On Tuesday, left-wing City University of New York journalism professor Jeff Jarvis took to MSNBC’s 9 a.m. ET hour to celebrate late-night host Jimmy Kimmel supposedly being poised to “save health care” from Republican plans to repeal ObamaCare. Talking to anchor Stephanie Ruhle, Jarvis proclaimed: “The night he gave his first spiel on the show about his son I tweeted...that he will save health care.”
Ruhle began the segment by touting how Kimmel was “responding to critics on his first day back on the job after his passionate monologue about children’s health care” after he “was aggressively criticized by the right for his plea for affordable health care coverage.” She then brought on a panel of liberal guests – including Jarvis, Slate’s Mike Pesca, and Vanity Fair’s Bill Cohan – to praise the comedian and bash the GOP.
The anchor hoped that Kimmel’s political plea to keep to ObamaCare in place had a “tangible impact” on the debate. After predicting that the ABC host “will save health care,” Jarvis gushed: “I think this is a moment when, you know, it maybe a little late to it, not quite there yet, but I think that is a moment in history when we bring back empathy into politics.”
He then went on to praise the entire liberal late-night line-up for attacking the Trump administration:
And also, note the power of comedy in this country now. The comedy does journalism’s job, comedy does politics and activism’s job, comedy calls B.S. what others don’t. And that’s what Jimmy Kimmel did and he made it personal and he made it human, and I think he’s – I hope, I pray, that he’s going to save health care....He’s someone who comments on life. I mean, we go back to – Johnny Carson had some of his impact, but Jimmy Kimmel is using it far more aggressively, and we need that today. And the whole range of comedians, I think, have made a big difference.
During the 2016 campaign, Jarvis argued that then-candidate Trump did not deserve “balanced coverage” from the press. On election night, the professor took to Twitter to wail over the Republican’s victory: “I fear that journalism is irredeemably broken, a failure. My profession failed to inform the public about the fascist they are electing.”
Slate’s Pesca hailed Kimmel as “the most relatable guy” and proclaimed: “You know, Colbert has carved out his very anti-Trump stance, which I love, and Fallon is not trying to do that. So Kimmel, when he comes on, has an impact.”
However, the leftist commentator worried that the jokes wouldn’t be enough to take down Trump: “...the best thing satire does is it provides everyone with an escape valve and that’s valuable. I don’t know how often it changes the policies of the rulers. I’ve read accounts of satire in Nazi Germany, and it went on, and sometimes people would be punished.”
Following the Nazi comparison, Pesca urged: “But the specific kind of satire that works is not when you talk about a person or Trump’s coloration or the size of his hands, but talk about the direct failure of his policies. That satire works.”
Jarvis continued to heap praise on the comics: “Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert politicized my children....I think that they have the impact of mobilizing a generation and changing where a generation goes.” He promoted a liberal meme that sprung up on social media after Kimmel’s comments: “The other thing that’s happened is the ‘I am a preexisting condition’ hashtag. I mean I was there on Twitter saying that I’ve had prostate cancer and thyroid cancer and a heart condition....I’m out there in public, other people are out there in public, they’re going to be affected and hurt.”
Vanity Fair’s Cohan ranted: “I don’t get these Republicans, I don’t feel it, I don’t feel that they care about covering Americans who need, you know, like Jimmy Kimmel’s child. I just don’t feel it.” Asked by Ruhle if Trump “feels like he got his win” after the GOP health care plan passed the House, Cohan exploded:
Let’s be clear, he didn’t get a win. He got something he could claim to be a win. It is so far from being a win and so disgusting what he does by having a ceremony in the White House, in the Rose Garden, making it seem like he has a win. He does not have a win, he won’t have a win, but he’s claiming it as a win. And that somehow becomes reality.
Ruhle concluded the one-way partisan discussion by declaring: “Jeff Jarvis doesn’t get to win the preexisting condition battle because you’re on my show and I, too, have a preexisting condition, I'm a woman.”
Here is a full transcript of the May 9 segment:
9:40 AM ET
JIMMY KIMMEL: I would like to apologize for saying that children in America should have health care. It was insensitive. It was offensive and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.
STEPHANIE RUHLE: That, of course, was Jimmy Kimmel responding to critics on his first day back on the job after his passionate monologue about children’s health care. Kimmel took a week off to spend time with his newborn son, Billy, who is suffering from congenital heart disease. And during that time, Kimmel was aggressively criticized by the right for his plea for affordable health care coverage. But it does have one Republican, Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, applying a new test to health legislation.
REP. BILL CASSIDY [R-LA]: We’ve got to fulfill President Trump’s contract, lowering premiums with coverage that passes the Jimmy Kimmel test. If we do that, we get an American plan, not Democrats, not Republican, an American plan, and that’s where we need to be.
RUHLE: There you have it. Well, I’ve got Jeff Jarvis here with me, professor at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and blogger for BuzzMachine.com. My panel also here, Mike Pesca, Bill Cohan. Jeff, I want to start with you. We just saw a Republican say “we’re going to now apply the Jimmy Kimmel test.” Do you believe Jimmy Kimmel had a tangible – well, we know a health care bill went through – but do you think he’s actually had a tangible impact?
