Posted on 10/19/2025 12:59:43 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
JB Pritzker has been clashing with Donald Trump for years, but the acrimony reached new heights with the president’s recent declaration that the Illinois governor should “be in jail.” In a new interview with The Conversation, Pritzker brushed it off.
“I’m not afraid for me,” he said. “I’m afraid for the people of Illinois and the people of the United States with the attitude of this president.”
A billionaire who’s positioned himself as a blue-state governor willing to take Trump head on, Pritzker is seeking his third term next year and is widely seen as a potential 2028 Democratic contender.
Pritzker may not have wanted a battle with the White House, but Trump’s decision to send National Guard troops over the governor’s objections to buttress an increasingly controversial ICE enforcement operation is certainly raising Pritzker’s profile. That’s particularly true as Democrats are desperate to find a path back to relevance after being shut out of power in Washington.
In the interview, Pritzker said Democrats should be able to fight for lower health care premiums in a shutdown battle while also protecting American democracy from a Trumpian power grab.
He added that he was particularly worried Trump would try to use the troop deployments as a pretext for interfering in the midterm elections.
“I think it’s not very far away from him offering and providing the military to protect the polling places across America, but particularly in blue states and blue cities, with the idea that they could confiscate the ballot boxes if they think there is fraud in the election,” he said.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
I asked President Trump about you and what's happening in Illinois and in Chicago, and he told me, “I think he should beg...
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
I think his arrogance and self-confidence caused him to go to the top of my hate list.
Barely topped Gavin Newsom.
LMAO. I am thrilled that it only took three posts on this thread for that meme to show up.
It gotten amusing listening to all the fantasies about what Trump is really “up to”.
That slob is a degenerate liar.
LOL, battle of the Titans!
Pritzker may not have wanted a battle with the White House? BS. It is the only thing he campaigns on.
In an aside, during Q&A, Trump nonchalantly mentioned that NG were already in Chicago 6 months ago.
The first inmate in the reopened Alcatraz
Hopefully jail food is in his future like some of his predecessors. It would do his health some good.
JB Pritzker kicked out of the family business because he had no idea what to do but became mayor of Chicago par.
—if the Guard took over elections in Chicago, it would be the first honest election in 150 years—
I live in Illinois. I don’t feel afraid.
Same. Chicagoland. My only fear is related to all of the criminals running loose.
I cannot express just how wholly I was entertained by that when it came out!
As things like this as I am wont to do, it sent me off in a completely different direction about sumo wrestling from my experiences in Japan as a kid!
I have to remember to circle back and enjoy that meme for exactly what it is!
Ha ha ha ha!
When I saw that, I gained an entirely new dimension of respect for the Trump White House meme generators
JB the Hutt
“I live in Illinois. I don’t feel afraid.”
Ah yes, a paradise. A strange paradise though, with 20-50 shootings every weekend.
I wonder what a hellhole would look like.
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