Pritzker and Johnson represent what is wrong with Democrat leadership
In the latest chapter of political theater masquerading as leadership, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have shown the nation exactly what is wrong with the modern Democratic establishment – especially in our major cities. Their refusal to confront escalating violence against federal officers—particularly ICE personnel—has not only endangered law enforcement but also betrayed the very communities they claim to protect.
Governor Pritzker’s inflammatory rhetoric has reached new lows.
In response to President Trump’s proposal to deploy federal agents and National Guard troops to protect ICE facilities in Chicago, Pritzker accused the President of having “dementia” and called for the invocation of the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. He went further, likening Trump’s actions to those of Vladimir Putin, claiming that sending troops into cities was “inane” and “authoritarian”. These comments were not just political jabs—they were gasoline on a fire.
Pritzker turned his reckless rhetoric on ICE—accusing the federal immigration enforcement agency was acting like “jackbooted thugs” who were “unleashing a shit show” in local communities. He falsely claimed that ICE agents had attacked peaceful protesters and journalists with chemical munitions, including tear gas and pepper spray. Pritzker described the actions by ICE agents as “unprovoked” and “brutal”. – completely ignoring the truly unprovoked violent attacks on ICE agents, vehicles and facilities for days on end. By demonizing federal law enforcement and portraying their presence as a threat, Pritzker has emboldened violent extremists who now see ICE agents as legitimate targets.
Mayor Brandon Johnson has been no better.
Standing shoulder to shoulder with Pritzker, Johnson called Trump “unstable and unhinged” and described ICE operations in Chicago as “provocations” rather than protective or law enforcement measures. In calling on the public to “resist” ICE activities, it is Johnson who is provoking violence. His administration has gone so far as to order police to stand down during violent attacks on ICE facilities – refusing to protect fellow law enforcement officers from violent mobs. In a recent incident in Broadview, federal agents were boxed in by armed assailants and forced to fire defensive shots to escape.
The citizens of Chicago are not stupid. Johnson’s approval rating has plummeted to under 10 percent, with recent polls showing him underwater among both Democrats and independents. (I assume Chicago Republicans have no love for Johnson, but not enough of them to count in the polling.)
Pritzker and Johnson promote violence
The consequences of this rhetoric are not theoretical—they are real and dangerous. Over the past week, ICE facilities in Illinois have faced a surge in violent attacks. Agents have been assaulted with rocks, gas, and bottles. Vehicles have been disabled and torched. Protesters have surrounded federal buildings, doxxed agents, and threatened their families. DHS and FBI bulletins warn of a “1,000 percent increase” in targeted assaults against ICE personnel. And yet, Pritzker and Johnson continue to insist that Chicago “does not need help.” Gregory Bovino, a top Border Patrol official, accused Pritzker and Johnson of “feeding this violence” and questioned whether they wanted agents to get hurt.
What they fail to acknowledge is that many residents in high-crime neighborhoods—particularly in segregated Black communities—do want help. Reports from South and West Side neighborhoods reveal that citizens have welcomed ICE patrols and federal support — seeing them as a stabilizing force amid rampant violence. These communities have suffered for decades under the weight of institutional racism perpetuated by entrenched Democratic political machines. Promises of reform have yielded little change, and now, when federal assistance is finally offered, their leaders reject it out of partisan spite.
By prioritizing political opposition over public safety, Pritzker and Johnson have aligned themselves with chaos. Their refusal to cooperate with federal law enforcement, their inflammatory language, and their legal maneuvers to block troop deployments have sent a clear message — partisan loyalty and Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) trump the well-being of their own constituents.
The irony is staggering. Democrats accuse Republicans of authoritarianism while simultaneously refusing to protect federal officers from violent mobs. They claim to champion justice but remain silent when agents are threatened and assaulted. They speak of equity and inclusion yet ignore the cries for help from the very communities they have failed for generations.
If this were satire, one might say: “Pritzker and Johnson are so committed to resisting Trump, they would rather let ICE agents be hunted in the streets than admit federal help is beneficial. Perhaps next week, they will host a candlelight vigil for the attackers and call it “restorative justice.”
But this is not satire. It is a crisis. And unless Democratic leaders begin to prioritize safety over slogans, the violence will continue—and the communities they claim to serve will suffer most.
So, there ‘tis.
It appears that Pritzker and Johnson are the problem. They want these kinds of problems to stay in power just like banana republics. But remember these are the people the democrats wanted to again run/ruin Chicago.
BTW the Feds should start using water cannons on these protesters now that its starting to get cold and to add in some skunk oil like they do in Europe. Lets everyone know who they are and easier to arrest them later.
And this is my final solution. Goodbye and no new names either.
Horist wrongly frames the issue as: “Their refusal to confront escalating violence against federal officers—particularly ICE personnel—has not only endangered law enforcement but also betrayed the very communities they claim to protect.” I think he’s way off base. I think it’s much more complex than his singular focus and priority. He suffers from acceptance of wag-the-dog moments made to scare the living fuck out of the undocumented, but really scare the shit out of all brown people, get the pro-police-violence law-n-order types excited, and piss off a lot of rest of us given if it happens to them, it can happen to us. Many of these folks are as innocent as you and I. They just are the ones with Trump’s target on their asses for now since they cannot fight back. We can, and we know TACO. For now. The fact is that, under Trump, and with Horist’s blessings, the rule of law is now more like guidelines. Meant to be adhered to by us and not-so-much-so by you all the way to the SCOTUS Presidential immunity ruling. No legal guardrails for the Felon King, he is immune.
