Somehow, while Illinois faces serious challenges, Gov. JB Pritzker (D) decided it was a great time to post a bizarre and vain ‘governor-maxxing’ video.
The weird black and white ‘aura-farming video’ comes as Illinois is grappling with rising taxes, fleeing businesses, failing schools, and rampant crime.
Illinois consistently ranks among the highest-taxed states, with the highest combined state and local tax burden in some measures (e.g., as a share of median household income) and very high effective property tax rates.
The state also carries massive unfunded pension liabilities of around $145 billion for state systems alone in recent estimates, far exceeding other states and contributing to one of the highest debt ratios nationally.
Businesses and people have been fleeing the state for years. Illinois has experienced ongoing net domestic outmigration (more residents leaving for other states than arriving), with losses exceeding 40,000 in recent years, such as 2025.
In June of 2022, The Gateway Pundit reported that Ken Griffin’s hedge fund, Citadel, would move its operations to Florida, citing a more business-friendly environment.
Other major businesses have fled the state in recent years, including Caterpillar and Boeing.
In July, Hardware giant True Value announced that they are moving its headquarters from Chicago, Illinois, to Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Even a Pritzker announced a departure. In 2024, The Pritzker Military Museum and Library announced the closure of their downtown Chicago location and move to Kenosha County in Wisconsin.
Pritzker has alson been vocal about his unwillingness to keep residents safe from unchecked illegal immigration, even threatening to help prosecute ICE agents if or when Democrats take back power.
The Department of Homeland Security revealed that his sanctuary-state policies have allowed more than 1,700 convicted criminal illegal aliens, including murderers, kidnappers, and child predators, to be released back onto the streets just in the period of January 2025 to December 2025.
He has also been soft on crime. In 2023, HB 3653, the SAFE-T (Safety, Accountability, Fairness, and Equity- Today) ACT, went into effect in Illinois. Pushed by Democrats and signed into law by Governor JB Pritzker, the ACT abolished cash bail and returned violent criminals to the streets.
The video is captioned, “When you’re in an aura-farming contest, and your opponent is JB.”
See the weird video below:
Governor-maxxing. pic.twitter.com/KUZRJc9ANF
— JB Pritzker (@JBPritzker) August 24, 2026
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