Focused on Trump, Pritzker blasts administration’s actions in Kane County speech

While giving a speech Sunday evening in St. Charles echoing the pomp and sentiments of a presidential campaign, Gov. JB Pritzker denounced the actions of President Donald Trump and rallied voters to take action against their liberties being taken away.

“We’ve got to tell people not just what we’re against, but also what we’re for, and then we’ve got to deliver on it,” Pritzker said during his speech. “Democrats are for making it easier to get childcare and to send your kid to preschool. We’re for making it more affordable to get quality healthcare and for seniors to grow old with dignity. We’re for raising the minimum wage so no family goes hungry without a roof over their heads. We spent the last six years doing that here in Illinois.”

Pritzker was joined at the Kane County Democrats’ “Truman Dinner” at the Q Center in St. Charles by other Illinois Democrats, including U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as well as President of the Illinois AFL-CIO, Tim Drea.

While listing state accomplishments, such as cancelling medical debt for hundreds of thousands, lowering prescription drug costs, eliminating the sales tax on groceries, and creating the state’s first-ever child tax credit, Pritzker’s ire never strayed far from the current occupant of the White House.

“Trump is going to try to tear down all of it from Washington D.C. if people don’t stand up, show up, speak at town halls and at Congress,” Pritzker said. “Everyone, even kids, need to get into the fight. Never give up. Never surrender. We are the bulwark of the resistance. The rest of the country is depending on Illinois.”

Several times, Pritzker evoked emotional responses from the audience by denouncing the “chainsaw” approach of federal funding freezes and mass firings directed by Elon Musk and the Trump Administration.

“The richest man in the world stumbles around on-stage with a chainsaw laughing about the damage he’s doing to everyday Americans,” Pritzker said. “Trump laid off the meteorologists that warn Illinoisans to take cover before an approaching flood or tornado. Musk fired hundreds of nuclear safety workers who make sure our nuclear weapons stockpile does not leak or explode. NIH cancer research has already been eliminated. People are going to die because of Trump.”

In addition to cutting Medicaid, Pritzker said congressional Republicans aim to eliminate SNAP food assistance to the nation’s poorest families while providing $62,000 annual tax cuts to those making $750,000 or more.

Pritzker said swift action is needed to confront the rising cases of diseases like measles and polio stemming from Americans being told not to get vaccinated. He said the public must speak out against tariffs that will drive up the prices of everything from lumber and the housing market, to groceries, and oil and gas.

Hammering down on one of the last election’s hot-button issues, Prtizker said Republican’s inserting “personhood” language into maternal health laws would lead to funding cuts for IVF and stem cell research.

“They are going after your abortion rights,” Pritzker said. “Trump appointed the Supreme Court to make that happen, and now he’s going to take away your reproductive rights.”

Pritzker didn’t focus only on domestic issues. Lambasting the diplomatic falling-out between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House, Pritzker said America is losing its moral and global leadership.

“Trump and Vance ruined our nation’s international standing by bullying Zelensky in the Oval Office,” Pritzker said. “I am a Ukrainian American. I stand with Ukraine because they are the good guys. Trump is siding with our enemy, (Russian President) Vladimir Putin. He’s putting our national security at risk.”

Directly challenging the audience to rise up for what they believe, Pritzker said Illinois serves as a light for the rest of the nation.