Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon on AM560: Why We Need to “Relentlessly” Make the Blue State-Red State Case
November 5, 2026
7 Comments
Glennon raised the stakes of the moment in broader civilizational terms: “This election in Illinois is not about the usual pedestrian issues… it’s about nothing less than whether Western civilization survives in our democratic republic of America because [the left], just on the open border alone, will destroy the country, and now they’re bringing in the jihadists, frankly, into the party.” Audio and summary linked here.Audio and summary linked here.
New Trier High School made national headlines nine years ago as a “canary in a coal mine” for political indoctrination in public schools. The canaries lived.
Among the consequences of economic growth that badly lags national averages are billions of lost revenue every year. Yet denial reigns in Illinois, fueling the vicious cycle of demand for higher taxes.
I’m guessing many of these illegal immigrants won’t be paying off their student loans, either. Not to worry, Illinois will probably forgive their loans. So, the Illinois taxpayer/resident will get screwed twice.
This is nothing more than a desperate ploy to fill the empty desks throughout the state university system with warm bodies with 18 ACT scores. * WIU has only 5,337 students, 1000 less than the 6,332 students last year, and over 10,000 in 2006 * EIU has only 8,013 students, down from 8,817, but 3035 of those students are ‘high school dual credit’ students. ONly 3,660 students are on campus this year compared to 4,044 last year. * NIU enrollment is up slightly at 16,000 students but down 4% in the past five years and down 20%, from 20,130 students… Read more »
Yup, another failed union jobs program. More evidence to send your kids to college out of state.
Yep, there is no economic “right sizing” in the education industry. Not at the K12 or Higher ed schools…only delay, beg for more money and let the debt and high taxation accumulate. A previous article mentioned that the state government was increasing the funding over the next 5 years by millions of dollars…because Illinois Higher Ed was “underfunded”. With the stats you mention here…clearly they are cooking the books.
Gov. Pritzker will have quite the national campaign talking points when he is running for president
Send ICE to IL universities. Legal IL citizens shouldn’t be paying for this when it’s hard to finance legal students. Vote Democrats out so long as they are only representing illegals.
Higher taxes and this too. You people are true masochists. Why do you hate yourselves so much?
This while Illinois colleges are experiencing a bit of a cash crunch amid enrollment declines. Never mind that Illinois is flat broke. Illegal immigrants are entitled to confiscated taxpayer funds.
Illinois elects its dumbest. Every time.
Interesting. So if a prospective student applies for “undocumented alien” tuition, how does that square against the other non-citizens with student visas who are paying full rate? Should one lie about their student visa on the application and pay less? After all, the great state of Illinois won’t share that information with anyone. Oopsie, revenue loss.
The source article says that they must have graduated from and attended an Illinois high school for at least three years. So as a practical matter they are residents, tho not documented.
Foreign students, who did high school in another country, wouldn’t be eligible.
What other country in the world allows fugitives to anoint themselves as eligible for another country’s benefits as if they were a citizen?
Why wouldn’t they pay out of state tuition since they are from well out of state? Yet citizens and legal residents of other states have to pay out of state tuition. This makes perfect Illinois democrats sense, not to be confused with common sense.
And how much will the state be funding these kids ?,
Wake up how much will the taxpayers be paying to fund these illegals
Illinois universities in-state tuition is more than most other colleges charge for out of state. Go elsewhere.
Your assertion isn’t consistent with the data at this site. It indicates Illinois in-state cost is $16,200, which is higher than most other states, but out-of-state cost is higher than that in all states shown.
It’s been about eight years since I last looked at college costs, so my info may be outdated. There were close by states that extended in-state tuition to Illinois residents. Missouri called one in-state starting soph year if you attended a state school freshman year. Other state schools seemed to be a bit more generous with financial aid. I knew quite a few parents who stated the out of state costs were less than U of I. When using the net price calculator U of I was much more than other colleges I looked at. I told my son he… Read more »
The book rate vs. the paid rate at most schools often vary widely, except at U of I, which expects suburban Chicago parents (and Chinese Fuerdai – the children of nouveau rich) to pay full boat. If it were up to the U of Illinois the admissions department, they’d accept 20,000 Fuerdai before they accepted even one native born white Illinois resident, with ties to the state for 100 years. And they’re doing their best to achieve this goal.
Disagree – UIUC is way overpriced when you look at total cost for the preferred colleges (the ones that lead to meaningful employment). Plus its a party school. No thanks.
Your $16,200 tuition figure is deceiving. Illinois plays games by shifting costs from tuition to housing but it all impacts the complete cost to families. Will the illegals get free housing too?
If parents felt there was that much value, 50% of kids wouldn’t leave for other states. Many Illinois families know better and will continue to select other places to go.