Just hours after President Donald Trump called for him to be jailed, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker fired back — taunting, daring, and challenging the President in a striking rebuke.

Asked on camera to respond to President Trump’s remarks, Governor Pritzker said, “Well, let’s start with the idea that this is a convicted felon — I mean, think about that — who’s threatening to jail me.”

“I gotta say, this guy’s unhinged,” Pritzker said of the President.

“He’s insecure, he’s a wannabe dictator, and there’s one thing I really want to say to Donald Trump,” the governor continued, before looking directly into the camera.

READ MORE: ‘Grave Danger’: Democrat Warns Trump’s ‘Authoritarian Takeover’ Would Let GOP Rule ‘Forever’

“If you come for my people, you come through me. So come and get me.”

When asked what he meant, Pritzker replied: “You know as well as I do.”

The governor also told MSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff that Trump “said he was going after the worst of the worst. It’s not going after the worst of the worst when you’re just literally stopping children who happen to be brown and asking them for papers as if they’re gonna have proof that they’re a U.S. citizen.”

“We want everybody to pull out your phones,” he added, “and film everything you see.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Governor Pritzker vowed to “not back down,” and warned that “Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power. What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?”

Pritzker: “This guy is unhinged. He’s insecure. He’s a wannabe dictator. And there’s one thing I really want to say to Donald Trump. If you come for my people, you come through me. So come and get me.” pic.twitter.com/3QBrovBpZs

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 8, 2025

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U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, one of the most outspoken members of the Democratic Party, took to the Senate floor to explain what he says is President Donald Trump “enacting a well thought out plan so he and his allies can rule forever.”

“We aren’t on the verge of an authoritarian takeover,” the Connecticut Democrat declared. “We are in the middle of it. But I worry people don’t see the whole scheme. They just pay attention to each new daily outrage.”

He detailed what he says is the Trump administration’s five-point plan.

Step one: “Turn the justice system into a political witch hunt operation that punishes critics for free speech and immunizes loyalists for actual criminality.”

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“We are seeing this at scale right now,” he said. “The indictment of James Comey, for no crime.” Murphy explained that no prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Virginia would sign the indictment.

“President Trump sent his personal lawyer to take over that office. Because only she would sign that indictment.”

Murphy explained that the goal is not to arrest everyone who opposes the President, but rather to “just put enough fear into the ranks of those who might speak truth to power,” so that they might “stay quiet.”

Step two: “Use government power to compel the media to tell only the regime’s narrative and to silence critics.”

He explained that that would include eliminating the free press and replacing it with state media.

“I don’t know that I’d go so far to say that we have state run media in the United States yet, but there is an attempt underway to try to use the vast regulatory powers of the administration to censor media.”

That includes threatening to pull TV station licenses, as well as the “consolidation of media into the hands of allies of the president.”

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“One family that has just taken control of a major media group that owns, amongst other properties, CBS, is looking to also take control of CNN, and may have an ownership stake and a control stake in TikTok,” Murphy said. “That family has shown a willingness to censor contents. Pulling Stephen Colbert off the air, and to put in place, essentially, Trump approved sensors for their future news content.”

Step three: “Use the military to perform political intimidation in places with high levels of opposition to the regime.”

He said sending the military to blue cities is “illegal.”

“But it is designed to once again quell dissent and protest. This isn’t about public safety, this is about political intimidation,” Murphy alleged. “And you’re just naive if you think that folks aren’t going to be a little less interested in showing up at a protest if they are worried about getting roughed up by law enforcement.”

Step 4: “Seize control of Congress’s spending and tax powers to use those powers to reward loyalists and punish opponents.”

He said he cannot understand why there is not “bipartisan agreement” among Democratic and Republican lawmakers to oppose Trump “seizing” Congress’s power to tax and spend.

Step 5: “Rig the rules and the information. Tilt the election playing field your way and destroy the idea of truth.”

This includes, Murphy said, Trump demanding red states redraw congressional districts to allow the GOP to add more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Totalitarian states can’t accept truth, so they try to destroy truth,” Murphy explained. “That’s what Donald Trump is doing.”

“I know this sounds extreme,” Murphy wrote. “It is.”

“I know I sound overly alarmist,” he continued. “I don’t think I am. Trump is enacting a well thought out plan so he and his allies can rule forever. But it’s not too late to stop them.”

“If you allow yourself to connect the dots. If you allow yourself to see the whole story — the totality of this story — you will see the grave danger that we are in.”

I know this sounds extreme. It is.

I know I sound overly alarmist. I don’t think I am.

Trump is enacting a well thought out plan so he and his allies can rule forever.

But it’s not too late to stop them. We can peacefully and forcefully mobilize now. We have the power. pic.twitter.com/0f2nw60FOC

— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) October 8, 2025

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After President Donald Trump called for his imprisonment, Illinois Democratic Governor JB Pritzker — one of Trump’s most outspoken critics — warned that the country is heading toward “full-blown authoritarianism.”

“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!” the President blasted early Wednesday morning, hours after the National Guard arrived in Illinois. Governor Pritzker opposes Trump deploying the troops, and has called it an “invasion.”

“Not yet 9 a.m. in IL,” NBC News senior political reporter Natasha Korecki wrote on X, “& the president has threatened to jail both the Gov and the Chicago mayor as the [National] Guard hits the streets after ICE/CBP clashed with Chicagoans, shooting one, after a Blackhawk helicopter landed on a South Side apartment building, arresting gang members but purportedly zip tying residents.”

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Trump’s social media missive is his “latest call for his political opponents to be punished as part of his retribution campaign against those who have attempted to hold him accountable or have challenged his political agent,” according to Democracy Docket.

Governor Pritzker responded to the President’s remarks in a series of social media messages.

Vowing to “not back down,” he warned, “Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power. What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?”

He noted that the President’s “masked agents already are grabbing people off the street. Separating children from their parents. Creating fear. Taking people for ‘how they look.'”

“Making people feel they need to carry citizenship papers,” he charged. “Invading our state with military troops. Sending in war helicopters in the middle of the night. Arresting elected officials asking questions.”

And he called for everyone to “stand up and speak out.”

U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) praised Governor Pritzker: “Can’t help but admire the strength and resolve JB is displaying throughout this ordeal. Clearly @GovPritzker was meant for this moment.”

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Image via Reuters