CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Governor JB Pritzker is escalating things with President Trump, calling him out during a video conference with other governors and then calling the President "a miserable failure."
Governor Pritzker made the "miserable failure" remarks live on CNN, after the protesters outside the White House were cleared and the President has a photo op holding up a bible outside a damaged church.
"The fact is that the President has created an incendiary moment here," Pritzker told CNN's Erin Burnett on "OutFront." "He wants to change the subject from his failure over coronavirus - a miserable failure. And now seeing a moment where there is unrest, because of the injustice that was done to George Floyd that he now wants to create another topic and something where he can be the law and order president. He's been a miserable failure."
Earlier Monday, on the call with the President, Pritzker said the rhetoric coming out of the White House is making things worse.
"Rhetoric coming out of the White House is making it worse, people are experiencing real pain," he said. "We've got to have national leadership calling for calm and legitimate concern for protestors."
The President fired back.
"I don't like your rhetoric that much either," Trump said. "You could have done much better on coronavirus."
Recounting the exchange Monday evening, Pritzker said he was drawing attention to how Trump's rhetoric "is inflaming passions around the nation" when he should be "calling for calm."
"It's clear that he doesn't listen to anyone that tells him the truth. I did tell him the truth. You know, this rhetoric, this inflammatory rhetoric is bad for the country. You know, when we had the riots in Ferguson, President Obama started to bring the temperature down. He talked about calling for calm. When, you know, when Martin Luther King was killed, Robert Kennedy stood up and talked about seeking justice, you know, and bringing the tension down within the country," Pritzker said.
"This President doesn't understand any of that," he continued. "He probably hasn't read any of that, knows no history, and doesn't understand the job of the president to truly speak to the values of the nation."
