following a series of legal setbacks over his military deployments in US cities. The Republican had sent troops into several cities run by Democrats during his first year back in power, in what he called a crackdown on illegal immigration and crime.  Local leaders slammed the moves as authoritarian overreach and launched a string of successful legal challenges, with the US Supreme Court last week blocking the Chicago deployment. "We are removing the National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, despite the fact that CRIME has been greatly reduced by having these great Patriots in those cities, and ONLY by that fact," Trump said on his Truth Social network. In the message on New Year's Eve, Trump said the three cities "were GONE if it weren't for the Federal Government stepping in."

"We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again -- Only a question of time!" Trump added. Trump's deployments of National Guard troops have been a centerpiece of his hardline policies on immigration and crime since returning to the White House in January. The 79-year-old billionaire and former reality star has also sent the National Guard into the capital Washington and to Memphis, Tennessee, and threatened to send them to San Francisco. But the Trump administration had already begun to pull some troops from Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland in recent weeks as court judgments went against it. "He lost in court when Illinois stood up against his attempt to militarize American cities with the National Guard. Now Trump is forced to stand down," Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said on X. (Bssnews)