With the government shutdown now in its 17th day and 800,000 workers either furloughed or working without pay, late-night comedians have determined to make the partial government closure into a grandstanding and anti-Trump affair.
We all know it, late night comedians like Jimmy Kimmel think that conservative viewers of their programs don't exist while further using conservative legislators as comedic punching bags. Last night was no exception when Kimmel went on a tirade against the president while grilling him on the partial government shutdown.
Kimmel declared Monday night that he would be hiring federal workers who were furloughed by the government shutdown to work on the set of his late night comedy show.
In a monologue that missed the mark, Kimmel acted as a political pundit instead of late night comic, per usual, and used the opportunity to bash President Trump over the wall adding that "Humpty Trumpty [sic] is very focused on his wall."
He later remarked that the shutdown is "Donald Trump doing what Donald Trump does best, not paying them," referring to federal workers.
The first "job" Kimmel offered on Monday night was to John Kostelnik, a California prison guard out of work because of the shutdown.
Kimmel asked Kostelnik, “Do you object to being used as a pawn in this fight over a wall?”
“Absolutely,” the prison guard responded.
Kimmel then instructed Kostelnik to join the band and gave him a tambourine.
The late-night comedian added, “That’s called solving problems, folks.”
WATCH:
Upon doing some initial research, we discovered that Kostelnik is a favorite political talking head for the anti-Trump and resistance moment as the President of AFGE 3969, a local union for federal prison workers in Victorville, California.
I traveled to Victorville federal prison, where between 400 & 1000 undocumented immigrants have been held as a result of @realDonaldTrump policies. This is my interview on Facebook Live with John Kostelnik, President of AFGE 3969. You will be surprised.https://t.co/uRSHcwrQm4
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) August 27, 2018
John Kostelnik is the President for AFGE 3969 Local — representing around a thousand federal correctional workers at Victorville.
— Rep. Katie Hill (@RepKatieHill) January 6, 2019
“I got staff out there with medical issues — with cancer. And right now their medical bills and insurance aren’t getting paid.”
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