CHICAGO – Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker escalated his feud with President Donald Trump Tuesday, publicly accusing the commander-in-chief of dementia and demanding his immediate ouster under the 25th Amendment in a stunning rebuke that has Democrats cheering and Republicans raging. The billionaire governor’s remarks, delivered amid Trump’s threats to militarize Chicago, mark his boldest assault yet on the Oval Office, framing the president as a “danger to democracy” unfit for duty.
Speaking to reporters outside the State Capitol, Pritzker likened Trump to Vladimir Putin, slamming his plan to deploy National Guard troops to Illinois cities as “insane” and “authoritarian.” “It appears Donald Trump not only has dementia set in, but he’s copying tactics of Vladimir Putin,” Pritzker declared. “Sending troops into cities, thinking that’s some sort of proving ground for war or that there’s an internal war in the United States, is just frankly inane. I’m concerned for his health—there is something genuinely wrong with this man, and the 25th Amendment ought to be invoked.”
The 25th Amendment allows the vice president and Cabinet majority to declare a president unable to discharge duties, temporarily transferring power to the VP—a mechanism Democrats unsuccessfully urged after January 6, 2021. Pritzker’s invocation, his first explicit call for removal, ties directly to Trump’s recent rhetoric: At a White House briefing, the president floated using urban centers like Chicago for “military training grounds” to combat “crime waves,” prompting Pritzker’s lawsuit against the deployment as a “brazen power grab.”
Trump fired back swiftly, branding Pritzker a “loser” and “slob” whose “unhinged ramblings” stem from Chicago’s violence—48 shootings over a recent weekend, per FBI data. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson dismissed the governor as “hangry,” insisting Trump’s moves protect Americans where “J.B. failed.” GOP allies, including Sen. John Kennedy, mocked Pritzker’s “doctor play” as “desperate deflection” from sanctuary city woes.
Democrats, however, rallied: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer praised Pritzker’s “courage,” while progressive groups amplified calls for mental fitness tests. Legal experts note invocation requires Cabinet buy-in—unlikely with loyalists like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Yet in a polarized nation, Pritzker’s gambit spotlights Trump’s age (79) and family history of Alzheimer’s, fueling debates on elder leadership.
As federal troops mass near Chicago amid Operation Secure Horizon raids, Pritzker’s stand risks federal-state showdowns. Is this principled alarm or partisan bombast? With midterms looming, the governor’s forcible removal plea has supercharged the resistance, testing the amendment’s dusty clauses in a democracy on edge.
