Prairie State Wire

President Trump, during a White House press conference, said that Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker entered politics after being pushed out of his family's business, describing him as an "incompetent man."

"Chicago, which is a disaster. We have a mayor there who is totally incompetent," said Trump, according to Facebook. "We have an incompetent governor. He's an incompetent man. His family threw him out of the business and he ran for governor."

According to Fox32Chicago, Trump indicated that Chicago and New York City might face federal intervention to address crime and homelessness. He cited his recent order in Washington, D.C., aimed at curbing crime in the nation's capital. Trump referred to both Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson as "incompetent" and suggested that National Guard deployment could be considered.

In 2024, Pritzker responded on X (formerly Twitter) to President Trump's remarks by calling him "the loser." This exchange followed Trump's characterization of Pritzker as "a real loser" during a live discussion with Elon Musk on X, as reported by the Center Square. In the two-hour conversation with Musk last year, Trump criticized Illinois’ leadership, attributing the state's population decline to Pritzker and claiming even his own family did not want him involved in their business. "You can’t penalize people that loan money to the state when you have incompetent people like a Pritzker," Trump said. Musk added that Democratic governors should win "U-Haul salesman of the year" for allegedly driving residents away.

Former Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner made similar accusations against Pritzker in 2017 while running against him, according to NBC Chicago. Rauner alleged that Pritzker hid "hundreds of millions" in offshore accounts to avoid taxes. Rauner remarked, "Pritzker inherited over 3 billion dollars and he and his family has chosen...to hide hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of their money offshore." He also questioned how Pritzker's income filings from 2016 showed only $16 million despite his substantial wealth.

J.B. Pritzker is recognized as the billionaire governor of Illinois and an heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, part of one of America’s wealthiest families.