Hyperbole, Lies, and Delusions

CHICAGO — Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s speech in New Hampshire last week was greeted by the media as yet another stirring call to arms for the rudderless Democratic Party.

“Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption – but I am now,” Pritzker thundered. “These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace. They have to understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have. We must castigate them on the soapbox and then punish them at the ballot box.”

Republicans protested that the governor came close to inciting political violence – and they have a point, given the attempts to assassinate Donald Trump, the dangerous attacks on Tesla, and the near-kidnapping of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. 

However, what Pritzker had to say in his speech before channeling Maxine Waters’ infamous call to harass Republicans should not be overlooked. It raises an important question: Is Pritzker delusional, a liar, or merely hyperbolic?

Hyperbole, lies, and delusions are all forms of falsehoods, but of different magnitudes. The first are exaggerated claims not meant to be taken literally. Trump himself is no stranger to this oratorical device. Lies are exaggerations or falsehoods the speaker wants others to believe – and, while shameful, are a too-frequent feature of modern political discourses. Delusions are false beliefs at odds with observable reality.

Jerry Seinfeld’s “Soup Nazi” is an example of hyperbolic name calling. Seinfeld and his audience understood it was an exaggeration so grotesque that it was funny. No one thought the soup guy was actually a member of the SS. Jussie Smollett’s claim that MAGA bros assaulted him was a lie, albeit a calculated, elaborate, and harmful hoax. The Salem witch trials were the terrible consequence of a mass delusion.

So, is Pritzker channeling Seinfeld, Smollett, or Cotton Mather?

“It’s wrong to snatch a person off the street and ship them to a foreign gulag with no chance to defend themselves in a court of law,” Pritzker said.

“Standing for the idea that the government doesn’t have the right to kidnap you without due process is arguably the most effective campaign slogan in history,” he said before adding, “Today it’s an immigrant with a tattoo, tomorrow it’s a citizen whose Facebook post annoys Donald Trump.”

He went on in this vein for a while:

• “Our retirees don’t deserve to be left destitute by a Social Security Administration decimated by Elon Musk.”
• “Our citizens don’t deserve to lose health care coverage because Republicans want to hand a tax cut to billionaires.”
• “Our federal workers don’t deserve to have, well, a 19-year-old DOGE bro called Big Balls destroy their careers.”
• “Autistic kids and adults who are loving contributors to our society don’t deserve to be stigmatized by a weird nepo baby who once stashed a dead bear in the back of his car.”

This is all absurd.

Activists have brought hundreds of lawsuits on behalf of illegal migrants, as Democrats fight to keep criminals and gang members from being deported. Long-standing immigration laws set forth the process that’s due to non-U.S. citizens before they are deported – processes pursuant to which prior presidents of both political parties deported millions of non-citizens.

There’s not the slightest suggestion that Republicans (who have been fighting Big Tech censorship) support criminalizing Facebook posts. To the contrary, Vice President J.D. Vance was widely criticized by Democrats for condemning Britain and Germany for criminalizing Facebook posts.

Not a single person receiving Social Security payments legally is losing their government pension. Improving efficiency, eliminating waste, and rooting out fraud protects retirees and strengthens the system.

No American receiving health care legally will lose health care coverage. And preventing states (like Illinois) from providing health care to noncitizens under Medicaid will result in more funding to cover health care for U.S. citizens. 

There will be no tax cut for high earners in the budget reconciliation; the existing rate structure will be maintained.

Trump is reducing federal employment through buyouts, layoffs, and dismissals to improve government efficiency (i.e., doing more with fewer workers) and to redirect government policy (i.e., eliminating DEI).

In his speech, Pritzker also accused Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F.  Kennedy Jr. of nepotism. That’s rich coming from the heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune who used inherited money to buy his way into office. In any case, it’s the opposite of nepotism for the scion of Democrat royalty to become a Republican leader. And Kennedy is trying to stop the autism epidemic, not shame autistic people.

So, everything Pritzker said in New Hampshire was obviously false. What’s interesting to consider is: What does he, and what does his audience, actually believe about these topics?

When asked by Jen Psaki on MSNBC about his speech, Pritzker replied with yet another apocalyptic fantasy: “We are in a perilous moment in this country,” he replied. “There is, I mean, tumult around everyone in this country. We have had our economic rights taken away, we have had our civil rights taken away, and it’s only been a hundred days.”

Consider further that in February, Pritzker – who helped build the Illinois Holocaust Museum – compared the new Trump Administration to the Third Reich, volunteering that he didn’t make the comparison to Nazis lightly.

Put it all together, and it sounds like Pritzker is channeling Jussie Smollett, not Jerry Seinfeld. He’s not trying to entertain, and I think he knows better. He wants to frighten and anger people. He wants outrage, not knowing smiles.

There’s a worst-case scenario, however. What if the governor of Illinois, and apparent 2028 presidential candidate, is delusional and believes his falsehoods?  He wouldn’t be alone – and that’s even more scary. In a world in which many progressives believe Luigi Mangione is a hero, Pritzker’s lies in the cause of his ambition to be the Democratic Party’s nominee for president are more outrageous – and more perilous – than Smollett’s lies to make himself a civil rights icon.

This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.