During a rip-roaring speech in New Hampshire
last week, Gov. JB Pritzker called for mass national protests and “disruption,”
assailed “do-nothing” Democrats for their “simpering timidity” and labeled
President Donald Trump a “madman” who cannot be reasoned with.
The Jewish Ukrainian-American governor said of
Trump: “Stop tearing down the Constitution in the name of my ancestors. Do not
claim that your authoritarian power grabs are about antisemitism. When you
destroy social justice, you are disparaging the very foundation of Judaism.”
“These Republicans cannot know a moment of
peace,” Pritzker said.
President Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff
Stephen Miller told reporters that the line “clearly could be construed as
inciting violence.”
The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., tweeted
at the governor: “Are you trying to inspire a 3rd assassination attempt on my
dad? Two wasn’t enough for you?”
Illinois Republican Party chair Kathy Salvi claimed
Pritzker was “calling for political violence against Republicans” during his
speech.
Fox News host Sean Hannity jumped into the
fray, claiming the governor, “all but threatened half the country with
violence.”
But here’s the rest of Pritzker’s paragraph:
“They must understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and
microphone that we have. We must castigate them on the soap box and then punish
them at the ballot box.”
Pritzker called the Republican accusations
“ridiculous,” and continued: “I called for people to take out their megaphones
and their microphones, to stand up on soap boxes and get to the ballot box in
order to defeat the people who are trying to take so many things away from the
American people. That has nothing to do with violence.”
Basically, Pritzker was the Republican outrage
of the day. It’s all pretty standard stuff.
The Pritzker folks appeared to be unfazed and
even found it kind of amusing, with one calling yesterday’s developments, “a
master class in the right-wing echo chamber.”
As for the rest of us, we should probably just
learn to get used to this. We’re in for about three or four more years of this
stuff if Pritzker runs for reelection and then campaigns for president.
Mention to anyone near Pritzker that it sure
looks like he’s setting up a presidential bid and they will tell you he’s
simply trying to rally the party and the nation against Trump. His folks will
also correctly remind you that the 2028 election is years away and that the
2026 midterms are the next real concern.
But it’s obvious that he can be fighting in
the here and now and positioning the party for 2026 and also be trying to set
himself for a 2028 bid.
Whatever the case, I only care about whether
he’s doing the job he was twice elected to do. I was born here and have lived
in Illinois all but a few years of my life, and I plan to be a resident for the
rest of my life as well.
So far, Pritzker seems to be keeping up the
pace of his state public events. And his agencies, while far from great, are
not falling into further disrepair.
He’s made some poll-friendly proposals the
past year or so, which a few have claimed are explained by his grand ambitions.
But, c’mon. Politicians love to push ideas that poll well.
The billionaire also has access to a fleet of
jets, so he can zoom back and forth to national events in about the same time
that it would take us mere mortals to drive from Chicago to Springfield during
rush hour. And a Sunday event in another state is hardly the end of the world.
But if Pritzker’s governance does start
slipping because he’s running for higher office, I pledge to let my opinion be
known. I will not stand for it. This state is far too important and its
position has long been far too precarious to sacrifice it on the altar of
national ambition. This ain’t Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton running for president.
Arkansas could’ve slid off a cliff and nobody would’ve cared, because it was
mostly already there.
And if he decides to run for reelection, he
absolutely must choose a running mate who could step into the position if, by
chance, Pritzker actually wins the nation’s top job. He also needs to make sure
he has staffers in place who can keep the government running while his top
staffers are directing his national efforts.