During his daily coronavirus press briefing on Sunday, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker blasted President Donald Trump, accusing him of doing “very little” to help states hard-hit by the virus.
Pritzker, responding to a tweet the president sent out Sunday morning, lashed out at Trump, saying that he’s “finding it hard to contain his anger” at the president.
“I’m a pretty even-keeled guy, but even I’m finding it hard to contain my anger with Donald Trump’s response to this crisis,” he said. “Apparently the only way to get the president of the United States to pay attention is to go on national television and make noise about it, which I won’t stop doing until we get what we need.”
In a tweet posted Sunday morning, the president criticized Pritzker and a “very small group of certain other governors” for blaming the federal government for “their own shortcomings:”
Pritzker tweeted back at the president, telling him to “get off Twitter and to do your job,” but he elaborated on those comments Sunday.
“I have doctors and surgeons and first responders begging for masks, equipment and more tests, and I have a floor full of staff working day and night trying to hunt down the supplies that our health care workers and first responders need, and the supplies that they’re going to need later,” he said. “We’re doing that because Donald Trump promised to deliver for all states weeks ago, and so far has done very little.”
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The governor refused to soft-pedal his criticism, saying that it’s time for Trump to be a serious leader.
“I said I would fight for this state with every breath that I have, and I meant it,” he said. “This is a time for serious people, not the carnival barkers that are tweeting from the cheap seats. All I can say is get to work, or get out of the way.”
Pritzker did praise Illinois Republicans for their help during the crisis, saying it was “heartening” to see his political opponents reaching across the aisle to see what they could do to help.
“One of the things that’s been most heartening in Illinois is the degree to which Republicans from across our state have reached out to me to ask how they can help,” he said. “Even people who have had profound political disagreements with me have been the first to text or call me to ask how they can help Illinois in her time of need.”
