Is Mayor Parker Too Quiet on Trump Policies?

During the government shutdown, the president has cut billions of dollars to cities led by Democratic mayors. And federal agents have aggressively detained immigrants in these cities. Now, questions are being raised if the Trump administration has eyes on Philly. But our mayor, Cheryl Parker, she's been mostly quiet when it comes to Trump's policies. Now, some Philadelphians want her to speak up, while others think the best strategy... is for the mayor to lay low. It's Tuesday, October 28th. I'm Trinine Noreen, and here's what Philly's been debating about. The strategy is clear. Mayor Cheryl Parker has been quiet when it comes to anything involving Donald Trump, sort of trying not to poke the bear, right? It sort of reminds me of the scene from Jurassic Park where, like, the T-Rex is coming after them and everybody has to stand really still because, like, if they don't move, the dinosaur won't see them. And it feels like if you don't say anything, you will not. he will not react, right? It's this idea that unless it's on Fox News, unless it's a sound bite that he's seeing played on the TV, it doesn't exist, right? So I actually think her strategy, I know some folks are, you know, wish she'd be like more forceful and just kind of, you know, especially when you look at this, you know, what Gavin Newsom's doing out in California, but I actually think it's a really smart strategy. Philadelphia can keep its head down, do what it needs to do at the local level, and not unnecessarily attract unwanted attention, unwanted drama, and put their residents at risk. It's going to have a very real impact on some vulnerable population in the city. So I think the mayor's strategy has proven to be effective so far. And from what I talking to people, people seem to appreciate and respect it. Now, that depends on what people you're talking to. On Philadelphia Hall Monitor, we talk to a lot of people who are immigrant activists, and what they see is someone who has let them know and know uncertain terms that they are on their own. And while I appreciate pragmatism as much as the next person, it would be a good idea if she sat down with some of these people and explained her process. And that is where, you know, that's where things get counter funky. If you don't explain your process to people, you're not letting them know exactly what you might be doing on their behalf. which is why a lot of these immigrant communities feel like they're on their own. Right. They can't count on her because she is not told them why she's doing what she's doing. And unfortunately, one of the bad habits that Cheryl Parker has is that when you question her about anything,

In terms of her process, she gets her backed up. So yesterday on the show, we actually spoke with Peter Petamante with the new sanctuary movement. And I encourage our listeners to listen back to that episode because if you haven't, Peter told me that black and brown immigrant communities are living in fear of ice, wanting to see city leadership do more to ensure their protection. And I asked Peter just that. I said, what do you want leadership to do? And he said, be vocal. On the other hand, though, if Parker is more vocal, maybe Trump would deploy National Guard into our city like he does in other cities. So Denise and Lauren, is this the best political strategy for Philly? I'm not sure that any strategy truly works with this man. And the reason why I'd say that is because the mayor of Portland, Oregon was sitting in Portland, Oregon, minding his own business. And he's about to get National Guard troops. So I'm not sure what strategy works best. When you're dealing with someone who is quixotic, for one of a better way to put it, And, you know, just, you know, gets up in the morning thinking about, okay, what can I do to, you know, make Americans completely freak out, like most recently tear down the entire East Wing at a White House? You know, you don't know what strategy works best. I think it's, I think that in this case, it's a matter of personal preference. Because whether you say something like the folks in Chicago, or you say nothing like the folks in Portland, Oregon, it's going to depend on what mood he's in. Laura, what are your thoughts on this? No, I mean, I think Denise raises a good point about it's not, I don't think the choice is between saying nothing or saying something, right? It is what do you say and who do you say it to? We have city council passing resolutions everywhere, condemning everything Donald Trump's doing. To Denise's point, I don't know if that's going to impact any decision making. I don't think that. poking the bear is in anybody's best interest. I worry about what would happen if troops did come into Philadelphia, both from a, just again, the communities that are most vulnerable, but also just the dynamic that that would create in the city. But I do think Denise has a point of making sure that you are communicating that this is a strategy, right? letting people hang out to dry on their own and communicating what the long game is. Because despite the Trump 2028 merch, you know, this is something that we really do have to like stick together and weather through. And, you know, communication can always be improved in that regard.

