Gov. Bruce Rauner toured an Itasca manufacturer to talk term limits and taxes Thursday but was dogged with questions about President Donald Trump.
Both Republicans were on the campaign trail — Trump in downstate Granite City and Rauner with appearances across Illinois. […]
Pritzker in a statement slammed Rauner for staying silent on Trump policies “that have and will continue to hurt Illinoisans.”
Rauner did not take reporters’ questions on why he didn’t accompany Trump or a question on potential patronage at the Illinois tollway, where GOP House Leader Jim Durkin’s sister-in-law, a former furniture sales executive, was hired as an engineering manager.
Governor Bruce Rauner had a full schedule Thursday, but one event he did not attend was President Donald Trump’s visit to Granite City.
Trump’s Granite City appearance is his first visit to Illinois as president.
“It’s curious, isn’t it, that a president of his own party is here in Illinois, but Donald Trump and Bruce Rauner are not together,” said Democratic candidate for Governor JB Pritzker.
Pritzker has used Rauner’s silence on Trump as an on-going campaign issue, accusing Rauner of attempting to play to both sides.
The station also had footage of Rauner avoiding questions, following him up a staircase, down a hall and out a door.
Bruce Rauner came to Peoria for a bill signing Thursday outside the Peoria Riverfront Museum, but the elephant on the plaza whose name the governor didn’t mention was Donald Trump.
The president had just finished speaking in Granite City some 165 miles away when Rauner took the microphone with OSF HealthCare’s future headquarters behind him — putting physical, political and metaphorical distance between the two chief executives. […]
It wasn’t a topic Rauner was eager to discuss, though it was one about which he faced questions throughout the day, from being chased out the door by a television reporter in suburban Itasca to taking three questions in 45 seconds from Peoria reporters on the subject. […]
His staff originally labeled his Peoria appearance “no additional media availability” — press jargon for not taking any questions — but indicated Thursday morning that he would accept “on-topic” questions, related to the subject of his appearance.
He did so, devoting two minutes and 45 seconds of the three minutes and 30 seconds of press questions to the historic tax credit measure he signed. The remainder of the time was spent fending off questions about why he didn’t attend the president’s speech.
The man has been president for a year and a half. You’d think the governor would have an answer by now.
While President Trump visits Illinois for the first time as president, the state’s governor Bruce Rauner decides not to join him. Instead Rauner spent his day in the Stateline, paying a visit to Midwest Aero Support in Machesney Park.
I understand the trick bag that Trump puts Rauner in but I really question the decision not to be in Quincy yesterday and having to now run away from questions regarding his absence. Wouldn’t it have been a lot easier to show up and say “look, I don’t agree with everything the President says or does but when he comes to our state to talk about jobs its important we all come together.” Sure Pritzker would have continued to push the issue but it certainly wouldn’t be as bad as what he’s dealing with right now.
==I understand the trick bag that Trump puts Rauner in but I really question the decision not to be in Quincy yesterday and having to now run away from questions regarding his absence.==
Granite City, but I enjoyed your Freudian slip.
Anyway, yes, while Rauner had no good options, this kind of seemed to give him the worst of both worlds.
I read that the entire cost of this campaign trip (in which Trump explicitly told attendees to vote Republican) was paid by the public. I was at the Granite City protest and saw state, county, and city cops as part of the motorcade and security detail. Somebody should ask the governor if we’re going to get that reimbursed.
It’s truly shocking that BTIA(TM) didn’t understand that the worst possible outcome from yesterday’s comedy would be footage of Rauner literally running away from Trump questions.
The visuals are TV news gold. Who doesn’t know that?
If McCann can sweet talk some money out of somebody, he can produce a spot that juxtaposes Gov. Rauner attending events with Pres. Obama on the South Side with him duckin’ and runnin’ from Trump in the Metro East.
Some “conservative” voters might find that interesting.
Why is Rauner running away from Trump? This is not rocket science. Half of the Republican party walked away from Trump in 2016. And of course, Clinton carried Illinois by 16 points.
