Trump sparks controversy at turkey pardoning following speech about woman 'being set on fire'

Donald Trump caused a stir on Tuesday as he began ranting about crime in Chicago and condemning the state’s governor in an odd outburst.

What was expected to be quite an upbeat message days before Thanksgiving took quite a turn thanks to Trump’s speech.

On November 25, during the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon, Trump went on a bit of a rant about a whole host of topics, including crime.

With children present for the festive tradition, Trump called on the Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to allow him to send the National Guard troops into the city to deal with the issue of crime.

Trump emphasized the need for this now following the recent crime that saw 50 year-old man Lawrence Reed accused of setting 26-year-old Bethany MaGee on fire while the pair were on CTA Blue Line train in downtown Chicago. It was later revealed that Reed has been arrested over 70 times.

During his speech, Trump said: “You saw all the crimes that took place last night and the night before.

“The woman with the burning, they burned the woman, to be talking about that now; they burned this beautiful woman, riding in a train, a man was arrested 72 times.

“Seventy two times, think of that and they’ll let him out again, the liberal judges will let them out again.

“But we’re ready to go, you know, we’ve been moving toward Chicago.

“We have a governor who thinks it's wonderful that only about seven people were killed last week. But we are moving toward doing...it is possible what’s happening in Chicago, we could make Chicago a safer city.”

"They burned the woman. They burned this beautiful woman ... we're moving toward Chicago" -- Trump is now using his Thanksgiving speech to rant and rave about crime in Chicago and his desire to send in the troops pic.twitter.com/lI3A6Yt552

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 25, 2025

Trump continued to complaint about crime in the city, and insisted that he could make the city a safe city in a period of 10 weeks. He added that the people of Chicago want the National Guard to go there to do this.

The President went on to say that Johnson was incompetent and called the governor a ‘big fat slob’.

People on social media were taken aback by Trump’s speech, with some questioning whether this was the right time for this impassioned speech.

One X user wrote: “Kids are there and he's screaming about prison, murder, and burning women. Trump is a disaster.”

Another wrote: “Trump uses a national holiday to rant about crime and call for troops. Nothing says holiday spirit like militarizing one of the biggest cities in America.”

A third added: “Instead of focusing on gratitude and Thanksgiving, Trump focuses on anger and militarized rhetoric. This administration is a joke.”

Another commented: “Kids were there to see the turkeys getting pardoned, but of course Trump is talking about a woman getting burned in Chicago. He can never quit with the rage, the name calling, the lies and retribution.”

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told LADbible Group: “It’s deplorable that an innocent woman was set on fire in public because of the Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies. And it’s deplorable that ‘social media users’ are more upset that President Trump is calling for law-and-order than they are that an innocent woman was set on fire.”