care. Being able to put food on the table, knowing that you have a good paying job, that you can take care of your family. What helps people, when we will talk about the root causes, is making sure that people have access to opportunity, including education and other types of opportunities to close the wealth gap and to create generational wealth for their children. But that's not what we're seeing from this administration. We're seeing an administration that wants to bring the military and wants us to normalize it. And that's the thing. I mean, I'm constantly just amazed at the number of questions like, might this do some good? No, it will not do good. It will not do good for us to normalize a military presence on American soil. What could do some good is Donald Trump releasing the $800 million in violence prevention funding that he has slashed for states like Illinois. We are doing the work here. Is there more work to do? Absolutely. Anytime we see any level of crime, it's unacceptable, and we have to do the work. But a military presence and this chaos of a wannabe dictator, it is not something that's going to make our community safer. And quite frankly, Donald Trump doesn't care about safe. He doesn't care about reducing violence or crime, and he doesn't care about making sure that people have what they need. We are going to do this work here in Illinois. And by the way, it's one of the reasons why I'm running for the United States Senate so I can fight for all of those things that we need to see happening for our communities.

[A]

Tell us about the Senate race. Because there are major issues taking place right now when it comes to our federal government, which seems to just be a rubber stamp for. For Donald Trump. Again, horrible jobs report that came out on Friday. You have all of these Trump sycophants out there who are one by one, just saying, oh, it's Jerome Powell's fault. It's this person. It's the person who's tariffing the world's fault without legal authority, who's crushing our economy, who's attacking Canada. I mean, you probably speak to a ton of people across the border who are like, what the hell is going on crushing our tourism industry? It's obvious where this is coming from, so tell us about that.

[D]

Well, right. I mean, I'm traveling the state and I'm talking to people every single day across the state of Illinois about what they're looking for in this particular moment. And even though there are so many policy issues to choose from, too many to choose from, what I hear more than anything else is that people are looking for someone who will stand up and fight for them and who will push back against this chaos that we're seeing coming out of Washington, D.C. in the Trump administration. People want to know that someone is going to fight against what's happening. I mean, you talk about the instability. You mentioned the tariffs. There is so much instability in our country right now. We do not have the kind of leadership that people deserve to bring stability either to our economy, to our business community, but to everyday working families, people who are just trying to make ends meet, make sure that they have affordable housing, make sure that they can put food on the table and can get to a doctor when they need to see a doctor. Those are the things that people are looking for someone to fight for. And they don't want people who are just going to go along to get along or the same old, same old. They want new voices, fresh voices, fresh ideas. And that's the kind of leadership that I'll bring. It's not just about fighting against Donald Trump, although I'm ready to do that. It's also about making sure that we fight for the people. And that's what has to be centered. Donald Trump said that he was going to do these things. He hasn't. And this is an example of failed leadership at every single level. And because he's a failure, he wants to distract by doing things like threatening states like Illinois and cities of Chicago, because we won't bow down to him. And you're right, we will not. So this is an example of how we're seeing a failed administration. And we need leaders who are going to come in to the United States Senate who will fight for the people, fight against Donald Trump and get some things done to make their lives better. Because government should be a partner and not a roadblock.

[A]

Where can people find out more about the campaign?

[D]

Go to julianastratten.com we have a lot of momentum and I'd love to see you join the team.

[A]

Great to have you. Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, we appreciate you. Please come back. We want to follow more what's happening there. What spot what's happening in the campaign. Great to see you anytime.

[D]

Thanks so much, Ben.

[A]

Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. New Midas merch. Head to store.midas touch.com today and get yourself the best pro democracy gear and show your support. That's store.midas touch.com.