When Donald Trump returned to power, 20 long months ago, some state leaders wrung their hands, worrying what explicit resistance might cost their citizens – and their careers – during the second term of a vengeful president.
uncertain
resistance → return → president
Two days after Trump’s re-election, the Democratic governor of Illinois warned the president would need to “come through me” to reach the people of his state.
asserted
president → warn → state
He waited all of 30 days after the inauguration before drawing a comparison with Nazi Germany.
asserted
He → wait → Germany
“All I’m saying”, Pritzker declared during his State of the State address in February 2025, “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”.
asserted
you → say → control
Not everyone grabbed a bucket.
asserted
everyone → grab → bucket
While Pritzker is willing to cede that he was not entirely alone in standing up to Trump in those early months, prominent figures alongside him could be counted “on each of your digits”, he suggests in an interview at his campaign headquarters in Chicago.
uncertain
he → cede → Chicago
Several of his counterparts – from Gavin Newsom, who launched a legislative blitz to curb immigration enforcement in California, to Janet Mills of Maine, who told Trump she would see him in court over his bid to deny state funding over transgender athletes – could legitimately claim a digit.
uncertain
she → launch → digit
Others have taken an altogether different tack.
asserted
Others → take → tack
New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani is among those who have sought to strike a productive working relationship with the president.
asserted
who → seek → president
And in Washington, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer faced fierce criticism after some Democratic senators reached a bipartisan deal to end the longest-ever US government shutdown.
asserted
senators → face → shutdown
Now, Pritzker suggests, the number of elected leaders willing to speak out aggressively against the administration is “finally” growing.
uncertain
number → suggest → administration
“For one reason or another, people have chosen to come on board with Team Fight, and get off of Team Cave.”
asserted
people → choose → Cave
Trump and Pritzker have a few things in common.
asserted
Trump → have → things
Both are billionaires who inherited enormous wealth from their families.
asserted
who → inherit → families
Both worked in business before entering politics.
asserted
Both → work → politics
Both – no, the comparison pretty much ends there, says Pritzker, who, according to the governor’s campaign, has not spoken to Trump since the Covid pandemic.
uncertain
who → end → pandemic
“He’s a wannabe authoritarian, and I don’t say that rhetorically,” argues Pritzker, a philanthropist who helped build his state’s Holocaust Museum before entering office and spent time with survivors.
asserted
who → ’ → survivors
“One thing that they would tell you is that you cannot give an authoritarian an inch.”
asserted
you → tell → inch
The governor is regularly cited as a potential contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nominee – encouraged, however implicitly, by his self-appointment as captain of Team Fight in Illinois.
asserted
governor → cite → Illinois
Amid visceral anger among voters over the political status quo – not just at one party, or one president, but the sustained failure to fix big problems and improve their lives – could he do this job nationwide?
uncertain
he → fix → job
He has another election to win first.
asserted
He → have → election
Illinois is one of 36 states with gubernatorial elections coming in November.
asserted
elections → come → November
Pritzker is widely expected to become the state’s first three-term governor in more than three decades.
asserted
Pritzker → expect → decades
(His Republican opponent, state senator Darren Bailey, finished 12 points behind last time around.)
asserted
opponent → finish → ?
Pritzker, first elected during Trump’s first term, says his tenure has been dominated by four crises: a fiscal quagmire inherited from his Republican predecessor; the Covid-19 pandemic; Texas governor Greg Abbott’s move to send tens of thousands of migrants to Chicago; and Trump’s return.
asserted
tenure → elect → Chicago
All the while, he says, he has focused on affordability and the rights of Illinoisans, from raising the state minimum wage to codifying reproductive rights.
asserted
he → say → rights
After a string of credit rating upgrades, Pritzker likens alleviating the state’s financial woes process to reorienting an aircraft carrier 180 degrees – something he claims to have done, although critics note Illinois retains one of the lowest ratings in the country.
uncertain
Illinois → liken → country
With Democrats hoping to use November’s midterm elections to mount a significant fightback against Trump, Pritzker launched a $20m political action committee to support party campaigns nationwide, recently flew to Texas to help counter-program the Republican convention, and will soon head to South Carolina, the first state in Democrats’ next presidential nominating process, to address the NAACP state conference.
asserted
Pritzker → hop → conference
His job might be in the state of Illinois, but his career aspirations sure look national.
uncertain
aspirations → look → Illinois
Time is slowly but surely ticking on the Trump era.
asserted
Time → tick → era
With the president barred by the US constitution from running for a third term, the searing political spotlight will soon shift, whether he likes it or not, on to those vying to succeed him.
asserted
he → bar → him
As Democrats search for a candidate who could win back the White House and confine this chapter to the history books, speculation around Pritzker’s aspirations stepped up a level last week when he disclosed he has been using a GLP-1 medication to lose weight over the past two years.
uncertain
he → search → years
Pritzker “knows what a lot of people may be thinking”, reported CBS News, which broke the news.
uncertain
which → know → news
“Eyeing a 2028 Bid, He Used a Weight-Loss Drug to Drop 80 Pounds,” ran the New York Times headline.
asserted
headline → eye → Pounds
“Ahead of Possible Presidential Bid, JB Pritzker Says He Is Taking Weight-Loss Drugs,” offered the Wall Street Journal.
asserted
Journal → say → Drugs
Just how many times has he been asked if he’s running for president?
asserted
he → ask → president
For the first time in our hour together, Pritzker hesitates.
asserted
Pritzker → hesitate → hour
“I’m not sure the connection,” he replies.
asserted
he → ’m → ?
“National political reporters can’t help yourselves,” he adds, referring to the way the announcement about his health was covered.
asserted
announcement → help → health
“I’m not sure the question.
asserted
I → ’m → ?
…and 44 more, not listed.
The Aporia