Rauner needs and requires Trumpkins to make his chances of re-elect possible.
Rauner needs to be as far away from POTUS as possible as groups like suburban women are less likely (see every election since November 2016… everywhere) to support POTUS supporters or those who receive POTUS support.
Where the ILRaunerite Party is failing, miserably, is if Tauber was personally liked here in Illinois, Nagy choices like these would be based on the personal strong popularity of an incumbent. Rauner is unlikable.
So, in Monty Python fashion, the brave flee.
===The Pritzker campaign writers could use some parts in their campaign ads. He is giving them a lot of material to choose from.===
October.
Right now, reinforce that Rauner is both the worst Republican and most vulnerable incumbent governor. Both. Keep it Illinois-centric now… Quincy, social services, labor, higher education… keep all that at the forefront, 24/7/365…
October? Gin up the base, after reinforcing everywhere, how Bruce Rauner failed Illinois.
National talking points will make Trumpkins think about Rauner differently.
== Half of the Republican party walked away from Trump in 2016==
Yeah for about a month, followed by quickly getting in line to genuflect at the alter. As of right now, 90% of republicans love the orange philanderer and think he’s doing just great. Rauner and other moderate republicans aren’t going to be able to circle that square, no matter how fast they run from reporters.
It is possible to separate Trumps’s personal unpopularity with his strong approval rating on the economy. He is +15 favorable on the economy and as James Carville told us “it’s the economy stupid”
Suburban women can make a distinction just like everyone else.
“A majority of U.S. adults said they approve of President Trump’s handling of the economy in a CNBC All-America Economic Survey released Monday.
Fifty-one percent of adults said they approved of Trump’s performance on the economic front, the first time the poll has shown approval from more than half of respondents since the president took office. Thirty-six percent of poll participants said they disapproved of Trump on the economy.
Approval of Trump’s handling of the economy has increased since March, when the CNBC survey found 45 percent support.”
Highest ranking state official running away from the highest ranking national official. BTW he came to your State to tout a steel mill opening.
Really good look there. sn/
Big problem he has, as do many other GOP in the suburbs, they can’t escape this guy. So either you embrace him, as you should since he is our President. or you shun him and let the chips fall where they may.
How much longer do you think the base is going to stick around for all this?
===It is possible to separate Trumps’s personal unpopularity with his strong approval rating on the economy. He is +15 favorable on the economy and as James Carville told us “it’s the economy stupid”===
LOL
Rauner sits 27/60, approval/disapproval.
Rauner has no constituency, is considered the worst Republican and most vulnerable governor in America.
Rauner’s own numbers, he’s terribly unliked.
Trump lost Illinois by 16 points and is still underwater here.
Rauner needs Trumpkins, without embracing Trump.
McCann will remind… SB40, a phony sanctuary state myth, and a Rauner caving to Madigan, signing a budget that embraces, certifies, and vindicates the 32% tax increase.
===as James Carville told us “it’s the economy stupid”===
Yep. And the last time we had 4.1 percent quarterly growth was in 2014 under a Democratic president, and a Republican won the Illinois governor’s race.
About the only supporters Rauner has left are the pro-gun crowd and the multi-millionaire union bustering crowd.
There aren’t that many of the latter. And the pro-gun bunch aren’t happy with Rauner after signing the 72 hour wait bill, but they don’t really have a good alternative.
From a personal perspective, it’s coiming down to I don’t like Rauner’s fiscal policies or his almost complete mismanagement of the State so far. And I don’t like JB’s anti-gun policies. So, if I had to vote today, it comes down to holding my nose and voting for JB, or voting for McCann as a futile protest.
==It is possible to separate Trumps’s personal unpopularity with his strong approval rating on the economy. He is +15 favorable on the economy and as James Carville told us “it’s the economy stupid”==
James Carville also wrote a book after Obama won called “40 More Years”, so tread lightly before you deputize him in your argument.
Anyway, if you wanna argue that Trump isn’t as unpopular as it he seems, take it up with Rauner. He’s the one doing the General Runaway routine.
