Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has not been holding back his thoughts about the Trump administration’s recent actions in his state.
During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Pritzker told anchor Jake Tapper that the Trump administration was creating chaos in Chicago.
‘They are the ones that are making it a war zone,’ Pritzker told Tapper of the Trump administration.
‘They need to get out of Chicago. If they’re not going to focus on the worst of the worst, which is what the president said they were going to do, they need to get the heck out,’ the Illinois Governor added.
Pritzker’s remarks were a response to claims made by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem on Sunday, when she noted that Chicago ‘is a war zone’ and that Pritzker was making it so that ‘criminals can go in there and destroy people’s lives.’
The Trump administration has justified the presence of immigration enforcement officials in Chicago this week by claiming the waters of Lake Michigan, on which the city sits, as a ‘border of the United States.’
X user @GuntherEagleman noted that he ‘voted for Trump to TRIGGER Democrats just like this,’ and that ‘these meltdowns are EPIC.’
President Trump and Governor Pritzker have been trading jabs at one another for months, and the commander-in-chief even called the governor a ‘slob,’ noting that he should ‘spend more time in the gym,’ in the Oval Office back in August.
During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, October 5th, Illinois Governor Pritzker told anchor Jake Tapper that the Trump administration was creating chaos in Chicago
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents knock on the door of a residence during a multi-agency targeted enforcement operation in Chicago, Illinois, US, on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with a reporter on July 31, 2025.
Pritzker fired back at the president’s comments at his own press conference in Chicago, stating that ‘from [his] perspective, it takes one to know one on the weight question.’
‘The president himself is not in good shape. He ought to respond to that,’ he went on.
The duo’s spat occurred after the president announced his consideration of sending National Guard troops to Chicago, following the success of his crackdown in Washington, DC.
Pritzker fired back at the president back then, noting that ‘If you hurt my people, nothing will stop me — not time or political circumstance — from making sure you face justice under our constitutional rule of law.’
Trump had previously said he was considering Chicago and New York for troop deployments, adding that Chicago was ‘a mess.’
‘You have an incompetent mayor – grossly incompetent. And we’ll straighten that one out probably next. That will be our next one after this, and it won’t even be tough,’ the president noted at the time.
