Mayor Brandon Johnson revived his crusade to tax the rich during the annual Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast hosted by the civil rights group Rainbow PUSH.
Speaking downtown Monday morning, Johnson reflected on the “evil that is manifesting” under President Donald Trump, whose second term in office began a year ago. The freshman mayor sought to tap into the discontent by telling the room of politicians as well as faith and community leaders to “understand what our collective assignment is” as he paid tribute to King.
“If we’re going to ensure that every single person in this city is protected, we have to demand more, not just from one another, but those with means,” Johnson said. “In order to ensure that descendants of slaves’ hopes and aspirations can become realized, we have to challenge that the ultrarich and these big corporations have to pay their fair share in taxes. They don’t need our protection. They got a protector.”
Fresh off the heels of a stinging defeat in the City Council, which in December rejected his push to reinstate Chicago’s corporate head tax, Johnson is racing against time to make inroads on his progressive revenue agenda before he would have to seek reelection. His mission has been complicated by a difficult relationship with Springfield, the final authority over enacting some of these new taxes, as well as earlier defeats such as Johnson’s Bring Chicago Home tax referendum.
Still, with local resentment against Trump in solidly blue Chicago no duller in the new year, Johnson is banking on his progressive brand to cast himself as a liberal defender of the nation’s third-largest city. During his Monday remarks, the mayor again condemned the slaying of Renee Good by a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis, as well as the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
“Millionaires, billionaires and now trillionaires have to realize the hope and dreams of the words of the greatest human being to walk this planet,” Johnson said. “If militarism and poverty and racism can be eradicated, it’s going to require everyone in this room to put the words into action.”
Rainbow PUSH’s event this year was headlined by Don Lemon, the former longtime CNN host who was fired from the network three years ago. Trump’s Justice Department announced Sunday evening that Lemon was put “on notice” after a video of him confronting a Minneapolis pastor during a chaotic service disrupted by anti-ICE protesters went viral.
Lemon alluded to the controversy “coming from MAGA bigots” when he addressed the Chicago audience on Monday.
“I’m just covering a protest, so I’m being targeted and it’s uncomfortable, but it’s appropriate that I’m here today with Rainbow PUSH,” Lemon said. “I might need you to stand up for me. I might need you to do a couple posts. I might need you to say a few words about me, but I ain’t going nowhere.”