WATCH: CNN’s Jake Tapper Presses Tom Homan: “Is Trump Going to War in Chicago?”

CNN’s Jake Tapper confronted Trump administration border czar Tom Homan on Sunday over a Truth Social meme posted by President Donald Trump that depicted Chicago as a burning battlefield.

The meme, styled after the film Apocalypse Now, showed Trump’s face superimposed on the body of fictional character Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore, with the caption: “I love the smell of deportations in the morning. Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker blasted the post, writing on X: “The president of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. This is normal. Donald Trump isn’t a strong man. He’s a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.”

“Is President Trump planning to go to war in Chicago?” Tapper asked on State of the Union.

Homan defended the post, saying Trump’s words were being twisted. “We’re going to war with the criminal cartels. We’re going to war with illegal aliens — public-safety threats that rape children, that commit armed robberies, that distribute narcotics that kill Americans,” Homan said. “And Governor Pritzker protects criminal, illegal alien, public-safety threats every day in that state.”

Tapper shot back: “So maybe it should say criminal aliens in Chicago are about to find out why it’s called the Department of War, not Chicago itself.”

Tapper pressed further on whether Trump is planning to send National Guard or federal troops into Chicago.

“Is the president talking about sending National Guard troops and other federal troops into Chicago to handle deportations, or to handle violent criminals, or both?” Tapper asked.

Homan responded: “Look, National Guard are always on the table. We used them in Los Angeles, and we used them in Washington, D.C. They’re a force multiplier. Do they arrest illegal aliens? No. ICE officers and Border Patrol agents with Title 8 authority arrest illegal criminal aliens. But the National Guard provides protection, infrastructure, transportation, processing capability — which allows those with badges and guns to stay on the street arresting the bad guy. So yeah, they’re on the table.”