Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday accused President Trump of deploying National Guard troops to the Democrat cities of Chicago and Portland based on fixations that stem in part from his being mentally impaired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cThis is a man who\u2019s suffering dementia,\u201d Pritzker said in a telephone interview with the Tribune. \u201cThis is a man who has something stuck in his head. He can\u2019t get it out of his head. He doesn\u2019t read. He doesn\u2019t know anything that\u2019s up to date. It\u2019s just something in the recesses of his brain that is effectuating to have him call out these cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd then, unfortunately, he has the power of the military, the power of the federal government to do his bidding, and that\u2019s what he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
During the interview, Pritzker \u2014 who has been one of Trump\u2019s harshest critics and is a potential 2028 presidential Democrat candidate \u2014 said the courts will play an integral role in challenging Trump\u2019s efforts in Illinois and across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cWe\u2019re not going to go to war between the state of Illinois and the federal government, not taking up arms against the federal government,\u201d Pritzker said. \u201cBut we are monitoring everything they\u2019re doing, and using that monitoring to win in court.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The governor\u2019s comments came as National Guard troops from Texas were assembling at a U.S. Army Reserve training center in far southwest suburban Elwood and Trump\u2019s administration was moving forward with deploying 300 members of the Illinois National Guard for at least 60 days over the vocal and legal objections of Pritzker and other local elected leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Trump administration has said the troops are needed to protect federal agents and facilities involved in its ongoing deportation surge and has sought to do much the same in Portland, Oregon, though those efforts have been stymied so far by temporary court rulings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking in the Oval Office on Tuesday, the president reiterated that he was considering employing the two-century-old Insurrection Act to get around legal court orders that would deny him the ability to deploy National Guard troops to cities such as Chicago and Portland over governors\u2019 objections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n