Brian Kilmeade of Fox and Friends fame didn’t take kindly to Jimmy Kimmel calling him “a phony little creep.” He felt that jab was a hair too personal, seeming to forget, of course, that Kimmel’s anger over the Trump administration’s health care plan is extremely personal — he has a very sick kid who has faced multiple, expensive heart surgeries. Nevertheless, Kilmeade leaned into the feud, essentially accusing Kimmel of being Chuck Schumer’s mouthpiece. He told Politico
He just went off. What I found hard to stomach was the personal attack. He doesn’t like what I do, that’s fine. I couldn’t believe how personal he went. And I found it very entertaining that he ended it with a personal threat. These are Chuck Schumer’s talking points, not America’s and now we find out that Chuck Schumer was consulting with him, so I might as well have been debating Chuck Schumer and America’s hearing from Chuck Schumer with charisma and a sense of humor.”
This tiff is now about a month old, going back to a monologue Kimmel delivered lambasting one of the many iterations of the GOP health care bill. Kilmeade shot back on Fox and Friends following Kimmel’s show, defending the bill and calling Kimmel one of the “Hollywood elite.” They’ve gone back and forth since then on who is fame-hungry and who is in which politician’s pocket. Kimmel opened up about the reason he’s so invested in the health care debate, that his sick son has made him very aware of parents in similar healthcare nightmares without the insurance or funds to pay for critical care. Kilmeade told him he needs to go talk to Congress.
But Kimmel wasn’t the only subject Kilmeade wanted to cover in his interview with Politico. He also offered up his opinion on the matter of President Trump’s noted trouble with facts and honesty. “I don’t know if he gets up every day and says let me make something up,” said Kilmeade. He went on to suggest that President Obama had equal trouble telling the truth before concluding with the ambiguous, “Did I start the show and say President Obama lied? No. I think there’s a lot of area that’s not yes or no.” Kilmeade also said that it’s “an honor” that President Trump watches Fox and Friends, although having the POTUS as Viewer In Chief hasn’t affected how he preps for the show. But Jimmy Kimmel certainly has.
(Via Politico)