- Grandson of Man - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 12:40 pm:
See this, conservatives? Rauner won’t stand with your president, who was here to tout Illinois jobs. Rauner used conservatives and lied to them. How can someone like this, who so clearly cares only about himself, be trusted to stand with people? The costumes are there to fool people into a false sense of solidarity. Rauner will cut and run.
Rauner throws the very people who helped him get rich under the bus, unionized state employees and politicians who support them. What conservatives have seen more recently, Rauner enacting the abortion bill after lying about it and running scared from Trump, others have seen sooner—the union attacks after decades of pension enrichment.
This must be what is meant when some say Rauner has no constituency.
=It is possible to separate Trumps’s personal unpopularity with his strong approval rating on the economy.=
Yeah? Hmmm, what is Trump running for right now? “His” economy is about choosing, very purposefully, winners and losers. And when he jacks it up like he has with farmers he suddenly becomes a central planning communist and sends taxpayer money their way. So, we will see what the economy looks like when we get to July of 2020.
If some how you were trying to equivocate Trump with Rauner, you failed. Rauner has been miserable in every aspect of leadership.
===From a personal perspective, it’s coiming down to I don’t like Rauner’s fiscal policies or his almost complete mismanagement of the State so far. And I don’t like JB’s anti-gun policies. So, if I had to vote today, it comes down to holding my nose and voting for JB, or voting for McCann as a futile protest.===
===No worries that JB is only at 36% from Oswego’s favorite “Republican”?===
I wanted this alone.
1) Rauner is not a Republican by any measure of a candidate claiming to be one.
2) I’m sure the last thing on the Pritzker Crew’s mind is me, and I seriously doubt they think I’m a fan. I’d bet they aren’t happy with me constantly.
3) Your obsession with me being a Republican and me not accepting the phony belief that Rauner is a Republican.
Republicans at a 48% clip voted against Rauner in the Republican primary, as Rauner’s term showed to more than me Rauner isn’t a Republican.
- The Captain - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 10:46 am:
I am very much here for all your Monty Python content, thank you.
- Pundent - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 10:46 am:
I understand the trick bag that Trump puts Rauner in but I really question the decision not to be in Quincy yesterday and having to now run away from questions regarding his absence. Wouldn’t it have been a lot easier to show up and say “look, I don’t agree with everything the President says or does but when he comes to our state to talk about jobs its important we all come together.” Sure Pritzker would have continued to push the issue but it certainly wouldn’t be as bad as what he’s dealing with right now.
- DuPage - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 10:47 am:
The Pritzker campaign writers could use some parts in their campaign ads. He is giving them a lot of material to choose from.
- Ike - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 10:51 am:
“Brave Sir Rauner ran away”
- Arsenal - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 10:54 am:
==I understand the trick bag that Trump puts Rauner in but I really question the decision not to be in Quincy yesterday and having to now run away from questions regarding his absence.==
Granite City, but I enjoyed your Freudian slip.
Anyway, yes, while Rauner had no good options, this kind of seemed to give him the worst of both worlds.
- LXB - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 10:55 am:
I read that the entire cost of this campaign trip (in which Trump explicitly told attendees to vote Republican) was paid by the public. I was at the Granite City protest and saw state, county, and city cops as part of the motorcade and security detail. Somebody should ask the governor if we’re going to get that reimbursed.
- Henry Francis - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 10:55 am:
Apparently when candidate Rauner pulled his prairie chicken stunt we all misinterpreted the statement he was trying to make.
- wordslinger - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 10:58 am:
It’s truly shocking that BTIA(TM) didn’t understand that the worst possible outcome from yesterday’s comedy would be footage of Rauner literally running away from Trump questions.
The visuals are TV news gold. Who doesn’t know that?
If McCann can sweet talk some money out of somebody, he can produce a spot that juxtaposes Gov. Rauner attending events with Pres. Obama on the South Side with him duckin’ and runnin’ from Trump in the Metro East.
