Midwest
Pritzker hurls ‘dementia’ claim at Trump amid National Guard feud despite defending Biden’s mental fitness
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Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker accused President Donald Trump of being a “man who’s suffering dementia” in their escalating feud over National Guard deployment in his state — despite the Democrat once backing former President Joe Biden’s mental fitness.
Texas National Guard troops arrived in Illinois on Tuesday to protect federal personnel and property amid anti-immigration protests, the Pentagon confirmed. A Pentagon official said 200 guardsmen were mobilized for an initial 60-day period.
“This is a man who’s suffering dementia,” Pritzker said Tuesday about Trump, according to The Chicago Tribune. “This is a man who has something stuck in his head. He can’t get it out of his head. He doesn’t read. He doesn’t know anything that’s up to date. It’s just something in the recesses of his brain that is effectuating to have him call out these cities.”
“And then, unfortunately, he has the power of the military, the power of the federal government to do his bidding, and that’s what he’s doing,” Pritzker reportedly added.
TRUMP SAYS CHICAGO MAYOR, ILLINOIS GOVERNOR ‘SHOULD BE IN JAIL FOR FAILING TO PROTECT’ ICE OFFICERS
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said President Donald Trump has dementia despite previously rejecting challenges of former President Joe Biden’s mental fitness. (Scott Olson/Getty Images; Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Bruce Glikas/WireImage)
The sharp criticism comes after Pritzker defended Biden following the release of a report from Special Counsel Robert Hur in February 2024 that described the former president as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
“I smell a rat,” Pritzker was quoted as telling reporters the day after Hur’s report was made public.
“It was extremely unfair for a Trump appointee, originally to the Department of Justice, to offer his own opinions about the mental acuity or age of the President of the United States,” Pritzker added, according to Politico.
Pritzker further defended Biden’s fitness to serve.
“I’ve been with the President of the United States many times, he is on the ball,” Pritzker said at a press conference in February 2024, according to WLS-TV. “The man knows more than most of us have forgotten. He knows so much more because he’s been in government for a number of years and has served in important positions.”
Biden later dropped his re-election bid in July after a disastrous debate performance against Trump. Biden’s own party quietly ceded to concerns over his fitness, mental competency and overall strength as a candidate as fallout from the debate overtook conversation on the campaign trail and on Capitol Hill.
Military personnel in uniform, with the Texas National Guard patch on, are seen at the U.S. Army Reserve Center on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in Elwood, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. (AP/Laura Bargfeld)
At a time Pritzker was being floated as potentially joining the Democratic ticket and was holding speaking engagements in battleground states, the Illinois governor released a statement on Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race.
“President Joe Biden has dedicated his life in service to this nation, and its citizens are all the better for it. His is a storied political career culminating in one of the most accomplished and effective presidencies of our lifetime,” Pritzker said at the time. He praised Biden as having “restored dignity to the Oval Office, bringing the statesmanship and honor that have been the hallmarks of his years of service, back to the White House.”
He also attacked Trump, adding, “We must not ignore the threat posed by Donald Trump’s potential return to the White House,” according to WMAQ-TV. Trump went on to win the November election.
PRITZKER SUES TRUMP TO BLOCK NATIONAL GUARD ACTION IN ILLINOIS
An X account affiliated with the Trump White House on Tuesday called Pritzker “one SICK scumbag,” sharing a clip of his recent interview with WGN.
“What I know is, in the early days of Nazi regime, they started slowly but surely taking away people’s rights. And what we are seeing now is the very same thing. They have gone into cities now with the military,” Pritzker said in the clip posted on X by the White House Rapid Response team. “Think about that — in your lifetime have you ever seen anything like that? Where the President of the United States is sending military or troops dressed as military — ICE and CBP — in camouflage, with automatic weapons, into our major cities? It’s wrong.”
Smoke is seen rising as federal law enforcement pushes back anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protesters outside an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, on Sept. 26, 2025. (Fox News)
The White House Rapid Response team said Pritzker “calls President Trump a Nazi — fomenting more deranged violence from his Radical Left lunatic supporters.”
