With the third national No Kings protest planned for Saturday, DuPage County Republicans now have an anti-king message of their own: “Vote Out King Pritzker.”
The message is one of three set to be displayed on trucks carrying large electronic screens, which DuPage Republican Chair Kevin Coyne says his party will send to protest sites across the county during Saturday’s events.
“I think they bring a very important message,” Coyne says in a video posted to Facebook announcing the local GOP’s plan. “I hope they offer some reflection for those attending (No Kings rallies). (Gov.) JB Pritzker is acting more like a king than any elected official in America.”
In a phone interview with the Naperville Sun, Coyne said Pritzker has governed like a king by supporting last year’s gas tax increase, by “buying elections” through campaign donations and by being “extremely heavy-handed” with COVID-19 restrictions.
“We’ve gone from king Madigan to king Pritzker,” Coyne says in the video, referring to the power held by former Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan and now by Pritzker as governor. “Enough is enough. Vote this guy out in November.”
Sending trucks to protests planned in Naperville and elsewhere across the suburbs is the Republican Party’s way of getting its point across — instead of marching or standing on street corners, Coyne said.
“We’re not going to have any part of adding to the on-the-ground disruption,” he said.
But organizers of No Kings protests don’t see their events as disruption. Reid McCollum, chair of the DuPage County Democrats, said members of his party see the rallies as an important way to speak out against the authoritarian actions of President Donald Trump’s administration.
“The reason people are protesting ‘No Kings’ is simple: Donald Trump has acted like one. His corruption, his repeated disregard for the Constitution, his attacks on free speech, his unconstitutional war against Iran, his illegal tariffs and his tolerance for unaccountable masked federal enforcement all reflect the behavior of someone who thinks he is above the law,” McCollum said. “That is not democracy, and people in DuPage County understand the difference.”
Despite Republicans’ criticisms of Pritzker, the governor continues to find support from local Democrats, including Dianne McGuire of Indivisible Naperville, one of the organizations planning Naperville’s No Kings event. The rally is set for 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Rotary Hill, and Coyne says his party’s message trucks will be sure to drive by.
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“The American people do not want the authoritarian approach by Donald Trump,” McGuire said. “In contrast, Illinoisans have elected and reelected Gov. Pritzker in real landslide elections because he leads through hope, rather than fear.”
Marie Wilson is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.