In August, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Philly and other so-called sanctuary cities, right, that basically demanded that they stopped protecting immigrant communities. She threatened criminal charges against city officials who resist, like, from other cities like ours. So when Parker was asked how to respond or how she would respond to that letter, she refused to say how she would handle it at all. And then there was a change in language. So Philly wasn't necessarily a sanctuary city anymore. We were a welcoming city. So my question to you both is, do we even know what a welcoming city is? And do we know what city officials are? are telling the Trump administration about what our city policy is when it comes to how we will address or cooperate with ICE. Yeah, I mean, I think there's some misconceptions about what a sanctuary city is and isn't. And it is my understanding that Philadelphia is a sanctuary city. The position is that the city will not turn for folks over to ICE without a judicial order. They will not do courtesy holds where they are holding people beyond the time that they would otherwise hold them in a criminal justice system. It's it is not that they are they are not cooperating. It is that they are cooperating. when there is a court order, not just some guy with ice badge, right? I'm not sure what the nomenclature difference is between a welcoming city and a sanctuary city for legal purposes. I'm sure it very much matters to the individuals who are worried about. deportation, worried about entering the criminal justice system based on their status. It's again, I think we're looking at sort of two different levels here. We're looking at like the legal, the nomenclature, the federal game where we're being pedantic and we're looking at the messages that we're sending to the folks that are impacted by these policies. And and I have to go back to what Denise said earlier. That is absolutely where communication can always be improved. In a lot of ways, this administration and I guess national Republican politics overall have kind of forced us to ask ourselves, what do words mean? because words as we have traditionally known them to mean a certain thing and what they are, you know, seem to mean these days are two entirely different things. I think that the reason why Sanctuary City gets the kind of, you know, hair on fire, people screaming from the room reaction it does,

is because it's seen as something that, you know, you are physically providing a sanctuary for these people. When all you are asking for is for the federal government to do what it is supposed to do in terms of due process. and you are demanding due process before you just randomly turn people over to the government, which, you know, I don't know why that hasn't been done everywhere, you know, with everyone, because I certainly wouldn't want people to just turn me over to somebody just because they asked. And when it comes to ICE, ICE is not the most discriminant group of people. And some of the roundups that they've done, they've gotten actual American citizens that they have now had to, you know, send back or, and there's no apology. There's no accountability when that happens. There's all sorts of stuff that, you know, goes on with that. So I think it's yet another play on words. I also think that, you know, it's good that Philadelphia, at least, is telling people, no, we are not going to just let you snatch folks up and take them away without some sort of paperwork that shows that that is what you're supposed to be doing. And the fact that, you know, we're still explaining this in 2025 should tell us everything we need to know. So I think folks who are trying to navigate this federal administration are essentially dealing with like a lose-lose situation in a certain extent. So there's the ability to be kind of aggressive and loud and bold about your positioning. And you get criticized by, you know, you face the impacts and the consequences of that at the federal level. And in that case, the collateral damages like law of funding. you know, in some cases troops moving into your city. On the other hand, if you kind of play it like quiet and keep your cards close to your vest, then the criticism kind of comes from within from advocates who feel like you aren't standing up and doing enough. And there's damage there as well. So like I don't think the mayor. I don't think Mayor Parker or any of the other folks that are attempting to navigate this are in a position where they can get a win. I think it's just trying to minimize the amount of damage done during this man's term. We'll have more on Mayor Parker's approach to Trump after this quick break.