Some “conservative” voters might find that interesting.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/chi-rauner-gets-cold-shoulder-at-obama-event-20150219-story.html
- Anon III - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 10:58 am:
Why is Rauner running away from Trump? This is not rocket science. Half of the Republican party walked away from Trump in 2016. And of course, Clinton carried Illinois by 16 points.
- Arthur Andersen - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 10:58 am:
Bad advance work. If Rauner is going to pull these stunts, which I don’t like, he needs a quicker route to Scooby-Doo outta reach of the pesky press.
- RNUG - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 11:03 am:
Rauner had a good excuse for avoiding Trump and Granite City.
He was trying to see if his act would play in Peoria …
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 11:03 am:
Rauner needs and requires Trumpkins to make his chances of re-elect possible.
Rauner needs to be as far away from POTUS as possible as groups like suburban women are less likely (see every election since November 2016… everywhere) to support POTUS supporters or those who receive POTUS support.
Where the ILRaunerite Party is failing, miserably, is if Tauber was personally liked here in Illinois, Nagy choices like these would be based on the personal strong popularity of an incumbent. Rauner is unlikable.
So, in Monty Python fashion, the brave flee.
===The Pritzker campaign writers could use some parts in their campaign ads. He is giving them a lot of material to choose from.===
October.
Right now, reinforce that Rauner is both the worst Republican and most vulnerable incumbent governor. Both. Keep it Illinois-centric now… Quincy, social services, labor, higher education… keep all that at the forefront, 24/7/365…
October? Gin up the base, after reinforcing everywhere, how Bruce Rauner failed Illinois.
National talking points will make Trumpkins think about Rauner differently.
October.
- Lester Holt’s Mustache - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 11:20 am:
== Half of the Republican party walked away from Trump in 2016==
Yeah for about a month, followed by quickly getting in line to genuflect at the alter. As of right now, 90% of republicans love the orange philanderer and think he’s doing just great. Rauner and other moderate republicans aren’t going to be able to circle that square, no matter how fast they run from reporters.
- Lucky Pierre - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 11:22 am:
It is possible to separate Trumps’s personal unpopularity with his strong approval rating on the economy. He is +15 favorable on the economy and as James Carville told us “it’s the economy stupid”
Suburban women can make a distinction just like everyone else.
“A majority of U.S. adults said they approve of President Trump’s handling of the economy in a CNBC All-America Economic Survey released Monday.
Fifty-one percent of adults said they approved of Trump’s performance on the economic front, the first time the poll has shown approval from more than half of respondents since the president took office. Thirty-six percent of poll participants said they disapproved of Trump on the economy.
Approval of Trump’s handling of the economy has increased since March, when the CNBC survey found 45 percent support.”
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/393943-cnbc-poll-finds-majority-approval-for-trumps-handling-of-the-economy
- Jocko - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 11:25 am:
With yesterday’s absence in Granite City, downstate Republicans come across like an abused spouse choosing to stay with their man.
- DuPage Bard - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 11:36 am:
Highest ranking state official running away from the highest ranking national official. BTW he came to your State to tout a steel mill opening.
Really good look there. sn/
Big problem he has, as do many other GOP in the suburbs, they can’t escape this guy. So either you embrace him, as you should since he is our President. or you shun him and let the chips fall where they may.
How much longer do you think the base is going to stick around for all this?
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 11:38 am:
===It is possible to separate Trumps’s personal unpopularity with his strong approval rating on the economy. He is +15 favorable on the economy and as James Carville told us “it’s the economy stupid”===
LOL
Rauner sits 27/60, approval/disapproval.
Rauner has no constituency, is considered the worst Republican and most vulnerable governor in America.
Rauner’s own numbers, he’s terribly unliked.
Trump lost Illinois by 16 points and is still underwater here.
Rauner needs Trumpkins, without embracing Trump.
McCann will remind… SB40, a phony sanctuary state myth, and a Rauner caving to Madigan, signing a budget that embraces, certifies, and vindicates the 32% tax increase.
