Jimmy Kimmel took a hard left turn into the chaos unfolding in Minneapolis on last night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live and he did not sugarcoat a thing. With his trademark sarcasm turned all the way up he addressed the killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent and the federal government’s response which somehow managed to make a bad situation even worse.
Instead of pulling ICE out of Minneapolis Donald Trump decided the best move was to send more agents into the city. Yes more. Kimmel summed it up perfectly likening the decision to throwing grease on a grease fire and then acting surprised when the whole kitchen goes up in flames. Make it make sense.
Kimmel reminded viewers that outrage over Good’s killing was not confined to Minnesota. Thousands of people across the country took to the streets over the weekend to protest. In Minneapolis they showed up in sixteen degree weather because when people are fed up frostbite is not a deterrent. And still despite the grief and the anger Kristi Noem doubled down labeling Good a domestic terrorist.
According to Kimmel this kind of language is not accidental. The goal is to paint every protester as violent and dangerous even if that protester is a mom driving a Honda. The narrative needs a villain. Antifa has to be real and terrifying so the government can justify calling in the military canceling elections and flirting with martial law. And in a twist so absurd it feels like satire the White House is reportedly considering a military strike on Iran in the name of supporting protesters there while actively trying to crush protest at home.
Kimmel offered a suggestion dripping with late night irony. If ICE has so many extra agents maybe send them to Iran. Problem solved.
He did not shy away from calling what is happening in Minnesota dark and disturbing. But even in the middle of all that heaviness the internet found a way to cope. Videos started circulating of ICE agents slipping and sliding on the icy streets. Kimmel gathered them into a montage he called the ICE Ice Capades because sometimes gallows humor is the only thing keeping people from screaming.
Renee Nicole Good was thirty seven years old a mother of three and she was fatally shot in the head by a masked ICE agent in Minneapolis last Wednesday. Her death came just one day after thousands of federal agents were deployed to Minnesota as part of a thirty day immigration enforcement surge. The agent involved has since been identified as Jonathan Ross.
Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey did not bother with political pleasantries when he addressed the city. He acknowledged there were no words that could fix the situation but made his message crystal clear. To ICE get the fuck out of Minneapolis.
Kimmel loved that energy and took it a step further suggesting the phrase be printed on T shirts. Not just Minneapolis either. Get the fuck out of all of these cities.
And honestly that might be the most bipartisan idea we have heard in a while.
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