Constitutional Quibbles With Jimmy Kimmel and 'Mitch McTurtle'

February 17th, 2021 11:45 PM

Do you know your Constitution? Hollywood sure doesn’t but thankfully "Mitch McTurtle" does.

Jimmy Kimmel roasted Sen. Mitch McConnell for his procedural objections to impeachment as if the Senate can ignore constitutional protocols to instead “vote their conscience.”

In the Feb. 16 monologue of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live,’ Kimmel poked fun at McConnell’s refusal to vote to remove the former president from office. “Now, I have to say, I think Mitch McConnell blew it,” said Kimmel. “This was his party’s best chance to make sure Trump never ran again.”

Kimmel played some audio of McConnell’s speech dubbed over footage of a turtle who rolls over, earning McConnell the Twitter nickname "Mitch McTurtle." “There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day,” said McTurtle in the clip. “But in this case, that question is moot. Because former President Trump is constitutionally not eligible for conviction.”

Kimmel explained McConnell’s position as “Donald Trump is guilty of all the things I just found him not guilty of.” But Kimmel clearly didn’t listen or care about McConnel’s stated reason for his vote. McConnell argued, much to conservatives' dismay, he believes Trump is guilty of an impeachable offense and would be removed from office if he were currently president. However, as a former president, Trump by definition cannot be removed from an office he doesn’t hold.

Trump’s acquittal should have come as no surprise to those who know the Constitution. Legal technicalities aside, with an even split Senate, Democrats needed to persuasively convince 17 Republicans to betray their constituents and the former president in order to gain the necessary 67 votes. As it was, only seven Republican senators were willing to vote against Trump, leaving Democrats still 10 votes short.

But as someone who has spent the last few weeks making fun of Mike Pence and fawning over Joe Biden’s remarkable show of zero bipartisan unity, Trump’s acquittal must have come as a shock to Kimmel. However, he was not the only entertainer in Hollywood whose dreams were dashed by the completely expected congressional vote. Rob Reiner, Bette Midler, Piers Morgan, Trevor Noah and Rosie O'Donnell all felt compelled to share their anger and disappointment about the impeachment results.

Fortunately, the impeachment is over and all sane people of the world living outside the Leftist Hollywood bubble can go back to ignoring what Kimmel and the rest of his friends think. As for Mitch McTurtle, well, for better or worse that’s up to Kentucky voters to decide.