Pritzker's Hollow Threats?
Governor JB Pritzker and Ag Director John Costello at the Farm Progress Show Tuesday.
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A day after his splashy downtown Chicago news conference opposing President Trump’s threats to send National Guard troops into the city that gained him live coverage on national cable channels, Governor JB Pritzker was pressed for more details Tuesday.
At an unrelated news conference at the Farm Progress Show in Decatur Tuesday, Pritzker was asked what options the state had to stop Trump from deploying National Guard members to Illinois other than filing a lawsuit.
“What are you suggesting? We follow the law here in Illinois,” Pritzker said. “When there is federal law that applies, we follow that. If there’s state law that applies, we follow that. What we are doing in the state right now is making sure that the President and those folks in Washington who are thinking about sending troops on the ground to a major American city is that they understand that no one wants them to come. That crime is down, murders, in particular, are down.”
“If going on MSNBC and thinking you’re going to bully Donald Trump to stop doing his job to keep us safe counts as a plan, then, sure,” texted one pro-Trump Republican legislator. “JB Pritzker doesn’t care about public safety. He cares about pandering to pro-criminal liberals to win a Democratic primary for President.”
But, Pritzker said he’s going to keep pushing back on Trump.
“The President is still operating on some antiquated idea and, frankly, has had it in for Chicago since way before he even got elected in 2016,” Pritzker said. “We’re doing our best to let them know if they decide to do it we're going to make sure and go to court about it. Because…you’re not allowed to send armed troops into an American city to fight crime.”
