ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel returned from his summer vacation on Tuesday by welcoming former GOP congressman-turned CNN talking head/Democratic National Convention speaker Adam Kinzinger to his show to discuss that experience as well as to omit the most vital detail of Donald Trump’s recent visit to Arlington National Cemetery: that he was there at the invitation of Gold Star families.
Kimmel began by wondering, “Did you ever imagine, as a lifelong Republican, that you would ever speak at the Democratic National Convention? And be embraced wholeheartedly there?”
Claiming it was “quite an experience,” Kinzinger added, “no, I never, never imagined. I would say maybe a year, two years ago, it kind of -- if you'd told me, maybe this makes sense, because my party has just gone off the rails and they no longer defend democracy and it's like, that's what my calling is, to defend that.”
Kinzinger likes to claim that his problem with the GOP is that it has given way to election conspiracy theorizing, January 6 apologia, and Putinphilia, but in previous late night appearances he has repeatedly compared House Speaker Mike Johnson to the Taliban for saying he gets his worldview from the Bible. That’s not standing for conservatism, that’s just leftism.
As it was, later in the interview, Kimmel turned to recent headlines, “This photo op situation that he concocted at Arlington National Cemetery, you've been there. You're a veteran, you know, you've served. You've been in the -- I mean, explain why that's so -- that's such a vile thing to.”
Trump was there at the invitation of Gold Star families who lost loved ones during President Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. They were also in the photo Kimmel referenced. Finally, the campaign insists they were allowed to have a photographer. Like Kimmel, Kinzinger ignored these vital details as he ranted:
To go there, to have one of his staff members push a worker, who probably was pretty angry because she saw what was happening. Which is, these people that she's been committed, probably her life, to honoring, he's going to go there and make a mockery of it. And he went in and turned it into a campaign event. Got his picture. Smiled with his thumbs up, for God's sakes. And what -- so what you can do is now, if you politicize Arlington National Cemetery, everybody running for Congress, everybody running for the Senate, is going to have to go there and get their picture taken at Arlington to show that they're a good, solid American. You cannot politicize fallen American soldiers, come hell or high water. That is a red line you can't cross. He crossed it happily, and he's defending himself and not just defending himself. Going after the worker that one of his people shoved. And that is just so beneath the presidency.
Yes, he’s defending himself against people like Kimmel and Kinzinger who do not give their audience all the facts surrounding the visit. Apparently, Kimmel's team of fact-checkers took the day off.
Here is a transcript for the September 3-taped show:
ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!
9/4/2024
12:23 AM ET
JIMMY KIMMEL: Did you ever imagine, as a lifelong Republican, that you would ever speak at the Democratic National Convention?
ADAM KINZINGER: Nope, nope.
KIMMEL: And be embraced wholeheartedly there?
KINZINGER: Yeah, yeah, it was quite an experience. Like, no, I never, never imagined. I would say maybe a year, two years ago, it kind of -- if you'd told me, maybe this makes sense, because my party has just gone off the rails and they no longer defend democracy and it's like, that's what my calling is, to defend that.
…
KIMMEL: This photo op situation that he concocted at Arlington National Cemetery, you've been there. You're a veteran, you know, you've served. You've been in the -- I mean, explain why that's so -- that's such a vile thing to.
KINZINGER: It's one thing for a sitting president or even a candidate to go on an official visit, to go, not to take pictures, to honor the fallen who have died for this country. It is like the last vestige of nonpartisanship that we have to hold in this country, and we have to hold it in a very, kind of, religious way, almost. People that gave everything.
To go there, to have one of his staff members push a worker, who probably was pretty angry because she saw what was happening. Which is, these people that she's been committed, probably her life, to honoring, he's going to go there and make a mockery of it. And he went in and turned it into a campaign event. Got his picture. Smiled with his thumbs up, for God's sakes. And what -- so what you can do is now, if you politicize Arlington National Cemetery, everybody running for Congress, everybody running for the Senate, is going to have to go there and get their picture taken at Arlington to show that they're a good, solid American. You cannot politicize fallen American soldiers, come hell or high water. That is a red line you can't cross. He crossed it happily, and he's defending himself and not just defending himself. Going after the worker that one of his people shoved. And that is just so beneath the presidency.
