Trump criticizes Illinois leadership; Pritzker fires back, draws Nazi comparisons

CHICAGO, Ill. (WTVO) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker compared President Trump’s tactics to those of Nazis again this weekend after the president federalized the Washington, DC police department and threatened to send the National Guard to Chicago.

On Monday, President Trump took control of Washington, DC’s police force, citing a public safety emergency, and deployed the National Guard in the nation’s capital in an effort to crack down on crime.

Trump said he hopes other cities, including Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, are watching the steps he’s announced in D.C. and would take steps to “self-clean up.”

“I have talked about the fact that the Nazis in Germany in the ’30s tore down a constitutional republic in just 53 days,” Pritzker said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “It does not take much, frankly, and we have a president who seems hell-bent on doing just that.”

Trump added that if needed, the administration would take similar steps in other cities and criticized their leadership at the local and state levels.

“And if we need to, we’re going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster,” Trump said.

“We have a mayor there who is totally incompetent, he’s an incompetent man. And we have an incompetent governor there,” Trump said. “Pritzker is an incompetent; his family threw him out of the business, and he ran for governor. And now I understand he wants to be president. But I noticed he lost a little weight, so maybe he has a chance? You never know what happens.”

Pritzker responded by saying, “I guess I should say thank you for the compliment,” Pritzker said. “I reject criticism and don’t really want to respond to criticism from Donald Trump, who inherited his money and then went bankrupt six times and then defrauded his business partners. And by the way, he cheats at golf.”

When asked by NBC’s Kristen Welker about the possibility seeking a presidential run on Meet the Press on Sunday, Pritzker responded, “I can’t rule anything out, but what I can rule in is that no matter what decisions I make, and I mean in particular about what I do here in the State of Illinois, is about the people of Illinois.”

Pritzker has emerged as one of the Democrats’ most vocal opponents of President Donald Trump. He was under consideration to be former Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate in 2024.

DuPage County Sheriff James Kendrick, businessman Joseph Severino, and Phil Perez have announced they are running against Pritzker for the office of Illinois Governor.