CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker gathered most of the state’s Democratic congressional delegation at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s hospital Friday to lay out in stark terms the damage that would be brought on vulnerable populations if President Donald Trump’s administration slashes Medicaid funding.
“Red alert, everybody,” Pritzker said. “It is time to wake up. Get out. Do something.”
Along the way, he called billionaire Elon Musk “President Musk,” made the case that public opinion was quickly shifting against the Trump administration’s agenda and gave out a congressional phone number, urging people to tell their representatives the impact of the president’s new policies.
Earlier in the day, Pritzker appeared on “The View” in a segment that was recorded Thursday. Host Joy Behar introduced the governor, who is widely thought to have presidential aspirations, as a “firebrand” Democrat.
“Everything that he has done has been tearing down constitutional democracy and that’s what happened in Nazi Germany,” Pritzker said of Trump on the show.
Pritzker’s ubiquitousness comes at a moment when Democrats nationally are stumbling for their footing. In an information climate dominated by President Donald Trump and Musk, Pritzker is trying to step forward as a leading oppositional voice.
This week alone, the governor traveled to Washington, D.C., to lobby for federal funding for Illinois, delivered remarks to the pro-democracy group Democracy Forward, and appeared on media including CNN, MSNBC and on multiple podcasts.
The Nazi Germany reference on “The View” echoed Pritzker’s State of the State speech last week, which garnered national attention.
“My oath is to the Constitution of our state and of our country. We don’t have kings in America — and I don’t intend to bend the knee to one. I am not speaking up in service to my ambitions — but in deference to my obligations,” Pritzker said at the state Capitol in Springfield. “If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this: It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic.”
Pritzker has long relished playing an attack-dog role against Trump. Last year, he sunk millions of dollars of his own money into battleground state efforts to protect abortion rights.
This year, he’s trolled the president in ways big and small. He’s issued warnings against authoritarianism and threats to democracy, and accused Musk and Trump of attempting to steal private data of Americans. In January, Pritzker announced a new policy barring anyone tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol from becoming a state employee. After Trump took office and renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, Pritzker jokingly said he would rename Lake Michigan to “Lake Illinois.”
Pritzker is seeking to fill a void in a Democratic Party that suffered a devastating blow in November, losing all of the battleground states to Trump. Meanwhile, questions churn over Pritzker’s next political steps. On Friday, he said he had not yet made a decision on whether he would seek a third term as governor next year. The billionaire already wooed the party to hold a successful Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 2024.
“JB Pritzker has shown a natural willingness to go toe to toe with the White House,” said Jaimey Sexton, a Chicago-based Democratic strategist. “It is comfortable for him to go toe to toe, with facts and without bluster.”
“And he’ll do it with a smile on his face because he’s the affable billionaire,” Sexton continued.
Pritzker’s attacks on Trump have also drawn Republican ire, including from the likes of Karl Rove, who called him “over the top” on Fox News after Pritzker’s comments comparing the Trump administration’s actions to Nazi Germany. Trump has personally attacked Pritzker in the past as well.
Pritzker is also of Ukrainian descent, and at the close of his event in Chicago, he immediately posted a rebuke of Trump on X: “President Trump’s simpering fealty to Vladimir Putin and Russia is embarrassing and dangerous. Illinois stands with Ukraine, and so should the White House.”
Asked on Friday how the governor can break through to the public when Trump has successfully dominated with messaging that ultimately won over voters in November, Pritzker pointed back to the public and noted the response to the early days of the Trump administration.
“The messaging isn’t something we’re making up and selling out there. It’s not a campaign,” Pritzker said. “There is anger out there.”
“There’s been an enormous shift. A big shift from the beginning of this administration only 39 days ago,” Pritzker continued. “A big shift in people demanding that Donald Trump carry out what he said he would do during his campaign and people understanding that he’s not doing that, and we gotta stop it.”
