Pritzker on Trump: ‘Take it from an actual billionaire, Trump is rich in only one thing: stupidity’

Full prepared remarks of Gov. JB Pritzker.

Fellow Democrats, welcome to Chicago! We're a great American city in a proud blue state. Our patriotism was formed in frost-and in fire- and in the steel we forged to survive both. Our love of country has been a tapestry of faith that weaves from Abraham Lincoln reuniting a house divided to Barack Obama declaring blue states and red states make one United States.

Illinois's presidential pedigree is unmatched. And given that Vice President Kamala Harris spent some of her early life right here, I speak for the entire Illinois delegation when I say we claim her too. Now, one president we will never claim is the con artist the Republicans nominated in Milwaukee last month. Donald Trump once called Chicago "embarrassing." To quote a great Chicagoan who won six world championships on these very grounds: "We take that personally."

I had to govern for two years while Trump was president. Let me tell you what's embarrassing. In Illinois, we passed a massive bill to fix our roads and bridges. When Donald proposed his own plan, he turned right around and called it "stupid." We eliminated the grocery tax. Donald hasn't been in a grocery store since his first bankruptcy. Illinois invested in clean energy and the jobs it brings. Donald claimed that windmills in the ocean made the whales "a little batty."

During COVID we supported small businesses and jobs. And Donald, well Donald told us to inject bleach. Donald Trump thinks we should trust him on the economy because he claims to be very rich.

Take it from an actual billionaire, Trump is rich in only one thing: stupidity.

 
I meet with business leaders all the time, and there is one universal thing they all need: people. They need more workers to fill all the jobs they have, but the anti-freedom, anti-family policies of MAGA Republicans are driving workers away.

Here's the thing. Americans don't want to be forced to drive 100 miles to deliver a baby because draconian abortion laws shut down the maternity ward. Americans want the hope of giving birth through IVF not the fear it might be taken away. Americans with LGBTQ kids don't want them facing crimination at school because the state sanctioned it. Americans want to go to their neighborhood grocery store and not have to worry about some random guy open carrying an AR-15.

 
Americans don't want their kids to be taught in history class that slavery was a jobs program. And if Americans are Black or brown, they want to get promoted at work without being derided as a DEI hire for the sin of being successful while not White. Let's be clear, it's not "woke" that limits economic growth, it's weird. These guys aren't just weird, they're dangerous.

Democrats are for lower taxes and higher wages, less inflation, and more business growth. We just think it's wrong to craft those policies for Elon Musk and not for everyday working people. That includes a secure retirement and good health care. We think the government should help you prosper, not police who you're sleeping with.

 
More than anything, Democrats want economic policies that are kind, not cruel. But Trump chooses cruelty every time. After all, everything he's achieved in his own life has been by hurting someone else.

 
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz? Well they've spent their lives lifting people up rather than pushing them down. They know that a White House that leads with kindness looks at someone who is struggling and sees not what they might cost society, but what they might create for it. They want policies that give every American a chance to make it to the middle class. They want to grow small businesses and cut taxes for everyday people.

More than anything, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz want a country where we can all live with a little serenity. The serenity that comes with a balanced checkbook, an affordable grocery bill, and a housing market that has room for everyone. And if there's one thing I know about Donald Trump, he's not bringing anyone any kind of serenity.

We have a choice, America. Between the man who left our country a total mess and the woman who has spent four years cleaning it up. And I think it's time we stop expecting women to clean up messes without the authority and the title to match the job. Vice President was a good title for Kamala Harris. 

You know an even better one? President of the United States of America. Let's go get 'em!