Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, speaking in N.H., calls out Democrats and urges them to fight against Trump
A more aggressive Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has emerged on the political stump in recent days — both in terms of what he is saying and where he is saying it.
The new tone he has struck has led some to believe a presidential run is indeed in the offing.
Pritzker's remarks lately involve a continued drumbeat against the White House. But he has also turned his attack inward against what he calls timid Democrats.
As to where he has made those remarks, one such site this past weekend was in pivotal New Hampshire — home to the first-in-the-nation presidential primary every four years.
Pritzker has long been a loud voice critical of the Trump White House — comparing the practices of this administration to the Nazis.
In New Hampshire on Sunday, he continued the attack on President Trump. Pritzker said he has never before called for mass protests and disruption, but the Trump White House has taken him there.
"These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace. They have to understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have," Pritzker said at the event. "We must castigate them on the soapbox and then punish them at the ballot box.
But while Pritzker continued to attack Trump, he also focused on what he says are shortcomings in his own party, assailing Democrats for listening to "a bunch of know-nothing political types" instead of everyday Americans. Without naming names, he called out Democrats "flocking to podcasts and cable news shows to admonish fellow Democrats for not caring enough about the struggles of working families."
"Those same do-nothing Democrats want to blame our losses on our defense of Black people, of trans kids, of immigrants, instead of their own lack of guts and gumption," Pritzker said.
Pritzker took veiled shots at specific Democrats Sunday, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is also considering a run for president.
Pritzker has already spoken this year at the Human Rights Campaign's Los Angeles dinner and is scheduled to headline a Minnesota Democratic dinner in June. He drew national attention in February when he used part of his joint budget and State of the State address to draw a parallel between Trump's rhetoric and the rise of Nazi Germany.
On Sunday, Pritzker again invoked his Jewish faith, criticizing Trump's efforts to deport foreign students who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. He called on Trump to "stop tearing down the Constitution in the name of my ancestors," a line that drew a standing ovation from the crowd.
White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller weighed in late Monday on Pritzker's comments in favor of mass protests.
"His comments, if nothing else, clearly could be construed as inciting violence," Miller said. "They don't recognize the supremacy of federal law enforcement in terms of protecting the lives and livelihoods of American citizens against a foreign invasion."
Pritzker responded to that remark at an event Monday at the University of Illinois Chicago.
"So I think it's terrible hypocrisy on the part of Stephen Miller, and of others who have said somehow that my remarks — which are about peaceful protest, which is the only valid kind of protest that we have here in this country — that I have called on people to express themselves, is something that obviously not understood by these — well, the gang that controls the White House today," Pritzker said.
Pritzker's speech Sunday in New Hampshire not a one-off — it appears to be a new normal. Pritzker is taking the chatter this weekend generated and was on the cable news circuit Monday night
Pritzker will headline a similar event in Michigan next month.