How are you still supporting Rauner? lol
- Rich Miller - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 12:02 pm:
===as James Carville told us “it’s the economy stupid”===
Yep. And the last time we had 4.1 percent quarterly growth was in 2014 under a Democratic president, and a Republican won the Illinois governor’s race.
Also, a bunch of that growth was due to accelerated soybean exports ahead of tariffs https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-gdp-growth-hits-41-in-second-quarter-fastest-since-2014?ref=home
- RNUG - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 12:02 pm:
== How are you still supporting Rauner? ==
About the only supporters Rauner has left are the pro-gun crowd and the multi-millionaire union bustering crowd.
There aren’t that many of the latter. And the pro-gun bunch aren’t happy with Rauner after signing the 72 hour wait bill, but they don’t really have a good alternative.
From a personal perspective, it’s coiming down to I don’t like Rauner’s fiscal policies or his almost complete mismanagement of the State so far. And I don’t like JB’s anti-gun policies. So, if I had to vote today, it comes down to holding my nose and voting for JB, or voting for McCann as a futile protest.
- Arsenal - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 12:33 pm:
==It is possible to separate Trumps’s personal unpopularity with his strong approval rating on the economy. He is +15 favorable on the economy and as James Carville told us “it’s the economy stupid”==
James Carville also wrote a book after Obama won called “40 More Years”, so tread lightly before you deputize him in your argument.
Anyway, if you wanna argue that Trump isn’t as unpopular as it he seems, take it up with Rauner. He’s the one doing the General Runaway routine.
- Grandson of Man - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 12:40 pm:
See this, conservatives? Rauner won’t stand with your president, who was here to tout Illinois jobs. Rauner used conservatives and lied to them. How can someone like this, who so clearly cares only about himself, be trusted to stand with people? The costumes are there to fool people into a false sense of solidarity. Rauner will cut and run.
Rauner throws the very people who helped him get rich under the bus, unionized state employees and politicians who support them. What conservatives have seen more recently, Rauner enacting the abortion bill after lying about it and running scared from Trump, others have seen sooner—the union attacks after decades of pension enrichment.
This must be what is meant when some say Rauner has no constituency.
- JS Mill - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 1:17 pm:
=It is possible to separate Trumps’s personal unpopularity with his strong approval rating on the economy.=
Yeah? Hmmm, what is Trump running for right now? “His” economy is about choosing, very purposefully, winners and losers. And when he jacks it up like he has with farmers he suddenly becomes a central planning communist and sends taxpayer money their way. So, we will see what the economy looks like when we get to July of 2020.
If some how you were trying to equivocate Trump with Rauner, you failed. Rauner has been miserable in every aspect of leadership.
- Huh? - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 1:46 pm:
Who does 1.4% think he is running away like that? Chris Kennedy?
- Lucky Pierre - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 2:23 pm:
All posts lead back to Rauner I guess OW
No worries that JB is only at 36% from Oswego’s favorite “Republican”?
And you think I’m a bot
Sheesh
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 3:03 pm:
===All posts lead back to Rauner I guess…===
This Post… is literally a play on Rauner running away from Trump.
Keep up.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 3:06 pm:
===From a personal perspective, it’s coiming down to I don’t like Rauner’s fiscal policies or his almost complete mismanagement of the State so far. And I don’t like JB’s anti-gun policies. So, if I had to vote today, it comes down to holding my nose and voting for JB, or voting for McCann as a futile protest.===
You may not be the only one with this thinking.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jul 27, 18 @ 3:27 pm:
===No worries that JB is only at 36% from Oswego’s favorite “Republican”?===
I wanted this alone.
1) Rauner is not a Republican by any measure of a candidate claiming to be one.
2) I’m sure the last thing on the Pritzker Crew’s mind is me, and I seriously doubt they think I’m a fan. I’d bet they aren’t happy with me constantly.
3) Your obsession with me being a Republican and me not accepting the phony belief that Rauner is a Republican.
Republicans at a 48% clip voted against Rauner in the Republican primary, as Rauner’s term showed to more than me Rauner isn’t a Republican.