Politics
INSURRECTION: Dem Presidential Hopeful Calls For Mass ‘Disruption’
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, who has been widely viewed as a potential Democratic Party presidential candidate in 2028, called for mass protests and “disruption” in opposition to the Trump Administration while headlining a major party fundraiser on Sunday night.
Pritzker continued with what has been a trend in attempting to raise his national profile when he headlined the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club Dinner. The annual event has long stood out among Democratic Party fundraisers due to New Hampshire’s position in holding the nation’s first presidential primary.
While Pritzker has delivered a number of high-profile speeches over the last year, including an appearance at the Human Right Campaign’s Los Angeles dinner, and scheduled headlining spot Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party dinner in June, Sunday’s address has been seen as a clear indicator of an impending presidential bid.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who went on to become the party’s vice presidential candidate, headlined the dinner in 2024.
“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,” Pritzker told attendees on Sunday, drawing applause and cheers.
“They have to understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have. We must castigate them on the soapbox and then punish them at the ballot box.”
The billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune became the first potential presidential candidate to visit an early primary state with Sunday’s address, which was delivered to roughly 800 Democratic Party donors and allies. Continuing with his fiery rhetoric, Pritzker condemned “do nothing” Democrats and called on the party to become more aggressive.
“Fellow Democrats, for far too long we’ve been guilty of listening to a bunch of do-nothing political types who would tell us that America’s house is not on fire, even as the flames are licking their faces,” he said. “We need to knock off the rust of poll-tested language, decades of stale decorum.”
Pritzker also had harsh words for a number of Trump cabinet officials, describing Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a “weird nepo baby who once stashed a dead bear in the back seat of his car” and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as “a washed-up Fox TV commentator.”
“Stop thinking we can reason or negotiate with a madman,” Pritzker told the crowd before threatening Trump supporters, who should, according to the governor, “feel in their bones that when we survive this shameful episode of American history” and will be relegated to “the museum halls reserved for tyrants and traitors.”
The speech triggered outrage among Trump supporters and cabinet officials, including Stephen Miller, the president’s deputy for policy and homeland security advisor. “His comments, if nothing else, could be construed as inciting violence,” Miller told reporters outside the White House on Monday.
“So President Trump survived two assassination attempts against his life. Of course, there’s been many more credible threats against President Trump and his family and associates. We’ve, of course, seen the spate of left-wing domestic terrorism all across this country,” he added. Miller also noted that Democrats have openly endorsed riots and destruction of property over the last decade, pointing to widespread attacks on Tesla vehicles and the embrace of accused killer Luigi Mangione as recent examples.
“And that’s the point we’ve reached in this country, where people are engaging in rhetoric and behavior that puts the lives of public servants in danger, puts the lives of conservative Americans in danger. And so that’s the first thing I would say,” Miller continued.
“And then of course secondly, right, just this war that Democrat governors and mayors are waging against federal law enforcement. I mean this is nullificationist behavior. This is successionist behavior. We’re just saying they don’t recognize the supremacy of federal law enforcement in terms of protecting the lives and livelihoods of American citizens against a foreign invasion. We’ve never seen anything like it and of course the result of their conduct is that they’re allowing illegal aliens to go free and rape and murder their own citizens.”
