Jimmy Kimmel had an unusual solution on Wednesday to the disarray and inability to govern plaguing the Republican majority in the House of Representatives: My Pillow founder Mike Lindell for speaker of the House.
OK, Kimmel was just playing. The suggestion is only a gag to mock the GOP house majority for being so bad at governing they can’t even pick a new speaker of the House. Nevertheless, Kimmel did have a great pitch in support of the idea.
“He would be a great speaker. If they work late, he’s got pillows for everyone, he’s… Well, that’s basically it,” Kimmel joked. And you know, he kind of has a point.
What inspired this bit during his monologue is the second consecutive failure of Ohio congressman Jim Jordan to become the new speaker.
Jordan — best known for his efforts to help Donald Trump attempts to overthrow the government after the 2020 election, and for being credibly accused of enabling sexual abuse while working as a wrestling coach at Ohio State — first stood for a vote on the House floor on Tuesday. In that vote, he managed only 200 votes of the 217 needed to win.
On Wednesday, Jordan did even worse, getting only 199.
“It has now been two weeks since Republicans opened the Matt Gaetz of Hell and threw away the key,” Kimmel said, referring to the ouster of ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy spearheaded by the Florida congressman.
“We are no steps closer to getting a speaker of the House after yet another vote failed to produce a speaker. Jim Jordan lost again. He lost by 20 Republican votes yesterday. So he spent the whole night last night and this morning working to rustle up votes. and today, he lost by 22 votes,” Kimmel continued. “But he’s not giving up. He’s going to keep on going until he loses unanimously.”
Kimmel mocked how Jordan used his experience as a wrestling coach as evidence he’d make a good leader, joking, “If wrestling experience makes you qualified to be speaker of the House, why not get someone popular? Get Stone Cold Steve Austin in there.”
After playing a clip of Jordan arguing that the American people want him to be speaker, Kimmel said, “The guy who tried to overturn the election all of a sudden cares what the American people want, interesting.”
After a digression where Kimmel made fun of Jordan’s appearance, he returned to the topic, noting how there are now members of congress suggesting that current interim Speaker Patrick McHenry be given the job for real.
“Meanwhile, no one is talking about the obvious choice for speaker, which is: the My Pillow man, Mike Lindell,” Kimmel said. “He would be a great speaker. If they work late, he’s got pillows for everyone, he’s… Well, that’s basically it. But pillows, at this point, that might be enough.”
“Can you imagine Mike Lindell sitting behind Biden at the State of the Union, chewing on his mustache and clapping like a seal?” Kimmel added.
After that, Kimmel spent some time talking about Lindell’s reported financial woes. And earlier in the monologue he discussed the crisis in the Levant, President Biden’s trip to Israel and Trump, among other things.
You can watch the complete monologue at the top of the page.