Trump on Wednesday said on Truth Social that Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson should be jailed for not defending ICE agents. The White House provided Fox News Digital with a statement elaborating on the president’s post, noting that 30 people were shot, five of whom died, in Chicago last week alone, yet “these Trump-Deranged buffoons would rather allow the violence to continue and attack the President for wanting to help make their city safe again.”
The White House did not immediately address Pritzker’s specific “dementia” comment about Trump.
Fox News Digital also reached out to Pritzker’s office for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman, Aubrie Spady, Alexandra Koch and Patrick McGovern contributed to this report.
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Employees at a south Minneapolis child care center said they are increasingly concerned about drug use and safety issues, as a homeless encampment grows nearby under the Cedar Avenue and Highway 55 overpass.
Staff at Baby’s Space child care, which has served the neighborhood for more than 25 years, said things have gotten especially bad over the past month.
Yolanda Reyes is an administrative assistant at Baby’s Space, which is just blocks away from the encampment.
“The encampment was moving and then the cops would clear it out, and they’d wait a few hours and they were right back,” said Reyes.
Staff said a fence installed to discourage people from gathering at the encampment has been ineffective. A WCCO camera captured an opening in the fence that allowed people to continue gathering on the sidewalk.
Drug use has become more visible and has moved right outside the child care center’s front door, Reyes said.
“Open use, just freely using their drugs. I had to go out the front door and say, ‘Hey, this is a child care center,’” she said.
The concerns have affected daily activities at the facility. Debbie Lund, executive director for Baby’s Space, said staff worry about what children could encounter while playing outside. She said Minneapolis police now stand watch by their playground.
“It’s hard for us to play outside because we’re not sure what the kids are going to be exposed to,” said Lund.
The concerns have drawn the attention of city leaders. On Tuesday, Minneapolis City Council Member Jason Chavez sent an email to city officials, including Mayor Jacob Frey and Public Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette, requesting immediate support for unhoused residents in the area.
A city spokesperson said the fencing is temporary to allow time for a better long-term solution, in collaboration with the county, Metro Transit, and the Minnesota Department of Transportation, who all have facilities in the area.
In the meantime, the city said they are working to help people move from unsheltered homelessness into stable housing.
Reyes and Lund emphasized that they sympathize with people living in the encampment who are struggling with addiction.
“It’s so hard because our hearts go out to everybody, and yet we really need to keep our children safe,” said Lund.
July 13, 1931 – June 22, 2026
Karl E. Muszar, Jr., 94, Indianapolis, was called to his heavenly home June 22, 2026. He was born July 13, 1931, in Indianapolis to Karl E. Muszar, Sr. and Golda Lucille (Martin) Jones.
Karl was a 1949 graduate of Howe High School. He then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force where he served until 1955. Following his military service, he attended Purdue University and in 1958 earned a B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering. Karl worked for Allison Aircraft until 1975 at which time he started his own consulting business, Metallurgical Engineering of Indiana, Inc. Karl enjoyed photography and hiking in the mountains of Colorado. He served as a board member of Heritage Christian School from1971 to 2001.
In addition to his parents, Karl was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Barbara J. (Foulk) Muszar; sister, Boni Kennelly, and stepbrother, Wesley Jones.
Survivors include his daughter, Michelle (Mark) Anderson; son, Jeffrey Muszar; granddaughter, Brittany (Alex) Winfield; great-grandchildren, Krystiyan Hall, Czarina Green, Mikhail, and Odessa Winfield; and many nieces and nephews.
Family and friends will gather at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 27, 2026, at Colonial Hills Baptist Church, of which he was an active member, and where the funeral service will begin at noon.
Burial will follow in Union Chapel Cemetery. In memory of Karl, contributions may be directed to Colonial Hills Baptist Church-Missions, 8140 Union Chapel Road, Indianapolis, IN 46240. Envelopes will be available at the church.
Bussell Family Funerals is privileged to assist the family in arrangements. Condolences: bussellfamilyfunerals.com.
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