Chicago paper calls for 'jackhammering' controversial Trump name off of tower

Following the double-hit of Donald Trump calling for the "termination" of the Constitution and then the Trump Organization being found guilty of 17 counts of tax fraud, the Chicago Tribune is calling for the removing the blight of the Trump name off of a tower that was controversial long before he became an ex-president.

According to the editorial board of the Tribune, Trump's name was placed on the tower in 2014 -- and was described as "an affront to the city’s architectural glory" -- after the then-New York businessman greased the wheels with a "$50,000 contribution to then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s mayoral campaign and $5,000 to Ald. Brendan Reilly’s, in whose ward the tower resides," the editors wrote.

Now that Trump and his company have been exposed as "corrupt to the core," the editors want the name stripped from the building.

Noting that Ald. Gilbert Villegas pushed an ordinance in 2021 that would ban "any person convicted of treason, sedition or subversive actions from doing business with the city, including having a sign permit,” the editors admitted that they didn't support his efforts.

But now that has all changed.

"The first was that Trump himself called for 'the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,' in support of his baseless claims of massive fraud in the 2020 election. Just Trumpian blather, the man’s defenders said. Nothing to do with the Trump Organization or the sign," they wrote before adding, "Two Trump Organization companies, Trump Corp. and Trump Payroll Corp, were convicted Tuesday of 17 counts of criminal tax fraud, falsifying records and other crimes in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan."

"Let’s review. In a matter of days, if not hours, Trump failed to do his duty to support the Constitution, an act that should preclude a further run for president, and the Trump Organization was exposed as a criminal enterprise. And Chicagoans still have to look at that sign?" the editors asked.

"Granted, the city will need to take advice from its lawyers and we acknowledge the conviction likely did not nix all property rights. But this is worth a new negotiation," they continued. "Reintroduce an ordinance. Evoke moral turpitude. Try to get it taken down. This time with our support and, we’ll wager, most everyone who lives there."

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