Illinois governor says it’s ‘an attack on the Constitution’ when Trump officials use the word ‘fascist’
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker on Monday criticized Trump officials for using the word “fascist,” sparking incredulous reactions on social media.
Pritzker held a press conference where he slammed President Trump for wanting to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago, one of America’s most crime-ridden cities. He suggested that Trump will use military force to rig the midterm elections next year.
“For Donald Trump and the MAGAs in Congress, this is not about fighting crime or about public safety,” he said. “This is about sowing fear and intimidation and division among Americans. It was about creating a pretext to send armed military troops into our communities. This is about consolidating power in Donald Trump’s hands. What he plans to do with that power, now or during the 2026 elections, should worry all of us.”
The governor then rebuked Trump administration officials for using the term “fascist,” a label Democrats often ascribe to Republicans. Though Pritzker didn’t refer to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller by name, it was Miller who suggested three years ago that anyone enraged by free speech is a “fascist.” California Governor Gavin Newsom recently unearthed Miller’s tweet, after which he accused Miller of being a fascist himself.
“When you add to that the Trump administration’s effort to label as ‘dangerous’ free speech critical of him, White House senior staff calling the Democratic Party ‘fascist,’ the Trump-appointed FCC chair threatening to revoke broadcast licenses and the approval of a merger in order to silence late-night comedians, Trump’s threats to jail political opponents, you cannot call this anything except an attack on the Constitution of the United States,” Pritzker declared.
The Democrats’ ‘fascist’ narrative
Pritzker has repeatedly compared Republicans to Nazis and called Trump a “dictator-in-waiting” who “praises and romanticizes Hitler.” And he wasn’t alone.
Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, and other Democrat officials have referred to Trump or his supporters as fascists, messaging that was amplified by legacy media. In July 2019, MSNBC contributor Tiffany Cross told viewers to “start calling [Trump’s] supporters racist,” adding that the MAGA movement was “the new Nazi symbol.” In August 2021, Morning Joe host Mika Brzezinski called the Republican Party a “death cult.” A few months later, MSNBC’s Jason Johnson declared MAGA a “dimestore terrorist front.” That same summer, another guest announced: “The Republican Party is basically a domestic terrorist cell at this point and they should be treated as such.”
In 2016, The Washington Post ran a headline that sneered: “Don’t compare Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. It belittles Hitler.” The Guardian, The Atlantic, and The New York Times ran similar narratives. Last year, Media Matters branded Charlie Kirk a “racist” with “white nationalist ties.” Mother Jones echoed that message. The New Republic called him a “fascist.” The New York Times tried to paint Kirk as antisemitic, despite his record as one of the Jewish people’s strongest defenders.
