Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) is drawing criticism for releasing a stylized black-and-white governor-maxxing video at a moment when his state is mired in deep economic, social, and public-safety turmoil.
According to The Gateway Pundit, the odd aura-farming video surfaced as Illinois confronts soaring taxes, a shrinking business base, failing public schools, and a crime crisis that has driven families and employers to seek refuge in more stable, lower-tax states. Illinois routinely ranks among the most heavily taxed jurisdictions in the country, with one of the highest combined state and local tax burdens when measured against median household income and punishingly high effective property tax rates that squeeze homeowners and small businesses alike. On top of that, the state is weighed down by an estimated $145 billion in unfunded pension liabilities for state systems alone, giving Illinois one of the worst debt ratios in the nation and threatening future tax hikes and service cuts.
The exodus of employers and residents reflects these structural failures, as Illinois has endured persistent net domestic outmigration, losing more than 40,000 residents to other states in recent years, including 2025. In June 2022, The Gateway Pundit reported that Ken Griffins hedge fund, Citadel, would relocate its operations to Florida, explicitly citing a more business-friendly environment that stands in stark contrast to Pritzkers tax-and-regulate agenda. Other corporate mainstays have followed suit, with Caterpillar and Boeing both moving significant operations out of Illinois, signaling that even legacy firms see little future under the current policy regime. In July, hardware giant True Value announced that they are moving its headquarters from Chicago, Illinois, to Fort Wayne, Indiana, underscoring how neighboring states with lower taxes and tougher crime policies are reaping the benefits of Illinois mismanagement.
The flight has even reached Pritzkers own orbit: in 2024, The Pritzker Military Museum and Library announced the closure of their downtown Chicago location and move to Kenosha County in Wisconsin, a symbolic rebuke of the governors stewardship of his home state. At the same time, Pritzker has been vocal about his unwillingness to keep residents safe from unchecked illegal immigration, even threatening to help prosecute ICE agents if or when Democrats take back power, a stance that aligns him with the far-left open-borders wing of his party rather than with law-abiding citizens. The Department of Homeland Security revealed that his sanctuary-state policies have allowed more than 1,700 convicted criminal illegal aliens, including murderers, kidnappers, and child predators, to be released back onto the streets just in the period of January 2025 to December 2025, a staggering figure that would alarm any community concerned with basic public safety.
His record on crime more broadly has followed the same progressive pattern, prioritizing offenders over victims. In 2023, HB 3653, the SAFE-T (Safety, Accountability, Fairness, and Equity- Today) ACT, went into effect in Illinois; pushed by Democrats and signed into law by Governor JB Pritzker, the ACT abolished cash bail and returned violent criminals to the streets, a move conservatives warned would embolden offenders and demoralize police. Against this backdrop of fiscal strain, corporate flight, and rising lawlessness, Pritzkers decision to promote a vanity-style aura-farming clip has struck many as tone-deaf political theater rather than leadership. The video is captioned, When youre in an aura-farming contest, and your opponent is JB, a line that may play well with progressive activists online but is unlikely to reassure taxpayers and families who are watching their state unravel and looking instead to leaders like President Donald Trump who champion secure borders, tough-on-crime policies, and pro-growth economics.
Login