Jay Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois recently made a speech in New Hampshire that has received significant–and merited–attention. Pritzker really “told it like it is.”
Heather Cox Richardson recently quoted from Pritzker’s speech at length, and today, I am going to do the same, because Pritzker’s words deserve widespread distribution.
“It’s wrong to snatch a person off the street and ship them to a foreign gulag with no chance to defend themselves in a court of law.” This is not about immigration, he said, but about the Constitution. “Standing for the idea that the government doesn’t have the right to kidnap you without due process is arguably the MOST EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGN SLOGAN IN HISTORY,” he said. “Today, it’s an immigrant with a tattoo. Tomorrow, it’s a citizen whose Facebook post annoys Trump.”
Pritzker called for “real, sensible immigration reform.”
“Immigration—with all its struggles and its complexities—is part of the secret sauce that makes America great, always. Immigrants strengthen our communities, enrich our neighborhoods, renew our passion for America’s greatness, enliven our music and our culture, enhance understanding of the world. The success of our economy depends upon immigrants. In fact, forty-six percent…of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants.”
Trump’s attacks on immigrants, he said, are likely to make the U.S. economy fail. Indeed, he suggested, making America fail is the point of the Trump administration’s actions.
“We have a Secretary of Education who hates teachers and schools. We have a Secretary of Transportation who hates public transit. We have an Attorney General who hates the Constitution. We have a Secretary of State, the son of naturalized citizens—a family of refugees—on a crusade to expel our country of both.
“We have a head of the Department of Government Efficiency— an immigrant granted the privilege of living and working here, a man who has made hundreds of billions of dollars after the government rescued his business for him—who is looking to destroy the American middle class to fund tax cuts for himself. And we have a President who claims to love America but who hates our military so much that he calls them ‘losers’ and ‘suckers’ and who can’t be bothered to delay his golf game to greet the bodies of four fallen US soldiers. And we have a Grand Old Party, founded by one of our nation’s bravest Presidents, Abraham Lincoln—who today would be a Democrat, I might add—… so afraid of the felon and the fraud that they put in the White House that they would sooner watch him destroy our country than lift a hand to save it.”
“It’s time to stop wondering if you can trust the nuclear codes to people who don’t know how to organize a group chat. It’s time to stop ignoring the hypocrisy in wearing a big gold cross while announcing the defunding of children’s cancer research. And time to stop thinking we can reason or negotiate with a madman. Time to stop apologizing when we were NOT wrong. Time to stop surrendering, when we need to fight.
“Our small businesses don’t deserve to be bankrupted by unsustainable tariffs. Our retirees don’t deserve to be left destitute by a Social Security Administration decimated by Elon Musk. Our citizens don’t deserve to lose healthcare coverage because Republicans want to hand a tax cut to billionaires. Our federal workers don’t deserve to have, well, a 19-year-old DOGE bro called Big Balls destroy their careers.
“Autistic kids and adults who are loving contributors to our society don’t deserve to be stigmatized by a weird nepo baby who once stashed a dead bear in the backseat of his car.
“Our military servicemembers don’t deserve to be told by a washed up Fox TV commentator, who drank too much and committed sexual assault before being appointed Secretary of Defense, that they can’t serve this country simply because they’re Black or gay or a woman.
“And If it sounds like I’m becoming contemptuous of Donald Trump and the people that he has elevated, it’s because… I am. You should be too. They are an affront to every value this country was founded upon.”
“I understand the tendency to give in to despair right now. But despair is an indulgence that we cannot afford in the times upon which history turns. Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption. But I am now.
“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. We must castigate them on the soap box, and then punish them at the ballot box. They must feel in their bones that when we survive this shameful episode of American history with our democracy intact—because we have no alternative but to do just that—that we will relegate their portraits to the museum halls reserved for tyrants and traitors.”
“Cowardice can be contagious. But so too can courage…. Just as the hope that we hold onto in the darkness, shines with its own…special light.
“Tonight, I’m telling you what I’m willing to do…is fight—for our democracy, for our liberty, for the opportunity for all our people to live lives that are meaningful and free. And I see around me tonight a roomful of people who are ready to do the same.”
“So I have one question for all of you. Are you ready for the fight?”
To which I say “yes.” And “amen.”
I’m with Governor Pritzker all the way. Younger pundits on MSNBC last night focused on Trump and Republican destruction and never honed in on Pritzker’s focus on democracy. Holding-the-line Republicans have tossed aside our Constitution and they get away with it because a lot of Americans don’t even know the Constitution or Bill of Rights. Civics classes for everyone under 75 years of age, please.
I believe that JB announced his candidacy for POTUS in 2028 with this speech. It’s not a bad speech, but I want to know what his programs are for working Americans. Last I checked, JB hasn’t had to worry about money his whole life, either. We don’t need another oligarch in the White House. If the Democrats haven’t learned their lesson in the past 40+ years, there’s no hope for this party.
Obama was a great speechmaker, which he learned from all his college activist days. Once elected, his actions were no different from Bush’s—maybe even worse. He was a puppet for Wall Street, MIC, and the Intelligentsia.
The comments I found interesting this past week were MTGs. Despite her grammatical mistakes, she got her point across: Trump is losing his base. She said she ran on “No more wars!” and so did Donny. Yet, here we are signing deals for Ukraine’s minerals/security, and on the verge of WW3 because of the Middle East. MTG doesn’t call out Israel by name, but there is no doubt who she was talking about.
