If you did not see it, I urge you to watch JB Pritzker’s speech earlier this week.
Pritzker’s remarks came in response to reporting about Trump’s plan to send military service members to occupy Chicago, but pre-empted any deployment. You should watch the whole speech, just under 15 minutes, but he saved the most relevant passages for his peroration.
Each paragraph serves a distinct purpose—either to unify Illinoians and other Americans against Trump’s threats, or to seed doubt and division among Trump officials.
Let’s take them one by one, in order:
Let me speak to all Illinoisans and to all Chicagoans right now. Hopefully the president will reconsider this dangerous and misguided encroachment upon our state and our city’s sovereignty. Hopefully rational voices, if there are any left inside the White House or the Pentagon, will prevail in the coming days. If not, we are going to face an unprecedented and difficult time ahead.
If this happens, it’s the fault of the depraved president and the lackeys who staff his administration.
But I know you Chicago, and I know you are up to it. When you protest, do it peacefully. Be sure to continue Chicago’s long tradition of nonviolent resistance. Remember that the members of the military and the National Guard who will be asked to walk these streets are, for the most part, here unwillingly. And remember that they can be court-martialed and their lives ruined if they resist deployment. Look to the members of the faith community standing behind me today for guidance on how to mobilize.
Don’t take your anger out on the people Trump is using as pawns, and if you’re unsure how to resist peacefully, we’ll be working with your churches, mosques, and synagogues to provide answers.
To my fellow governors across the nation who would consider pulling your National Guards from their duties at home to come into my state against the wishes of its elected representatives and its people, you would be failing your constituents and your country. Cooperation and coordination between our states is vital to the fabric of our nation and it benefits us all. Any action undercutting that and violating the sacred sovereignty of our state to cater to the ego of a dictator will be responded to.
Republican governors: We have leverage over you and we will use it if you participate in the oppression of our people
The State of Illinois is ready to stand against this military deployment with every peaceful tool we have. We will see the Trump administration in court. We will use every lever at our disposal to protect the people of Illinois and their rights.
We will sue, and take whatever legal steps we can to block or shorten any deployment.
Finally, to the Trump administration officials who are complicit in this scheme, to the public servants who have forsaken their oath to the Constitution to serve the petty whims of an arrogant little man, to any federal official who would come to Chicago and try to incite my people into violence as a pretext for something darker and more dangerous: we are watching and we are taking names. This country has survived darker periods than the one that we are going through right now, and eventually the pendulum will swing back, maybe even next year. Donald Trump has already shown himself to have little regard for the many acolytes that he has encouraged to commit crimes on his behalf. You can delay justice for a time, but history shows you cannot prevent it from finding you eventually. If you hurt my people, nothing will stop me, not time or political circumstance, from making sure that you face justice under our constitutional rule of law.
These are the real money lines, in my opinion. Our memories are long. I will make it my mission in life to imprison anyone and everyone who commits a crime in furtherance of Trump’s illegal ambitions here.
That’s the “tough-on-crime” message I’m yearning to hear. I’m not entirely sure the rest of the country agrees but I know it’s one that needs to be said. If all they hear is Donald Trump and his henchmen bleating about “crime in the cities” they will believe that it’s the biggest problem we face when the truth is that our greatest threat is the criminal Trump and his henchmen.
Pritzker is very good. Newsom’s doing a great job. Tim Walz has been out there with his patented “it’s none of their damn business” schtick which is still fresh. Others are starting to do the same thing. With the DC Democratic leadership seemingly paralyzed (there are some individual congressional reps doing this work) the last institutions with any real political clout are the states. We need these Blue State governors to lead the way.