Illinois Gov. Pritzker defends profane language, tells Trump to ‘f*** all the way off’

CHICAGO, Ill. (WTVO) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is defending his profane language, telling a Chicago teachers union President Donald Trump can “f*** all the way off” during a speech last month.

“Books are being banned. History is being erased. Republicans want to take billions away from public schools and pump it into private institutions. They want to punish teachers for telling the truth. They want to criminalize educators for supporting LGBTQ students. They want to turn classrooms into cultural war battlegrounds,” Pritzker began.

“I’m sorry to be vulgar, but Donald Trump and his cronies can f*** all the way off,” Pritzker said, causing a standing ovation from the audience at the Illinois Federation of Teachers gathered in Rosemont on October 19th.

Video of the speech has spread on social media.

Over the weekend, Pritzker told NBC Chicago reporter Mary Ann Ahern, “It was a feeling I had in that moment and frankly I don’t.. I think.. all the limits are off with Donald Trump as president in terms of what our reactions are to what he has to say. He uses that word.”

“So when they go low, you go lower?” Ahern asked.

“No, in that moment, Mary Ann, in that moment, I really was feeling like all of the students in our public schools are being abused by this administration,” Pritzker responded.

Ted Dabrowski, running for the Republican nomination against Pritzker in 2026, criticized the governor, saying, “Such language debases the office of the governor of Illinois. The governor’s language comes on the heels of his inflammatory rhetoric comparing his political opponents to Nazis, and his words that have fomented violence against federal law enforcement officers. You will hear no such language from me when I am governor. I will restore common decency to the office, and that will include language I use to address even my most staunch opponents. I will defeat Pritzker and succeed as governor using the same tools I have always used – plain facts, common sense and persuasive language.”