Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday said he has received many more threats since last week’s killing of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, a symptom of escalating tensions at “a moment when Americans must come together and say clearly that threats and political violence are not the answer.”
That’s the message that President Donald Trump should be sending, but “instead, he actively fans the flames of division,” Pritzker claimed during a Loop news conference.
“Political violence has increased substantially against both Republicans and Democrats. Democracy is designed precisely to avoid political violence, and it’s now incumbent upon leaders of all stripes to work together to stop it. Most especially, this should come from the top,” Pritzker said. “Yet with each new crisis in recent years, we are reminded that we cannot rely on President Trump to tamp down the anger and the passion in the aftermath of political violence.”
Hours after Kirk was shot during an appearance last week at Utah Valley University, Trump blamed rhetoric from the “radical left” for the Arlington Heights-born talk show host’s killing. Authorities still haven’t pinpointed a motive for the actions of shooting suspect Tyler Robinson.
Pritzker himself has drawn criticism from Illinois Republicans for his own comments shortly after the shooting, when he said “the president’s rhetoric often foments” political violence.
The governor didn’t back down from that description Monday.
“Anyone who is fomenting attacks, anyone who is saying things that — especially in this moment when you should have calm, you should have someone at the top who is asking people to take a step back — anyone who’s doing that deserves criticism,” Pritzker said.
“This is a democracy. We can be critical of one another, we can belong to different political parties and have different views, and act in a peaceful fashion. … There are people who not only act violently, but those who encourage that kind of violence. And especially at this point, we should be asking people to, instead, call for calm. And that’s what I’m doing. I think that’s what our leaders should be doing across the board.”
In a statement, the Illinois Republican Party said “as violent political rhetoric becomes a norm, Pritzker admitted that he will continue to use dangerous rhetoric against President Trump. That’s not leadership — it’s putting Republicans in danger.”
Members of the Illinois General Assembly’s hardline conservative Freedom Caucus even filed a resolution to bring articles of impeachment against the governor for failing “to restrain his vile hatred for those who disagree with him politically.”
The downstate contingent of seven GOP state lawmakers pointed to Pritzker’s State of the State address earlier this year when he likened Trump’s “authoritarian playbook” to the rise of Nazi Germany.
“It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic,” Pritzker said in February. “All I’m saying is when the five-alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control.”
Pritzker rejected GOP claims that he labeled members of their party Nazis, and he celebrated the bipartisan call for “peaceful debate” issued by Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, and Minority Leader John Curran, R-Downers Grove.
“We can be opponents without being enemies,” the state Senate leaders said in a joint statement. “Remember who we are, and take the temperature down.”
Pritzker said the number of threats he’s received since Kirk’s death “has been an enormous multiple of those that were coming in in the days before.” Right-wing influencer Ben Bergquam recorded a video outside the governor’s Gold Coast home on Thursday encouraging his 177,000-plus followers to “take action.”
“I think the state police does — in their protective efforts for elected officials in the state — I’ll just say they’ve done a terrific job of keeping my family safe,” Pritzker said.
“The truth is that the number of threats and the number of people who seem to want to engage in political violence has increased substantially, and I would like very much for people to just take a breath, take a step back. … Democracy is really the method by which we avoid political violence, and I think over the course of the history of the United States, that’s been what makes this country great.”
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