About

Donald Trump's "Chipocalypse Now" Post, also known as Donald Trump Chicago Department of War Post, refers to an AI-generated image shared by U.S. President Donald Trump on Truth Social in early September 2025. The image is styled after the 1979 war film Apocalypse Now, featuring Trump squatting (mimicking the character Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore played by actor Robert Duvall) in a fiery scene with helicopters flying over Chicago and flames raging behind him. The image was captioned, "I love the smell of deportations in the morning," and warned, "Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR." A graphic on the post notably read, "Chipocalypse Now." Many took the post to be signaling the potential deployment of National Guard troops and immigration agents to Chicago, with Illinois Governor JB Pritzker labelling the post authoritarian and "not normal."

Origin

On September 6th, 2025, President Donald Trump shared an AI-generated meme on his Truth Social^[1] account inspired by the film Apocalypse Now, complete with helicopters, fiery explosions and himself dressed as a wartime officer that closely resembles the character Lt. Colonel Bill Kilgore (Robert Duvall). The image was captioned, "I love the smell of deportations in the morning. Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR," which references his then-recent push to change the Department of Defense to the Department of War.^[6]

The post gathered over 10,000 ReTruths and over 30,000 likes in a day.

Also on September 6th, Redditor /u/Aggravating_Money992 reposted Trump's AI-generated "Chipocalypse Now" image, writing, "‘Unhinged and Anti-American’: Critics Erupt Over Trump‘s AI-Generated Threat | Trump Threatening ‘WAR’ For Chicago and that they are 'about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR' in an AI post showing the city going full Apocalypse Now." The post gathered over 34,000 upvotes on the subreddit^[5] /r/technology in a day.

Spread

President Donald Trump's controversial tweet continued to garner widespread media coverage^[7] and spark discussions as it spread online in early September 2025.

On September 6th, 2025, Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson posted on the official @ChicagosMayor X^[2] account, writing, "The President’s threats are beneath the honor of our nation, but the reality is that he wants to occupy our city and break our Constitution. We must defend our democracy from this authoritarianism by protecting each other and protecting Chicago from Donald Trump." The post received over 662,000 views and 12,000 likes in two days.

Also on September 6th, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz tweeted,^[3] "There’s nothing normal about the President declaring war on an American city," gathering over 72,000 likes in a day.

On September 7th, 2025, during a segment with journalist Jake Tapper on CNN, Border Czar Tom Homan said that Trump's post was being "taken out of context," with a repost of the news coverage by X^[4] user @atrupar gathering over 60,000 views and 1,400 likes in a day.

TAPPER: Is President Trump planning to go to war in Chicago?

HOMAN: It's being taken out of context

(Trump's post literally said "Chicago about to find out why it's called the Department of WAR") pic.twitter.com/8Nwarhu93F

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 7, 2025

Search Interest

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External References