Illinois Governor JB Pritzker warned MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Monday night that he believes President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in Chicago may be a sign of the White House’s plan for the 2026 midterm elections.
“The broader goal, I believe, is the militarization of major American cities before the 2026 elections,” Pritzker explained. “Let me be clear about what’s going on on the streets of Chicago. They have dressed ICE and CBP [Customs and Border Protection] in fatigues, put them in military gear, including with automatic weapons, and had them marching up and down major streets in downtown Chicago. It’s a signal that they’re trying to send that it’s okay to have troops on your street — that this would be a welcome thing.”
“They think they can get people used to the idea,” Pritzker added. The Democratic governor then revealed how he thinks Trump will try to extend his militarization efforts to the ballot boxes next year.
“I fear that what they’re going to do is deploy these folks eventually to polling places and say they’re protecting the vote. Donald Trump knows that without shenanigans and without these breaches of the Constitution that he’s going to lose the Congress,” Pritzker warned “Rachel Maddow Show” viewers. “If he loses, he’s going to immediately, in the aftermath of the election, do what he said he might do in 2020, which is use the military to confiscate the ballot boxes and count the votes, claiming that there’s fraud.”
Pritzker offered Maddow some insight into the frustrating circumstances he and his fellow Illinois leaders have been forced to grapple with by the Trump administration’s use of ICE, the National Guard and CBP in Chicago.
“The Customs and Border Patrol, they’re supposed to only operate within about 100 miles of a border,” Pritzker said. “We’re not anywhere near a border here in Chicago, so how can they operate here? Well, they’re claiming that the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, those shores are the border of the United States. But Canada is an awful long way from here across Lake Michigan.”
“You saw what happened in Los Angeles. They incited people, and they’re doing that here in Chicago,” the governor continued. “If they’re going to do that, they got to go. They got to get the hell out of Chicago if that is their aim. But that is what Donald Trump, I believe, is trying to do — incite it so they can bring more troops in, invoke the Insurrection Act and militarize Chicago and other major cities.” When asked by Maddow what voters and politicians could do to combat the Trump administration’s efforts, Pritzker pointed to some recent court rulings that went against the White House’s wishes.
“We have to rely on the courts to do the same here in Illinois. I would say there’s another thing that we all are paying attention to, and that is making sure that we’re electing people in 2026 who actually will follow the law and follow the Constitution,” the governor concluded. “The courts and the Congress are going to be vital for us maintaining our democracy.”
You can watch Pritzker’s full appearance on “The Rachel Maddow Show” in the video above.