you know, campaign or this like shadow campaign that I feel like he's been running since, you know, for a while now. But, you know, this is a good way for him to appear like he's a man of the people at a time when people are wondering who's sticking up for us. But, you know, it's... It makes a little more sense in his case, but locally, I don't think the people necessarily want Mayor Parker to get on a stage and, you know, talk about how bad the president is. You know, they would probably like for her to get into a meeting with local immigrants and local immigrant activists and kind of explain her process. You know, they have very different roles, very different responsibilities right now. and very different aspirations. And so I think, you know, they're both kind of playing the role that they need to play in this moment. So another contrasting voice in this conversation is district attorney Larry Krasner, right? He took a preemptive approach to host these town hall meetings, which he called Be the Light, Bring the Light town halls back in September, focused on a possible troop deployment in Philly. But when Mayor Parker was asked about possible troop deployments, straight up by a reporter, she just refused to even directly answer the question. Council member Nick O'Rourke told the inquire. It's clear that the mayor is being calculating. This is not the tactic I would take? I think we need to be more pronounced. So is Mayor Parker at risk of looking weak in front of city council or other city leadership because of how she's maybe dodging a confrontation with President Trump? Okay. Well, that's a good question. Again, it goes back to context. Larry Krasner has traditionally since the minute he decided he was going to run for district attorney, he has had a completely different outlook. a more progressive outlook than most Democrats in, you know, in city government. Councilman O'Rourke, he's from a completely different group of people altogether. They're even more progressive than the progressives that are on council, the working families party. So you would expect them to come out and say what they've said. I mean, I attended one of the town hall meetings that District Attorney Krasner did at Mother Bethel AME Church. And basically, you know, all it was was him explaining to people, these are your rights. This is how you, you know, this is what you can do if you see something. You know, you can record things. Here is how you record. You know, he was basically, you know, getting activists together with members of the community to say, this is what you can do to protect us.

if, you know, in the case that you see something. I don't think that's necessarily going to make her look any weaker or any less. you know, any less, have any less strength than she already has with some of these folks. I don't see it as a negative in her case. But again, and I will continue to say this, she really needs to talk to the people who are listening to folks like Councilman O'Rourke and DA Krasner and saying, you know, she needs to explain to people what she is going to do. for them or what she can do. She needs to explain her process. And even before the town halls, like Krasner has been very vocal in how he feels about the president, making short videos on social media. But Parker just hasn't done that. Lauren, how do you feel about this? I mean, it's an election year for the district attorney, right? It's, again, the context is really important. And I think it's great that he's holding these town halls to educate people about their rights. One of the biggest concerns about what's happening with ICE is that folks will not avail themselves of the protection of the criminal justice system if they are a victim of crime and undocumented. So I think it's really, really important from the district attorney's perspective. to give people confidence in what his office is doing in terms of if you're a victim, if you're a witness, your status does not matter to us, okay? This is not, we're not going to turn you over to immigration. So I think, you know, in these times, everybody has a role to play and everybody has to take the position and the narrative that they're taking in order to get us through it. I think the governor is taking that as the guy that's kind of standing up to what he perceives as a bully. I think the mayor's doing it in her way by trying to keep her head down and keep any federal intervention in the city to a minimum. And I think the district attorney is doing it in his way. Can everybody play those roles better? Absolutely. There's always, always room for improvement. But I don't think, you know, I don't think the mayor is up at night worrying about whether she looks weak in front of city council because of her tact on this. I think the mayor is worried up at, is awake up at night wondering what's going to happen if the National Guard gets deployed in Philadelphia. I think that concerns her a lot more than the optics of her actions amongst her elected colleagues. All right, good point. We'll be right back after this break. If Mayor Parker does speak out, what could she say?

