The Party of ‘Whatever It Takes’: Illinois Democrats’ Descent Into Defiance

Real Clear Politics ^ | October 28, 2025 | Richard Porter

[E. Pluribus Unum]

In the Illinois Democratic Party electorate, circa 2025, the fringe has gone mainstream.

A substantial minority of Democrats support political violence (including felonies to stop federal immigration officers from carrying out their duties), and about 80% say that President Trump and his supporters are “Nazis” and agreed that ICE officers are “jack-booted thugs.” 

When asked whether they support Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker doing “whatever it takes” to keep ICE and other federal law enforcement out of Illinois and prevent them from apprehending illegal migrants, 84% of Democratic Party primary voters answered yes. 

The new survey done by M3 Strategies shows that Gov. Pritzker’s scurrilous rhetoric is in sync with his party’s most committed voters. Whether he’s “going along to get along” with the angry, deranged progressive base – or intentionally ginning up insurrectionist impulses with intemperate language – is, to be charitable, an open question. 

What is not in doubt is that millions of Illinois Democrats are rejecting the primacy of federal law, a foundational principle of our Union established by the Constitution, consecrated during the Civil War, and sanctified during the civil rights movement.

But before delving more deeply into the survey findings, a quick refresher on the basic principles underlying the structure of our constitutional republic:

• Federal law, including federal immigration law, is supreme and applies everywhere within the United States, including in Illinois.
• The president and his administration are solely responsible for implementing immigration law. As Alexander Hamilton put in the “Federalist Papers”: “Energy in the Executive is a leading character in the definition of good government.”
• Congress has limited the jurisdiction of federal courts with respect to immigration law under Article III of the Constitution.
• It’s a federal crime to obstruct, resist or impede a federal officer charged with enforcing the immigration laws.

Anyone who believes, as Pritzker...

[bigbob]

It’s gotten so bad in my Red part of IL that people who formerly ran as Democrats are now running as Republicans and openly criticizing the D party and it’s stupid leaders. Anyone with a brain sees right through them, of course.

[TalBlack]

They’ve elevated themselves above the law. Won’t end well.