Towards the end of his 2025 State of the State address, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker harshly criticized decisions made by President Donald Trump’s current administration in its first few weeks.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker delivered a stern message, naming both President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in his State of the State address, as he said he is "watching with a foreboding dread what is happening in our country right now."
Pritzker, who has been a vocal critic of Trump over the years, specifically cited recent federal cuts that have impacted various programs and Illinoisans, among other measures and actions taken by the president and Musk, who now heads the Department of Government Efficiency and has been tasked with slashing federal spending.
"The Trump administration cut off funding for food safety inspectors for nearly a month, impacting more than 70 meat and poultry facilities in Illinois. Without these inspectors, the supply chain collapses, prices go through the roof, from farmers to truckers to meat packers to retailers, jobs will be lost," Pritzker said. "Meals on Wheels programs — which home deliver 12 million meals per year to 100,000 seniors and people with disabilities in Illinois – are on the federal chopping block. This is real. The new administration and the Republican Congress and Elon Musk intend to take these programs away."
Pritzker went on to issue a warning to "all Illinoisans watching at home."
"Let me be clear, this is going to affect your daily lives. Our state budget can’t make up for the damage that is done to people across our state if they succeed," he said.
Trump put Musk in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency to help eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in spending and trim the more than 2 million-person federal workforce. Musk says he wants to add “common-sense controls” to the federal spending. He says taxpayer dollars must be spent wisely and that to cut the waste is not “draconian.”
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Thousands of federal government employees have been fired in the first month of Trump's administration as the White House and DOGE fire both new and career workers, tell agency leaders to plan for “large-scale reductions in force" and freeze trillions of dollars in federal grant funds.
The White House summarizes Trump's approach with the mantra “promises made, promises kept.” Administration officials also dismiss concerns that the president is exercising too much control. They say Trump is entitled to impose his vision on the government that he was elected to lead.
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Others, including Pritzker, see something else for the country and its future. During his remarks, Pritzker referenced the Holocaust when discussing the state of the country.
"I do not invoke the spectre of Nazis lightly. But I know the history intimately — and have spent more time than probably anyone in this room with people who survived the Holocaust. Here’s what I’ve learned – the root that tears apart your house’s foundation begins as a seed – a seed of distrust and hate and blame," he said. "The seed that grew into a dictatorship in Europe a lifetime ago didn’t arrive overnight. It started with everyday Germans mad about inflation and looking for someone to blame."
"I’m watching with a foreboding dread what is happening in our country right now," he continued. "A president who watches a plane go down in the Potomac – and suggests — without facts or findings — that a diversity hire is responsible for the crash. Or the Missouri Attorney General who just sued Starbucks – arguing that consumers pay higher prices for their coffee because the baristas are too 'female' and 'nonwhite.' The authoritarian playbook is laid bare here: They point to a group of people who don’t look like you and tell you to blame them for your problems."
Pritzker questioned what the president will do next, with uncertainly surrounding DOGE, the future of federal programs and more in the balance.
"After we’ve discriminated against, deported or disparaged all the immigrants and the gay and lesbian and transgender people, the developmentally disabled, the women and the minorities – once we’ve ostracized our neighbors and betrayed our friends – After that, when the problems we started with are still there staring us in the face – what comes next?" he said. "All the atrocities of human history lurk in the answer to that question. And if we don’t want to repeat history – then for God’s sake in this moment we better be strong enough to learn from it."
He ended his address with another Holocaust mention.
"If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this: It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic," he said. "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... Tyranny requires your fear and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage. So gather your justice and humanity, Illinois, and do not let the 'tragic spirit of despair' overcome us when our country needs us the most."
