Pritzker on Trump's talks of a Canadian 51st state: 'Just a distraction'

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — As president-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated in late January, Gov. JB Pritzker looks to protect some immigrants, healthcare and Rivian in Illinois.

Trump has recently said he would like Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal to become either US territories or even a new state.

On Truth Social, the president-elect posted an image of a map of Canada with the words "51st State" inside its borders. Pritzker says it's just a distraction.

"Donald Trump says an awful amount of things that I think are intended to distract us from other things," Pritzker said. "I think this idea of attacking or making Canada the 51st state that's just another one of those."

As he spent his Wednesday overlooking the Illinois Senate inauguration, he made it clear he is ok with deporting immigrants that have committed crimes in Illinois.

He also made it clear on the words he's used when he has talked about Donald Trump.

"I've never used the term Trump proofing," Pritzker said. "But we need to protect the people of Illinois from the onslaught we expect."

One place Pritzker says will be in the line of sight for the Trump administration is Rivian. Vivek Ramaswamy on X, formerly known as Twitter, said the federal $6.6 Billion conditional loan to build a factory in Georgia was "insane."

The governor also says he is worried for those who are currently relying on Medicaid, as he expects they won't outright repeal Medicaid but may change the rules to cut the amount of dependents on the federal program.

"That will [get] people excluded and we might have hundreds of thousands of people who would go without healthcare," Pritzker said. "How we might react to that, exactly how that looks like we don't know but we're trying to think of those things ahead of time."

Illinois Democratic Lawmakers have not brought forward any plans to address the incoming Trump administration.