Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is calling for leaders to cool down political tensions after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, but Republicans have field articles of impeachment against the governor over what they call “hateful rhetoric.”
Pritzker criticized remarks made by President Donald Trump in the aftermath of Kirk’s death last week, arguing that Trump has continued to baselessly blame the “radical left” for the attack at a Utah university.
Illinois Republicans say the governor has had a hand in escalating divisions between the state’s residents, with State Rep. Adam Niemerg filing articles of impeachment against Pritzker because of what he called “hateful rhetoric.”
Niemerg said the governor needs to be held accountable for his recent remarks about Republicans, arguing that Pritzker has compared them to Nazis and fascists.
“When you compare Republicans to Nazis, to the fascist movement in the 1930s and Adolf Hitler, that is tantamount to the same thing,” he said. “It’s very clear he compared Republicans like myself to Nazi Germany, to fascism.”
Niemerg and other Republicans have been critical of Pritzker in recent months, including for remarks he made during the McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club Dinner in which he called for “mass protests” and “disruption” when it comes to resisting the Trump administration’s policies.
“These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace,” Pritzker said during the speech. “They have to understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have.”
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Niemerg seized on the “cannot know a moment of peace” remark, calling Pritzker “unfit to lead.”
“He has said Republicans should know no peace. He called for Republicans essentially to be punched in the face,” he argued. “During his State of the State, he compared Republicans to Nazis. These comments deeply concern me, and they do not fall on deaf ears. This political rhetoric has consequences.”
Pritzker evoked the rise of the Nazi’s in Germany in the 1930s during his speech, though he did not directly compare Republicans to Nazis in the address.
“I do not invoke the specter of Nazis lightly. But I know the history intimately — and have spent more time than probably anyone in this room with people who survived the Holocaust. Here’s what I’ve learned – the root that tears apart your house’s foundation begins as a seed – a seed of distrust and hate and blame,” he said. “It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. All I’m saying is when the five-alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control.”
Niemerg conceded that it was unlikely that his push for impeachment would yield results, as Democrats in the House would have to allow debate on the measure, then such a measure would have to pass by a majority of members of that chamber. A trial would then be held, and would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate to remove Pritzker from office.
Pritzker pushed back against Niemerg’s remarks, saying that he has only called for peaceful protest and debate and never for anything beyond those goals.
“They’re lying. They’re lying,” he said. “That’s not what I called them. We can be critical of one another, belong to different political parties, and have different views, and behave in a peaceful manner. I’ve always advocated you should speak out, use your megaphones and microphones, go to the ballot box. Those are ways we act in political life in the United States.”
Pritzker was fiercely critical of Trump and his administration’s words in the aftermath of Kirk’s death. Several officials, including his adviser Stephen Miller and Vice President JD Vance, have continued to say they will investigate “each and every one of those (on the left) who contributed this atrocity … including the organizations that fund and support it,” although the shooter’s motive has not been determined by law enforcement.
Trump continued to echo those sentiments in an interview with NBC News Monday.
“I’d like to see it [the nation] heal,” the president said in a brief telephone interview. “But we’re dealing with a radical left group of lunatics, and they don’t play fair and they never did.”
In a press conference Monday, Pritzker accused Trump of “actively fanning the flames of division” in the aftermath of the shooting.
“This should come from the top, but with each crisis in the last few years, we can’t rely on President Trump to tamp down the anger and the passion in the aftermath of political violence,” he said. “Instead, he actively fans the flames of division as he did on Friday, regularly advocates violence for political retribution, and in more than one case, declares that we are at war, not with a foreign adversary, but with each other. I don’t believe any of that.”
Pritzker said he hoped the president would say “political violence has no place in this country,” but said Trump’s remarks have been “completely inappropriate” in the aftermath of Kirk’s death.
“The targeting of one group or another group by the president of the United States, as he did on Friday, is completely inappropriate,” he said.