The upcoming presidential campaign is underway as Republican hopefuls made stops in Iowa over the last few days, including former President Donald Trump.
Trump spoke to a crowd in the Hawkeye State and took swipes at every one from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to his former Vice President Mike Pence. These digs by Trump prompted Jimmy Kimmel to spend a good part of his monologue on Tuesday night saying he’s looking forward to a campaign debate between Trump and Pence.
“I have to say, I can’t wait to see Pence debating Donald Trump,” Kimmel said. “It’s going to be like Elmo versus Cocaine Bear.”
Kimmel mentioned the former president blamed Pence for causing the Jan. 6 insurrection. The late-night host said there’s a lot of things Pence can be blamed for but a crowd trying to overthrow the government isn’t one of them.
“Meanwhile Donald Trump is finally accepting responsibility for the deadly violence he incited on January 6th,” Kimmel said. “Just kidding. He’s blaming it on Mike Pence. He’s blaming it on Mike Pence.”
Kimmel added, “Trump said, since Pence refused to help him overturn the election, he quote, ‘In many ways deserves blame for what happened at the Capitol.’ Which is the presidential equivalent of, ‘If the tellers had just put the money in the bag, everybody would have made it home safe.’”
Trump spoke to reporters as he traveled to Davenport, Iowa, and responded to Pence’s contention that history will hold Trump accountable for the attacks on the Capitol. Trump went on the defense and said “Had he sent the votes back to the legislatures, they wouldn’t have had a problem with Jan. 6, so in many ways you can blame him for Jan. 6.”
“[Trump] said that if Pence hadn’t refused to overturn the election, ‘you wouldn’t have had January 6th,’ as we call it,” Kimmel said. “Yeah, right. That’s what the calendar calls it too.”
Kimmel joked, “Everyone calls it that. Are people calling it December 37th? I don’t think so. Listen, Mike Pence can be blamed for a lot of things, like shampooing with White-Out. But he didn’t cause January 6th. They tried to hang him, on January 6th.”
To watch Kimmel’s full monologue, click the video above.
