At a Center for American Progress event on Tuesday, Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) spoke about how he can push back against the Trump Administration.
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NewsTranscript
00:00So I'm going to ask one more question,
00:01then we'll take questions from the audience.
00:03And we'll take questions both our in-person audience
00:06and our online audience as well.
00:10I think one, just to switch it up a little bit,
00:13I think there's a big, robust debate right now
00:16about how to fight, when to fight the Trump
00:20administration.
00:20So I think it would just be great for you
00:23to tell us how you as a governor can fight,
00:25how your attorneys generals are fighting,
00:30your attorney generals fighting.
00:32How are you engaged in pushing back?
00:36So we have a terrific delegation that we sent to Washington
00:42from the state of Illinois.
00:47Unfortunately, Congress is dysfunctional,
00:50and so dysfunctional now because people are just
00:55cowed by this administration.
00:58They're concerned about being primaried,
01:00or they feel some threat, and they're either laying low.
01:04They're certainly not taking up their responsibilities
01:07in Congress to, frankly, do what Congress
01:11is supposed to do with regard to the other branches
01:14of government.
01:16So for a governor, I can't affect federal laws.
01:23There's only so much that I can do to push back
01:26from a legal perspective.
01:27We can go to court, and we are, and we have.
01:30And I'm fortunate because I've got a terrific attorney
01:32general, Kwame Raoul, who's been part of many of the suits.
01:36In fact, so many of these suits have been successful,
01:38and he's been a part of them.
01:41And that's great, but we shouldn't
01:42have to rely upon that.
01:43That's just where we are in this world.
01:47The pushback that I can offer is, first,
01:50do the best I can to run a state that
01:52is really all about working people
01:54and the most vulnerable.
01:56But second, it's, I've got a bully pulpit.
01:59I'm the fifth largest state in the United States,
02:01the fifth largest economy, the 18th largest economy
02:04in the world if we were an independent country.
02:07Sometimes I think maybe we should become an independent.
02:10No.
02:11I'm only kidding, but the 18th largest economy in the world.
02:14And so the bully pulpit that I get as governor
02:18gives me the opportunity at least
02:20to speak to what I think that our common American values are.
02:24And we are the center of the country,
02:26the heart of the country, where we
02:28are in the state of Illinois.
02:29We also have a state that is most
02:31reflective of the population of the entire United States.
02:34If you look at the demographics of Illinois,
02:36it looks like the demographics of the country.
02:39So it gives me the opportunity to talk
02:43about what I think is happening in the country
02:46and the dangers that I think we're facing.
02:48And just as somebody who led the building of a Holocaust
02:53museum, whose family survived the pogroms in Ukraine
02:57by escaping to, at that time, the only place in the world
03:02that would really take them in, which is the United States,
03:06I cherish the freedom and the security
03:12that this country offers to people.
03:14Not just for immigrants, for all of us who live here.
03:16I'm three generations away from the immigrants who
03:20came here not speaking English.
03:23And I still believe that it's the greatest
03:29country in the world and that we have
03:31to protect the freedom, the security, the leadership
03:35that this country has established in the world.
03:37And I see it all being taken away, little by little.
03:41It feels like more and more every day.
03:43And we're only roughly 60 days into this administration.
03:48So I worry terribly.
03:49I have sounded the alarm.
03:52I will continue to sound the alarm.
03:54People are responding.
03:55I think it's happening.
03:58It doesn't feel ever like enough yet.
04:00And I wish that there were more people, more elected leaders,
04:04more community leaders who will step up and speak up.
04:09There are a lot of people who are afraid.
04:11A lot.
04:12I sat in a room of CEOs of businesses,
04:15not Illinois businesses, but these
04:18were nationally known businesses and other senior leadership
04:23of those companies.
04:24And they essentially said they're
04:29afraid to raise their heads that they'll get shot at,
04:33so to speak, by the Trump administration.
04:35So they're kind of laying low even as they
04:39see everything under attack.
04:42And I mean, in some cases, I think it's shameful.
04:49They have power to push back.
04:51And I actually think that Trump would listen to that power,
04:55because those are people he listens to.
04:58But they're afraid.
05:00And so the rest of us, I mean, we can't be afraid.
05:05If you're willing to stand up, to step up, to speak out,
05:09you have to do it.
05:10And even if it means whether you're showing up
05:12at a town hall meeting or you have one in your district
05:15at all, you've got a telephone, 202-224-3121.
05:21That's Congress's number.
05:23You can reach your congressman or senator.
05:26And you can also gather people in your community
05:30and make sure that your voice is heard.
05:33We need to do that.
05:35That is all Democrats have right now at the federal level
05:39is our ability to speak up and speak out.