I don’t think MTG is much of a reader, so she probably doesn’t realize that Trump is an Israeli stooge. I would also say he has been laundering money for Russian oligarchs for a very long time. His mentor, Roy Cohn, was also mixed up in laundering money. I can’t name all the banks involved, but lots of banks were just fronts for the underworld to legitimize drug and gambling monies. They would “lend money” to businesses never meant to be paid back. 😉
This is Dear Leader’s world. MTG forgot who she was involved with, or is most likely in denial, like most of the MAGATs who think the Democratic Party opened the borders to obtain voters. Even Elon Musk shares that bullshit on X all the time. The right-wing media is obsessed with our borders right now. Their conspiracies behind this are unbelievable because they coincide with their bigotry and hatred of brown people.
The bottom line is that if MTG questions your direction, Trump may want to check his EGO and directives. Sharing an AI photo of himself in papal clothes may have been too much for even his MAGATs. #PopeDonald_I
Again….OK, we lost the Executive and the least qualified, most narcissistic, uncaring president ever to hold the office – again – is demonstrating just how easy it is to surround himself with a cabinet et al none of whom has no idea of what they are doing but are the most loyal, politically motivated bunch of sycophants any presidential administration has ever produced. And all confirmed by the invertebrate GOP-controlled congress, who are also responsible for blocking any legislation that might take back control of Constitutional authority, as in funding, tariffs, etc. They should instead follow the lead of Lisa Murkowski and a few other sensible GOPers in taking control of doing the right thing. This is not the U S of A, folks.
Interpersonal politics has existed for as long as human tribes of all sizes have lived, on every scale from two-person relationships to families to states to national governments to the United Nations. People have been more or less successful at contributing to and executing progress in every combination imaginable.
To build relationships that work for all participants, the larger the number of people, the more complex the methods. When they don’t work, an obvious sign is the need to use force to compel others to do what we need them to do.
The strong leader model.
We are at the point of needing force in our national relationship with the rest of the Americans (those who live on the two American Continents), and we are rapidly approaching that in our relationships with Asia, Europe, and Africa.
One pillar of progress made since WWII is the economics of international trade. That has been bolstered by instant, well-organized information exchange through the Internet and multimodal (by air, sea, and overland) containerized shipping that can get a little computer gizmo for my hobby from a vendor in China to my front door in two weeks.
Do people believe we can replace global free markets by forcing others to be subservient to our needs through unilaterally imposed tariffs or by throwing other Americans in prisons that subject them to a life of being forced every minute of every day to do exactly as told for the remainder of their lives?
Time for the real patriots who support the American Idea (thanks for that phrase, Sheila) to get loud and proud. I don’t know whether Pritzker would get my vote for President, but he sure gets my approval for his message. So please, folks, don’t start undermining him. Whatever you think his motives are, his words make sense.
Pritzker left out the facilitation wrt genocide within Gaza by the US. Something the DNC and the GOP actually agree upon.
How convenient.
Pritzger might be laying a foundation for a run at the Presidency, he’s still absolutely right. The fact that he’s a billionaire doesn’t make a difference to me. I have no prejudice against the monied class. I’m more concerned about cluelessness. Pritzger has never wanted for anything, but, being Jewish, he has a different take on poverty as a systemic condition from other billionaires.
It’s a good bet that those who want to deport young Arabs because they are antisemitic, will gladly point out that the governor is a Jew and therefore ineligible to be President. Let’s agree to deport any Republican or Democrat who makes that argument.😉
A speech and a persona to rally around. But there must be 50 or a 100 of them come forward this year to build momentum for the mid terms, and at least twice that for 2028. JB May be among the candidates. The least he should be us this period’s Mario Cuomo or Jesse Jackson. Mayor Pete can give a great halftime speech also..
So what if Pritzger is laying a foundation for a run for the Presidency. Somebody should!
He certainly does nail it!
And if he’s aiming for ’28, more power to him.
Why the concern over whether he’s thinking about making a run for the presidency? Is there some reason he shouldn’t? Should presidential aspirants keep quiet? That makes no sense.
Excellent speech which was read, in part, at a protest in South Bend, IN yesterday afternoon. Speech got much applause. More people need to attend protests and visit Congressional offices which I plan to do. I want many Democrat candidates to run for POTUS and start now. Dems need to find the strongest candidates and a variety (dare I say diversity) of opinions on all the issues. The 5th Amendment prevents the Federal Government from taking life, liberty or property from any PERSON (including immigrants and visa holders) without DUE PROCESS. Due Process is being ignored (or ridiculed) by the Trump Administration, especially immigrant enforcement. Years ago Republicans carried pocket-sized copies of the Constitution and lectured everyone about Following the Constitution. I bet they are NOT carrying them now. Due Process is a sword to slay lawlessness. Let’s use it to win the next two national elections.
A couple weeks ago I mentioned to my daughter, who lives in Chicago, that I was a fan of Pritzker. She said “he’s not bad for a billionaire.” Meanwhile, my liking for him grows daily (I also really like some of our Dem tough folks in Congress).
Whilst I agree with Todd (!) that the country’s control by oligarchs needs to come to an end, in this case I believe that it takes a billionaire to stand up to the other billionaires. And Pritzker seems to have both the money and the chutzpah to face off with them and call them out for their collaborations and capitulations.
I like Pritzker’s words, and yes, if he runs (and faces an uphill battle as he would be the first Jewish President), I’ll have to see his positions, but at the moment, he is spot on and a leading voice in the Democratic Party (and should be treated as such).
Todd – the one President who did the most for the workers of America was rich – FDR.
Thumbs up initially for the Governor.