Governor J.B. Pritzker delivered a powerful Illinois State of the State Speech this week, arguing that Illinois representatives and citizens must act to defend the U.S. Constitution and oppose tyranny in the United States.

After discussing Illinois policy issues and initiatives in the state of Illinois, Gov. Pritzker turned to discuss the threat of fascism in American society, citing the infamous 1978 case involving Nazis attempting to march through Skokie, Illinois, in order to intimidate Jews living there.

Pritzker then pivoted to the current unconstitutional actions being made by the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“I’m watching with a foreboding dread what is happening in our country right now. A president who watches a plane go down in the Potomac – and suggests — without facts or findings — that a diversity hire is responsible for the crash. Or the Missouri Attorney General who just sued Starbucks – arguing that consumers pay higher prices for their coffee because the baristas are too ‘female’ and ‘nonwhite.’ The authoritarian playbook is laid bare here: They point to a group of people who don’t look like you and tell you to blame them for your problems.

“I just have one question: What comes next? After we’ve discriminated against, deported or disparaged all the immigrants and the gay and lesbian and transgender people, the developmentally disabled, the women and the minorities – once we’ve ostracized our neighbors and betrayed our friends – After that, when the problems we started with are still there staring us in the face – what comes next.

“All the atrocities of human history lurk in the answer to that question. And if we don’t want to repeat history – then for God’s sake in this moment we better be strong enough to learn from it.

“I swore the following oath on Abraham Lincoln’s Bible: ‘I do solemnly swear that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the state of Illinois, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of Governor …. according to the best of my ability.’

“My oath is to the Constitution of our state and of our country. We don’t have kings in America – and I don’t intend to bend the knee to one. I am not speaking up in service to my ambitions — but in deference to my obligations.  

“If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this:

“It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. All I’m saying 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.

“Those Illinois Nazis did end up holding their march in 1978 – just not in Skokie. After all the blowback from the case, they decided to march in Chicago instead. Only twenty of them showed up. But 2000 people came to counter protest. The Chicago Tribune reported that day that the ‘rally sputtered to an unspectacular end after ten minutes.’ It was Illinoisans who smothered those embers before they could burn into a flame.

“Tyranny requires your fear and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage. So gather your justice and humanity, Illinois, and do not let the ‘tragic spirit of despair’ overcome us when our country needs us the most.”

Many historians of Nazi Germany and fascist movements agree with Gov. Pritzker’s assessments of the relevance of the historical case of the Nazi Party’s rapid dismantling of the Weimar Republic and its constitution for understanding what is happening now in the United States.

The video of Gov. Pritzker’s Illinois State of the State Speech is available on YouTube. The full text of Gov. Pritzker’s speech is available at NBC 5 Chicago and also on NPR.

On the Nazi Party’s dismantling of the Weimar Republic’s democratic system, see a previous post entitled “On Hitler’s Dismantling of Democracy in 53 Days.”