Does this look like immigration control to you? Does this look like crime fighting to you? They dropped from a Blackhawk to repel onto the apartment roof, other agents arrived in rental vans, over 300 agents in total after 1 am in the morning. All filmed by about 100 cameras in place. They rousted five stories of people, zip tied all the innocents, hundreds of innocents, and ran their pictures, all to arrest just 37 people including five kids who ARE American citizens born to undocumented parents. Imagine if that was an apartment building filled with white people what the outcry would be. Yeah, they will be fine, they won’t have a real hate for America on. The zip tied innocents were shoved into the vans to sit on the floor for up to 3 hours, many after 3 am. NO WARRANTS. Twas a paperless, no-knock, invasion of five floors looking for three dozen suspected criminals. Doors broken off hinges with flash bangs, walls and windows busted, apartment contents tossed in the hallways, it was a total clusterfuck of fear for the dozens of shit show cameras they brought to film the Trump cruelty circus to make public disinformation ads to further scare the brown people.
The tax payers will pony up for 300 agents at 1 am rates. The Blackhawk. Plus all the equipment. Budget Rental made a killing. Five stories worth of lawsuits we will pay to defend and then the penalties that will most certainly come. I think everyone in the Trump movie should sue for not being paid for their performance too.
Horist thinks it’s about protecting ICE and ICE facilities. I guess he missed this Blackhawk military invasion of Chicago. He was safely asleep in his bed. He also missed the dirtbag ICE agent pointing his weapon at civilians from the safety of his black SUV. He didn’t see the tear gas wafting over the public school in session. The House of Representatives candidate peacefully protesting and tossed through the air like cordwood. Pretty cool, she bounced a good six inches into the air. Lawsuit pending. How about the mother picking up her kids pushed to the ground, zip tied, and hauled away. No warrant, no papers, no excuse. Or the journalist facing the same fate. Released hours later, lawsuit pending. Didn’t see the innocent grandmothers and kids zip tied for hours in the middle of the night and shoved into windowless rental vans for hours until the wee hours of morning when the innocent were turned loose to pick up the contents of their apartments tossed into the hallways. Many lawsuits here, hopefully a class-action suit.
Point is Trump is out of control and we, the tax payers’ foot the bill for all these lawsuits. And the penalties. And there will be penalties. We can scream law and order, hands off the boys in blue, but let’s face it, these are not the boys in blue. These are our military totally untrained for the task at hand.
The most outrageous that apparently Horist did not see is the pastor, his open hands empty, supplicant hands turned upwards to God, arms outstretched in prayer, as he gets shot in the in the face by an exploding pepper ball from a rooftop two stories above by a coward who then supposedly laughs his head off. Horist says: “He falsely claimed that ICE agents had attacked peaceful protesters and journalists with chemical munitions, including tear gas and pepper spray.” What police academy did this asshat pepper ball sharpshooter graduate from: Putin U? He shot the guy in the head hiding two stories up. When have you seen police fire on citizens from the rooftops? When have you seen police for the headshot to stop someone from praying? Then they laughed as they signed their one-way ticket with God to go straight to hell, do not pass go, go to hell.
Sorry, it’s all on tape, tear gas was used near a school, during school. On the viral video you can see the pepper balls, pepper spray being used; there’s even a video of a jack-booted thug pointing his weapon at a citizen from an SUV window. What police academy did this coward graduate from?
Horist blames Pritzker’s rhetoric saying: “These comments were not just political jabs—they were gasoline on a fire.” And what’s Trump, his acolytes and supplicant friends saying: more locker room jokes? Can’t Larry see the plain light of day? The nose on the front of his face? Radical left, vermin, human scum, put them in jail, —– better keep your head down, Trump is coming. We’re all antifa boogeymen in his mind, a designated terrorist organization with no members except anyone Trump likes.
Chicago was OK, its crime is down, its immigrants, illegal or not, peaceful. And now it’s a war zone as the US military invades complete with Blackhawk helicopters. Raids. Manhandling citizens. But apparently the most important thing to Trump: multi-cam set ups for the staged events filming Noem’s next public servitude message.
Trump posted: “I love the smell of deportations in the morning … Chicago [sic] about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” while featuring an AI-generated image in an apparent parody of the Vietnam War film “Apocalypse Now.”” It’s a wag-the-dog moment where Larry is at the hind end of the dog and eating this shit up with a spoon.
Trump declared it: this is WAR in his words and he’s coming to arrest Pritzker to throw him in jail. Pritzker has one word for Trump: TACO. Pritzker says he’s waiting for Don, tell Don to bring it on.
Trump’s talking head summed up Trump’s view: “These people are sick!” That’s right, we are called vermin, we are called human scum by this man. Trump is currently looking at the insurrection act to up the ante. It’s war alright, plain and simple. Horist says it’s about protecting ICE. He’s blind as a bat and forgets his Nixonian lessons as he tries to drag back the idiocies of that era and amp them up for our present and future. Chicago is really about paving the way to exterminate the undocumented and any other innocent brown people that get scooped up while doing Putin’s bidding in the destruction of the American vision for the rule of law and bill of rights for our citizens.
You have to see that this brutality and cruelty is over the top. Especially for a $250 misdemeanor for jumping the border.
Folks, for years, I have attempted to open discourse and discussion on the interesting topics brought up on PBP. Joe has never moderated me out for what I say. Rarely have an actual discussion and only Joe, of course he’s really not Joe, and Larry, oh God he is Larry, as authors have even attempted a response even, and not usually a discussion, but just some name calling. I give up, you win, my posts have zero value here, there is no discussion, and perhaps you are right, I am wrong, so be it, I agree. Yea Trump, the peacekeeper, finally, a good thing that everyone can get behind. So, goodbye, you win, you are right, and I am not. And never will be. Don’t bother with the “he’ll be back,” I’m going to help Tom remodel his kitchen :<)