JEFF JARVIS: The night he gave his first spiel on the show about his son I tweeted, and that’s the record for all of history then, that he will save health care. I think this is a moment when, you know, it maybe a little late to it, not quite there yet, but I think that is a moment in history when we bring back empathy into politics. And also, note the power of comedy in this country now. The comedy does journalism’s job, comedy does politics and activism’s job, comedy calls B.S. what others don’t. And that’s what Jimmy Kimmel did and he made it personal and he made it human, and I think he’s – I hope, I pray, that he’s going to save health care.
RUHLE: Well, I want to share a bit more of Jimmy Kimmel pushing back on his critics. Because until now, when we have seen celebrities, movie stars sort of get political in the age of Trump, a celebrity politician, it’s worked against them to an extent. Take a listen.
KIMMEL: When I was a kid, we had like – we had to drink the powdered milk because we couldn’t afford the liquid. Our orange juice came frozen out of a can, it would squeez out. My father, on the rare occasion we took a family trip, would hide the dog in the back of the car and then smuggle it into our motel room to avoid paying the $2 pet fee. So, I have to say, my dream was to become an out-of-touch Hollywood elitist and I guess it came true.
RUHLE: Alright, so is adding comedy to this, is that why it’s gonna work here for Kimmel?
JARVIS: That’s the difference. He’s not a movie actor without a script. He’s someone who comments on life. I mean, we go back to – Johnny Carson had some of his impact, but Jimmy Kimmel is using it far more aggressively, and we need that today. And the whole range of comedians, I think, have made a big difference.
RUHLE: What’s your take?
MIKE PESCA [SLATE]: I think James Poniewozik in the Times put it well, what Kimmel did was experience politics as someone who’s not mired in politics experiences it. And we could relate. He’s the most relatable guy. You know, Colbert has carved out his very anti-Trump stance, which I love, and Fallon is not trying to do that. So Kimmel, when he comes on, has an impact.
But we can’t really run an experiment to see if you’re right. We can’t – we don’t have the test case. The first version of health care, the bill, got 17% approval. If it dies it might have died absent Kimmel.
The other thing I’d say is, I think there’s a big body of evidence that the best thing satire does is it provides everyone with an escape valve and that’s valuable. I don’t know how often it changes the policies of the rulers. I’ve read accounts of satire in Nazi Germany, and it went on, and sometimes people would be punished. But the specific kind of satire that works is not when you talk about a person or Trump’s coloration or the size of his hands, but talk about the direct failure of his policies. That satire works. But it seems like we have this broad array of “Let’s just make fun of everything that going on with Trump.” And I think that’s good for comedy, I don’t think it changes policies.
JARVIS: Well, there is a lot of material though. I think the difference is this, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert politicized my children, who are 25 and 20, and I think they –
PESCA: Jeff Jarvis’s kids were going to be what, neocons, without them?
JARVIS: Geeks and other things. They weren’t as into politics, right? Listen, hearing your father blather on doesn’t do a darn thing. If comedy doesn’t do much, fathers do nothing. So I think that they have the impact of mobilizing a generation and changing where a generation goes. And let’s not forget, it also ties into Twitter. The other thing that’s happened is the “I am a preexisting condition” hashtag. I mean I was there on Twitter saying that I’ve had prostate cancer and thyroid cancer and a heart condition, more than you ever wanted to know, but I’m out there in public, other people are out there in public, they’re going to be affected and hurt. Jimmy Kimmel’s out there, his kid has a preexisting condition for the rest of his life.
BILL COHAN [VANITY FAIR]: Look, I’m a big Jeff Jarvis fan, I follow him on Twitter, therefore it means –
RUHLE: I do too.
JARVIS: You know too much.
COHAN: That’s the reality, okay? But I just don’t feel – I don’t get these Republicans, I don’t feel it, I don’t feel that they care about covering Americans who need, you know, like Jimmy Kimmel’s child. I just don’t feel it. I think they wanted a win, they passed this cynical piece of legislation, they celebrated it in the White House Rose Garden. Now you’ve got this –
RUHLE: Could that be why President Trump has somewhat made it clear that he’s going to have now this hands-off approach now that it’s sitting in Senate? Because he feels like he got his win, he needed to get it through, now for the hard part he’s going to leave that to Mitch McConnell?
COHAN: Let’s be clear, he didn’t get a win. He got something he could claim to be a win. It is so far from being a win and so disgusting what he does by having a ceremony in the White House, in the Rose Garden, making it seem like he has a win. He does not have a win, he won’t have a win, but he’s claiming it as a win. And that somehow becomes reality.
RUHLE: Well, you know what, Bill Cohen? Jeff Jarvis doesn’t get to win the preexisting condition battle because you’re on my show and I, too, have a preexisting condition, I'm a woman.
