During the White House turkey pardon ceremony on November 25, 2025, President Donald Trump labeled Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker a “big, fat slob” and referred to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson as “incompetent.”
Trump’s comments targeted the Democratic leaders for their refusal to accept federal assistance in combating Chicago’s rising crime rates. “The mayor is incompetent, and the governor is a big, fat slob,” he stated to reporters after pardoning turkeys Gobble and Waddle in the Rose Garden.
He admitted he had initially refrained from making a joke about Pritzker’s weight but ultimately criticized the governor’s appearance while urging him to seek federal help to enhance safety in Chicago. This remark followed a violent incident where a 26-year-old woman was set on fire on a Chicago train by a suspect with 72 previous arrests.
Mayor Johnson has previously claimed that incarcerating criminals is “racist, immoral, and unholy,” asserting that imprisonment does not effectively address crime and violence and is fundamentally biased. His comments have faced significant backlash amidst Chicago’s ongoing crime crisis, which has seen 385 murders and over 1,300 shootings this year.
Trump has threatened to send National Guard troops to Chicago, claiming that residents are “screaming for us to come.” In contrast, Governor Pritzker has labeled Trump a “wannabe dictator” and declined to request federal intervention, arguing that there is no emergency justifying troop deployment as crime persists.
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