Stop Clapping for Pritzker's Speech

Democratic Governors: Stop Begging and Reasoning with Fascists

Governor Pritzker’s speech has been celebrated as bold. And yes—it was better than the hollow whispers we usually get from Schumer or Jeffries. But better than useless is still useless. The stakes demand more than facts, hedging, and court fantasies. They demand clarity, conviction, and a refusal to legitimize fascism.

So here we will do more than criticize. We will expose the fatal flaws—and then show the speech that should have been given.

The Fatal Flaws in Pritzker’s Speech

1. Treating Bad Faith as Good Faith
Pritzker rattled off crime statistics as if Trump might care. As if a wannabe dictator might look at the numbers and say, “Oh, my mistake, guess I’ll send the troops to Mississippi instead.” That’s not how fascism works. When you debate on their terms, you legitimize the lie. You validate the false pretext. You take an act of naked authoritarianism and turn it into a policy discussion. That’s not resistance—it’s collaboration.

2. Conceding the Ground Before the Battle Begins
He spoke about “holding Trump accountable in the courts later.” Later? After the boots are already on the streets? After neighborhoods have been terrorized, civil liberties shredded, and the show of force has done its job? Courts don’t un-ring bells, and Pritzker knows it. Worse, he pretends as though the courts are still neutral arbiters, when Democrats themselves handed Trump the Supreme Court—and that Court has now ruled him virtually untouchable. Waiting for justice in a captured system isn’t a plan. It’s surrender.

3. Appeasement Is Always Defeat
History couldn’t be clearer. Appeasing a fascist is always the worst option. Always. This is France and Britain shrugging as Hitler re-militarized the Rhineland. This is King Victor Emmanuel III opening the palace doors to Mussolini. Every concession, every polite nod to legitimacy, every empty promise to “hold them accountable later” only accelerates the march toward dictatorship. Pritzker’s speech, for all its righteous tone, still bent the knee in the one place it mattered most: refusing to draw an unbreakable line.

The Speech That Should Have Been Given

Pritzker’s words fell short. Here is the speech that should have been given—one that speaks with the clarity, conviction, and defiance this moment demands.

“To the men and women of the United States military:

You swore an oath. Not to a President. Not to a political party. Not to any man who would crown himself ruler. You swore an oath to the Constitution of the United States of America. To defend it against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That oath is the source of your honor, your legitimacy, and the trust of the people you are sworn to protect.

The true power of the American military has never rested on the awesome weaponry it possesses. It does not rest on the uniform you wear. It does not rest on the banner under which you march. The true power of our military rests on the Constitution you are sworn to defend, and the values that document represents. Strip that away, and all that remains is armed force—raw, illegitimate, and dishonorable.

And so let me be clear. The moment a soldier turns their back on that oath—whether by choice or by coercion—they resign the legitimacy that comes with their service. No rifle, no tank, no jet, no chain of command can restore what is lost when you betray the Constitution.

So here is your warning. If you choose to obey the orders of a wannabe fascist dictator to invade the streets of Chicago, or any other city in Illinois, you will not be welcomed as unwilling participants. You will not be welcomed as fellow Americans placed in a hard position. You will not be welcomed as patriots under duress.

You will be welcomed for what you chose to become: traitors to your oath, traitors to your country, and traitors to the very people you once swore to protect.

Do not think there will be sympathetic ears for your excuses. Do not think there will be patience for your Nuremberg defense. There will be no understanding. No leniency. No forgiveness.

You will be seen for what you are in that moment—an illegitimate gang of vandals and thugs, dressed in stolen honor, attempting to terrorize American citizens under the guise of authority. And you will be treated accordingly.

Before you come, I want you to make peace with the choice you have made, for there will be no time for it once you are here. You will have declared war against Americans in the name of a tinpot dictator. If you come, the streets of Chicago will be painted red, whether from the American lives you take in the name of a fascist, or by your own sacrifice to his political theater. I do not envy the choice before you any more than the one before me.

But make no mistake: the people of Illinois will not bow to an army of fascist cockroaches trampling their streets. However the chips may fall, however many of us or you may meet our maker when you come, the shame and the stain will be yours. The dishonor will be yours. And history will write your names not as American soldiers, but as fascist traitors who desecrated their uniforms.

The choice is before you. The oath you swore still binds you. Choose wisely.

To the people of Illinois, and to the American people:

In less than a year, we may mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Two and a half centuries since a small, fragile nation declared itself free from despotism and staked its future on liberty.

That document is not sacred because of the parchment it was written on. It is sacred because of the truth it proclaimed: that governments are instituted among the people, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. And that when any government seeks to reduce the people to absolute despotism, it is their right—it is their duty—to throw off such government, and to guard their future security.

Never have those words rung truer than they do today. A would-be despot now threatens to send the United States military into our streets under a false pretense. He would trample the Constitution, strip away the consent of the governed, and replace democracy with the rule of force. The truth is that this is but a test to see how much we are willing to be placed under his thumb.

Let me be absolutely clear: what we declare today is not independence. It is not secession. It is not rebellion.

It is a declaration that we stand with the values of our forefathers. That we are America—whether or not a wannabe tinpot dictator squats in Washington. That Illinois, and every other state that cherishes freedom, will not yield its streets to illegitimate military occupation.

Before any soldier marches into our neighborhoods, they will have to go through each and every one of us who calls themselves American, for the moment we consent to be governed at gunpoint, we are no longer Americans at all.

So, my fellow Illinoisans, as much as it saddens me, I must ask you: go and prepare, for the day has come when we must defend ourselves not from a foreign invasion, but a domestic one. And to my fellow Americans, wherever you are, may you join us in reaffirming and defending our American values, and may Providence guide us all as we once again mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” — A Governor actually standing up against fascism

The Most Dangerous Moment in American History

We don’t need governors who “sternly” concede to fascism. If you’re going to concede anyway, you might as well get on your knees and kiss the ring. The theater of strongly worded fecklessness achieves nothing.

Understand this: we are living through the most dangerous time in American history. More dangerous than the Revolutionary War, more dangerous than the Civil War. Why? Because the war machine now in the hands of the U.S. government has more reach and destructive potential than any army of the past, and the risk of it being turned inward is greater than the threat ever posed by Great Britain or by Confederate cannons. Add to this the distractions of modern life—the endless diversions that lull us into apathy—and the slide into fascism becomes easier to miss until it’s too late.

And for those who still cling to the fantasy that everything can be resolved in the courts: it’s over. Complacency let authoritarians capture the courts, neuter Congress, and now deploy the military into our streets. The idea that justice will be handed down from above is a delusion we can no longer afford.

The truth is this: it may be our willingness to stand—visibly, physically, unmistakably—for democracy that prevents bloodshed. A clear stand now can send shockwaves through the markets, through society, through every seat of power, halting this fascist consolidation before it becomes irreversible. But if we let ourselves be slow-cooked into submission, the chance of escaping without violence is slim to none.

The paradox is stark: the only path that may prevent violence is the one where we become willing to meet force with force. And anyone—whether a Governor or a media pundit—trying to normalize, rationalize, or concede to a military invasion of our streets is collaborating with fascists — however strong their words may be — because the only thing ever found on the other side of the door of appeasement to a fascist is despotism and death. Whether we get to celebrate our 250th year of independence next year rests on the choices that we make today.

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