Trump said he wants to use cities as "training grounds" for US troops. Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg/Getty Images New York —

Fifty years ago this month, President Gerald Ford told New York City the federal government would not save it from financial collapse. The New York Daily News summed up Ford’s speech in an infamous front-page headline : “Ford to City: Drop Dead.”

Today, President Donald Trump is punishing American cities in ways that make Ford’s refusal to bail out New York look amicable by comparison. (Ford later approved federal loans to the city with strict conditions attached.)

But cities lack the power or resources to fight back.

They can’t stop Trump’s funding cuts , remove federal troops stationed on their streets or reverse damaging policies beyond legal challenges —

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