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A brutal, unthinkable attack on a Chicago Blue Line train left 26-year-old Bethany MaGee badly burned after a man doused her with gasoline and set her alight in mid-ride, a horror that exposed the consequences of the city’s soft-on-crime approach. Federal prosecutors have since charged the suspect, Lawrence Reed, in what has been described as a terrorist act, and the nation has watched in disgust as yet another innocent commuter fell victim to criminal lawlessness. This was not a random accident — it was a predictable outcome of policies that reward leniency and excuse repeat violent behavior.
The Federal Transit Administration, rightly fed up, issued a Special Directive demanding the Chicago Transit Authority update its safety plan, boost law enforcement presence, and implement tangible security enhancements on a tight timetable or face the loss of federal funds. This is the kind of federal oversight many Americans have been begging for: a clear ultimatum that safety cannot be sacrificed on the altar of progressive experiments. If local officials prefer virtue signaling to protecting riders, taxpayers should be free to withhold the cash that props up failed policies.
What makes this outrage even more infuriating is that the attacker had an appalling criminal record and was reportedly out on electronic monitoring at the time of the assault — a pattern of release and repeat offending that should have been stopped long before any commuter was burned. Chicago’s system released a man with dozens of prior arrests back onto the streets, and the predictable result was carnage on public transit. Families boarding trains and buses deserve real protection, not excuses and hollow apologies.
Chicago politicians predictably reacted with outrage at the federal pressure, accusing the administration of politicizing a tragedy instead of fixing the problem — the same reflex from leaders who have presided over an era of rising transit assaults and who recently saw billions in federal infrastructure money frozen amid disputes. If Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor J.B. Pritzker want to defend their records, they should do it with action: more officers, clearer safety plans, and accountability for the revolving door that turns criminals loose. The point is simple — rhetoric won’t stop a violence spree; boots on platforms will.
The FTA’s directive didn’t come out of nowhere; the agency documented that assaults on CTA workers and passengers have long exceeded national averages, and that violent incidents have spiked in recent years. Those are not partisan talking points — they are safety statistics that demand a response, not denial from officials who would rather politicize enforcement than enforce. For every public official who shrugs and says “this is complicated,” there are thousands of commuters who want one simple thing: to get to work without fearing they’ll become the next headline.
We should also be honest about the policy roots of this mess. Illinois’ permissive pretrial release practices and misguided approaches to criminal justice have created an environment where offenders are recycled through the system with little consequence, and electronic monitoring has too often proved to be a paper shield rather than a real restraint. If state leaders are unwilling to reinstate sensible accountability measures, they will find themselves at odds with federal authorities and, more importantly, with the safety priorities of the American people.
President Trump’s administration is doing what voters asked for: enforcing standards and using federal leverage to force local change when local leaders refuse to act. Conservatives should applaud the willingness to hold cities financially accountable until they restore order and protect law-abiding citizens. Let this be a clear message to other Democratic-run cities — funding is a privilege, not a blank check for failed policies and unsafe streets.
As Bethany MaGee fights to recover, hardworking Americans deserve swift justice for the victim and swift action to prevent anyone else from suffering the same fate. The federal directive is a necessary wake-up call: put safety first, back the police, and stop treating public transit as an experiment in permissiveness. If Chicago’s leaders truly care about their constituents, they will meet the deadlines, beef up protection, and stop offering excuses; if they don’t, the federal purse strings should do the talking.
