CHICAGO — llinois Gov. JB Pritzker made a tongue-in-cheek appearance on ABC’s late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Thursday, poking fun at President Donald Trump’s repeated characterization of Chicago as a “hellhole.”
Dressed like a war-zone television reporter, Pritzker mocked the Trump administration with his portrayal of a field correspondent “reporting from war-torn Chicago.”
He described scenes of chaos, noting that “the Milwaukee Brewers have come in to attack our Chicago Cubs,” that residents are “being forced to eat hot dogs with ketchup” and reporting that the city’s “deep dish pizza has gone shallow.”
Still, he added, “there is no hellscape I’d rather be in,” during the clip filmed at the Madison Street Bridge on Thursday afternoon.
Pritzker has long fought back against Trump’s plan to bring in National Guard troops to Chicago. In August, the governor said Trump “has absolutely no right, and no legal ability, to send troops into the city of Chicago. And so I reject that notion.”
This clip comes just a day after Trump said Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson should “be in jail” for their failure to protect federal agents. To which a defiant Pritzker said, “come and get me.”
On his show, Kimmel invited viewers living in so-called “war-ravaged communities” the president plans to occupy with national guard troops — like Chicago and Portland, Oregon — to post their own videos on YouTube with the hashtag #ShowMeYourHellhole, so the show may “share your nightmare with the world.”
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was pulled off the air for a week in September by ABC after comments related to the response to Charlie Kirk’s assassination in Kimmel’s monologue. Since his return, he has continued his criticism of the Trump administration.
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