He may hate the term, but by virtue of his office and the personal money he’s steered toward consolidating political power, he’s effectively become Chicago’s new boss. That was apparent enough when, in March, he helped engineer a Senate nomination for his lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton.

Now the question is, can Pritzker take his story — and perhaps more importantly, the Illinois Story — and sell it to a national Democratic audience in 2028?

As the governor sipped (lightly) on matzo ball soup and I ate (less lightly) from a plate heaped with pastrami and latkes, we discussed that and whether he’s a potential Goldilocks candidate for Democrats: not too moderate for the left but not too left for the center.

Also on the table: the alarming rise in threats he’s receiving because of his Judaism, why he thinks Democrats want to move past the 2024 debacle and, speaking of mayors, the prospect of a Rahm vs. J.B. Chicago primary within the primary in 2028.

And the summation of your views is you’re an unapologetic Zionist who is deeply, deeply uneasy about the current government in Israel. Is that fair?

I’m unapologetically in favor of having a peaceful sanctuary that Jews can live in, in Israel. I’m also unapologetically in favor of a Palestinian State where Palestinians can live peacefully in the Middle East.

And by the way, we’re never, ever gonna get to peace until we have that.

But right now, I want to be clear, Netanyahu has made that near-impossible at the moment with his leadership. So we’ve gotta make sure that moving past Netanyahu... And FYI, let me just point out, there are a lot of people who don’t like Netanyahu, but you shouldn’t take it out on Israel. It’s a democracy that elected him. There are a lot of people who don’t like Trump. I mean, should we be tossed into the Hague as a country because of Trump? I’m just saying that we have to be careful about how we’re treating other countries when they elect somebody that we don’t like.

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[–] Damarcusart@hexbear.net 13 points 1 week ago

Funny how the US isn't a representative democracy to these people when it would result in negative consequences, but otherwise it is the freest and fairest democracy in the world.