And on which of the many issues might she be speaking out on? I'm going to ask you that, Lauren. You answer that one first. I think if the mayor was going to speak out, you know, obviously there is a limitless list of bad things that are going on in this country right now. And in the city. And in the city, yeah, everywhere. It's not great times. I think if the mayor were to speak out on this, the message that I would hope that she would provide is that, you know, the only way to get through this is to get through it together. And that our city government has our backs, whether you're, you know, whatever your situation, your condition is, you know, the city of Philadelphia. is going to help us get through this together. We can't control what's happening on the federal level locally, right? City Council can introduce all the resolutions at once condemning everything that the Trump administration is doing. And it is just, it's, you know, it's taking a bucket of water out of the ocean. Like there's going to be nothing that changes. What they can do and what the mayor can do is make sure that the conditions in Philadelphia minimize the sort of impacts that we're seeing on the federal level. Again, is there room for improvement there? Absolutely, there always is. But the mayor can control what she can control. And I think that's where that focus needs to be is on the city of Philadelphia, not necessarily on all of the other things swirling about us. Denise, how do you feel? What could Parker say? Well, I have to agree with Lauren in that, you know, the only way we're going to get through this is to get through it together. You know, if you've ever attended an event where Mayor Parker is speaking, she always tells people to put their ones in the air. Oh, yeah. Meaning, you know, their index fingers, although sometimes I kind of look to see if other fingers are going up, but for right now, the index fingers. Yeah, we're one Philly United City. I think that for. The immigrant communities in the city of Philadelphia, you really need to get a group of them in the room, Mayor Parker, and tell them that being a united city also includes you. Because Lauren is right. There's not a lot we can do. about what's going on on the federal level. I mean, to be honest, to have stopped all of this from happening, you had to have done something in November 2024. And now it's kind of late. But in terms of, you know, what the mayor could do right now, she could talk to the people who feel like they have been abandoned by the city. And I'm not saying she's necessarily got to get in, you know, in front of a live microphone on 6 ABC and do this. But a conference or conference center with a group of people who are really afraid to come out of their houses right now because they don't know if they're, you know, they don't know if they're going to get snatched off the street by ICE.

If you sat down and you talked to them and you told them what your process was and that you do have their backs and that you're not going to let folks abuse due process in order to take them away, I think that would go a long way. Also in the backdrop of us talking is the fact that our city needs funds, households need paychecks. The Trump administration canceled more than $11 billion in projects that are targeting blue cities. You know, he's also blaming Democrats over the government shutdown. Seems like he wants to punish their constituents over the government shutdown as well. So how long can harsh silence last? I give it another two or three weeks. And I say that because we are getting closer to the holidays. We're getting closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas. And, you know, those are times where, you know, families want to get together, you know, have a turkey dinner and all of that. And you can't necessarily concentrate on having your turkey dinner when your snap benefits have been paused. And you don't even know if you're going to be able to feed your family from a month. Absolutely. So I think that in the second poorest big city in America, which Philadelphia is, we may have another two or three weeks where our silence can stay thus. Now, if we could somehow convince the members of Congress that it is their job, you know, to appropriate funds and that... you know, allowing the president to just stop stuff that you have already appropriated is wrong and we're not going to allow you to do it anymore. If that were to start happening, then, you know, it might, you know, ease the pain a little bit. But seeing as that's not what's going to happen, I give it another two or three weeks, Max. Lauren, how long? Oh, I mean, I don't know. I think, you know, at this point, we would just be preaching to the choir, right? And I'm not sure how much that would be effective, especially because this feels like an administration that kind of thrives on seeing the pain that it is creating, right? You know, the other piece of this, we keep talking about the federal government, but as Denise pointed out earlier, we still don't have a state budget, right? Yep. This is, this is, we have a, we have a whole mess in our own backyard that hasn't been fixed yet. You know, it's, I was with a state senator from Philly last week and he noted that they would likely be starting budget negotiations for next year's budget at the time that they will be finishing up this year's budget. So, you know, there's, there's a whole lot of,

folks that we can be angry at and we can be talking to right now. But it's not just the federal stuff that's going to impact those folks' ability to put that holiday dinner on their table or Christmas gifts under the tree. And it's a lot of our nonprofit services and a lot of our safety net services are federal money passed through the state budget. And we have a federal government shutdown. and no state budget. Things are going to get worse before they're going to get better. All right. That was Denise Clay Murray and Lauren Vita. You can stay connected with Lauren in her broad and market substack. And listen to Denise on City Council Live, Word Radio Thursday mornings from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on 900 a.m. and 96.1 FM. Thank you both so much for joining me on this episode of CityCast, Philly. Thanks, Renee. Thank you. That's all for us here today on City Castle. Let us know what you think Mayor Parker should do when it comes to Trump policies. Also, don't forget to share this episode with a friend, leave us a review, and make sure you're hitting that subscribe button. Be sure to sign up for our morning newsletter, Hey, Philly, to learn more about what else Philly is talking about. And don't forget, you can support the show and get great perks by becoming a citycastfley neighbor at membership.citycast.fm. We'll be back tomorrow morning with more news from around the city. Bye.