Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is not apologizing for a directive to President Trump that critics say brings down the state's highest office.
The controversy is over a comment the governor made in October while addressing the Illinois Federation of Teachers convention in Springfield.
He was criticizing the Administration's attempts to dismantle the federal Department of Education and, as he put it, turn classrooms into culture war battlegrounds.
And then he said this: "I'm sorry to be vulgar, but Donald Trump and his cronies can ---- all the way off."
That got him a 30-second standing ovation, as well as criticism from some Republicans, including candidate for governor Ted Dabrowski, who referred to it as "gutter language" that coarsens public discourse.
During an appearance in Glen Ellyn on Monday, the governor said it was how he felt in the moment.
"All the limits are off with Donald Trump as President in terms of our reaction to what he has to say ... he uses that word," he said, noting that it was a response to his belief that students in public schools are being, as he put it, "abused" by the Trump Administration.
"That was a word that came to mind to describe it," he continued, dismissing a reporter's question wondering if, to paraphrase former First Lady Michelle Obama's advice to Democrats, his strategy was "if they go low, we go lower."