In a speech about the State of Law in 2025, the governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, strongly criticized the decisions taken by the Trump administration in his first month.
Pritzker said he was “observing with a premonitory fear what is happening in our country at this time.”
He cited the federal cuts that have affected several programs and the inhabitants of Illinois, among other measures and actions taken by President Trump and Elon Musk, who directs the government efficiency department.
“The Trump administration cut the financing to food security inspectors for almost a month, which affected more than 70 meat and poultry facilities in Illinois. Without these inspectors, the collapse supply chain, prices shoot, from the farmers to the truckers, the meat packers and the retailers, jobs will be lost, ”he said.
“The programs Meals on Wheelswhich deliver 12 million meals per year to 100,000 older people and people with disabilities in Illinois, are sightd by the federal government. This is real. The new administration, the Republican Congress and Elon Musk intend to eliminate them. ”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbojhu2Plmo
Pritzker went to “all the inhabitants of Illinois who are looking from home.” And he said: “Let me be clear, this will affect their daily lives. Our state budget cannot compensate for the damage made to people throughout our state if they succeed. ”
Trump officials also dismiss the concerns that the president is exercising too much control. They say he has the right to impose his vision on the government that was chosen to direct. Others, including Pritzker, see it differently.
During his speech, the governor made reference to the Holocaust. “I do not invoke the Nazis spectrum lightly. But I know the story intimately and I have probably spent more time than anyone in this room with people who survived it. ”
“This is what I have learned: the root that tear the foundations of your house begins as a seed: a seed of distrust, hate and guilt,” he said. “The seed that became a dictatorship in Europe did not arrive overnight. It all started with the common and currents Germans, furious for inflation and looking for someone to blame. ”
“I observe with a premonitory fear what is happening in our country at this time,” he continued. “A president who observes how a plane crashes in the Potomac and suggests, without facts or conclusions, that a hiring based on diversity is responsible for the accident. Or the Missouri attorney general, who has just sued Starbucks arguing that consumers pay higher prices for their coffee because there are too many “women and non -white” …
“The authoritarian manual is exposed here: they point to a group of people who do not look like you and tell you that you blame your problems.”
“After having discriminated, deported or belittled to all immigrants and homosexuals, lesbians and transsexuals, to the disabled, women and minorities, once we have sentenced ostracism to our neighbors and betrayed our friends; After that, when the problems we start are still looking at us, what comes next? ”He said.
“All the atrocities of human history hide in the answer to that question. And if we do not want to repeat the story, then, for the love of God, at this moment we better be strong enough to learn from it. ”
He finished his speech with another mention of the Holocaust. “If you think I am exaggerating and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this: the Nazis took a month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic,” he said.
“All I say is that when the fire of five alarms begins to burn, every good person must be prepared to occupy a position with a bucket of water if he wants to prevent him from getting out of control… tyranny requires his fear, his silence and his obedience . Democracy requires its courage. So they meet their justice and humanity, Illinois, and do not allow the ‘tragic spirit of despair’ to dominate us when our country needs us more. ”
