Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel engage in bicoastal mockery of Bill de Blasio
"This morning, yet another new Democratic candidate pushed his way into the clown car," Stephen Colbert said on Thursday's Late Show, welcoming New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to the race — kind of. "You hear the hometown crowd warmly receiving that," he joked as the audience groaned. "De Blasio's announcement was met with a resounding: 'Really? Why?'" One poll found that 76 percent of New York City voters didn't want de Blasio to run, and "it's not like de Blasio's popular outside of New York City, either," Colbert said, pointing to a New Hampshire poll in which de Blasio got 0 percent support.
De Blasio's top campaign priority, at least as laid out in his launch video, is putting "working people first" — and Colbert finished his thought: "Except the working people of New York, because I'm going to spend the next two years not becoming president."
In Los Angeles, Jimmy Kimmel groaned at de Blasio's "Con Don" nickname for President Trump. "He really puts the 'blah' in de Blasio," he said on Kimmel Live. "Maybe he's running for president so he can get away from all the people who hate him in New York. I really don't know what Bill de Blasio is thinking — he has no chance of winning." He compared de Blasio's campaign to "the saddest birthday in town," with props.
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But it's not just de Blasio. "At this point, announcing you're running for president is like announcing you're running a 5K," Kimmel said. "Good for you. No one cares. Don't post pictures. There are now 23 Democrats in the race, and unless one of these guys has a dragon we don't know about, I don't know how any of them come out of this alive." Watch him switch to mocking another "beloved New York City politician," Anthony Weiner, below. Peter Weber
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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