* More from Gov. Pritzker’s press conference today…
Q: Does this current political climate suggest that these kinds of government shutdowns are going to become more regular? And if everything’s funded through January, SNAP through September, but what concerns do you have that conditions in this country are going to make this kind of thing much more common?
Pritzker: When Donald Trump doesn’t want to give people health care and is willing to take away people’s food in order to force people to take less health care or pay higher premiums, that’s going to cause Democrats and Republicans, apparently, not to be able to get along and not to be able to get the things that average Americans want.
What I am so upset about is that Donald Trump was fine with people not being able to travel, people not being able to get their food. He was fine, he is fine with taking away health care from people.
And, yeah, if you want to see division in the country, stop feeding people, stop giving them health care. And so it’s Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans that have done this to this country. I’m hopeful that there will be reasonable minds that will come together and that we will be able to move past January and the end of January, which is now when the CR goes to, and not have to have any more shutdowns. But this is on Donald Trump. Remember, MAGA Republicans control the House, the Senate, the presidency and the Supreme Court. So who’s in charge? It’s the Republicans. When things aren’t going well in this country. It’s the people in charge that you ought to look to, and it’s Donald Trump that’s leading them.
Q: What do you think this is going to do for the 2026 election? Are the voters going to remember this shutdown?
Pritzker: Well, I think you saw, I mean, a wave election about nine days ago, where Democrats swept across the country. Look at what happened. Nobody’s paying attention to Georgia, where there were two candidates, Democratic candidates running for the highest offices that were on the ballot there, and they won by 20 points in a state that most people would say is mostly a red state. So when Democrats are winning by 20 points in a red state, and when Democrats who were supposed to win by three or six points in New Jersey and Virginia, which are purple states, winning by 13 and 15 points. I think you can see that people are very upset with the leadership of the MAGA Republicans of the federal government
Thoughts?
- City Zen - Thursday, Nov 13, 25 @ 1:36 pm:
==force people to take less health care or pay higher premiums==
Temporary subsidies that expired as intended.
- Larry Bowa Jr. - Thursday, Nov 13, 25 @ 1:45 pm:
“Are the voters going to remember this shutdown?”
I think that’s an unintentionally hilarious question. Even leaving aside the all the absurdity and atrocity we’re certain to witness over the next year, Americans have the historical memory of an ant. The shutdown won’t be remembered three weeks from now.
- JS Mill - Thursday, Nov 13, 25 @ 1:51 pm:
=Temporary subsidies that expired as intended.=
“force people to take less health care or pay higher premiums”
Kind of like the trump tax breaks that were set to expire but the gop didn’t want to let that happen.
- Leslie K - Thursday, Nov 13, 25 @ 2:05 pm:
==The shutdown won’t be remembered three weeks from now.==
People who couldn’t reach a human when calling a government office might forget within three weeks. But middle class government employees who had to walk into a food pantry for the first time and ask for help (perhaps a food pantry they had donated to in the past) are likely to remember for quite a long time. And there are more of them from this shutdown.
- Ho hum - Thursday, Nov 13, 25 @ 2:24 pm:
Another recital of Democratic National Committee talking points from Governor Echo.
- Incandenza - Thursday, Nov 13, 25 @ 2:29 pm:
==The shutdown won’t be remembered three weeks from now.==
I have friends whose travel plans for thanksgiving were ruined because of the shutdown. Yes, it’s true that the public has a very short attention span, but the felt experience of the shutdown will leave a general sense of dissatisfaction with the current party/administration.
- JS Mill - Thursday, Nov 13, 25 @ 2:31 pm:
=Another recital of Democratic National Committee talking points from Governor Echo.=
Now do any member of the ILGOP or GOP. LOL.
- The Farm Grad - Thursday, Nov 13, 25 @ 2:34 pm:
“The shutdown won’t be remembered three weeks from now.”
You’re right. But if DJT continues to deport 70-year old abuelos going into next October, the Dems will increase their congressional representation in the new more competitive Texas districts.
The border is closed. Take the W, and stop the deportations
- Matthew Dean - Thursday, Nov 13, 25 @ 2:37 pm:
Thank you to the “The Brave 8″ or “The Strong 8″ US Senate Democrats for voting to reopen the government. Voting across party lines to end stalemates in the right thing to do.
- Sue - Thursday, Nov 13, 25 @ 2:44 pm:
“The border is closed. Take the W.”
The border will not stay closed. The next Dem president will open it up again. At least, we have learned that immigration enforcement is purely at the discretion of whoever happens to be president at the time. What then?