# Jimmy Kimmel 2020? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 4, 2017, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954 "2017-10-04T15:04:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954/1 "2017-10-04T15:04:58Z")
If you had asked me a few months ago which TV host might actually be capable of a Presidential run, Jimmy Kimmel would have been pretty low on my list. But ever since his healthcare speech following his son’s birth and subsequent health scare, Kimmel has suddenly transformed from snarky host into the voice of reason in political issues. Good summary: [http://www.eonline.com/news/884580/how-jimmy-kimmel-ended-up-an-unlikely-hero-and-a-magnet-for-controversy](http://www.eonline.com/news/884580/how-jimmy-kimmel-ended-up-an-unlikely-hero-and-a-magnet-for-controversy) He clearly has a gift for humanizing political issues and presenting them in a clear, get-to-the-point way. So, any chance he can continue to look like a potential 2020 Presidential candidate? Stranger things have happened. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954/2 "2017-10-04T15:05:39Z")
I prefer my presidents to have some governmental experience. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954/3 "2017-10-04T15:46:38Z")
President Springer, then? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954/4 "2017-10-04T15:49:10Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I prefer my presidents to have some governmental experience. Yeah, we’ve already seen first-hand what happens when a novice gets the position. Kimmel is clearly smart and articulate. But, just based on his comedy career, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he has a few skeletons in his closet. OTOH, mastodon-sized skeletons didn’t stop Trump. I would also be stunned if he’d have any interest in the job. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954/5 "2017-10-04T15:52:10Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I prefer my presidents to have some governmental experience. Right. It takes more than “a gift for humanizing political issues and presenting them in a clear, get-to-the-point way” to do the job of Presidenting. If you really want a comedian for President, go with Al Franken. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954/6 "2017-10-04T15:53:19Z")
I suspect there are plenty of “Man Show” clips that would not play well to a Democratic primary audience. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954/7 "2017-10-04T16:26:55Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Right. It takes more than “a gift for humanizing political issues and presenting them in a clear, get-to-the-point way” to do the job of Presidenting. > > If you really want a comedian for President, go with Al Franken. Franken has proven himself to be a hardworking, intelligent, and competent Senator. I’d vote for him in a heartbeat. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954/8 "2017-10-04T16:34:07Z")
Please, no more celebrity presidents. ---
**Author:** ![RickG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rickg/32/5174_2.png) [@RickG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickG)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954/9 "2017-10-04T17:38:18Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > President Springer, then? Constitutionally barred. He’s actually pretty smart and solidly progressive, but he was born in London to Gernam-Jewish refugees (he lost grandparents in the Holocaust), and came to the US after the war. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954/10 "2017-10-04T17:43:14Z")
Good God, NO! I"m so sick of every celebrity being touted as a potential presidential candidate. Being passionate on health care is one thing, but it certainly isn’t the only thing. Al Franken showed the way to go from celebrity to a serious politician. I don’t have much good to say about Ronald Reagan, but at least he also didn’t jump straight to the presidency. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954/11 "2017-10-04T17:51:49Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Good God, NO! I"m so sick of every celebrity being touted as a potential presidential candidate. Being passionate on health care is one thing, but it certainly isn’t the only thing. > > Al Franken showed the way to go from celebrity to a serious politician. I don’t have much good to say about Ronald Reagan, but at least he also didn’t jump straight to the presidency. Yes, please. I would very much like it if our society stopped conflating celebrity + outspoken = let’s elect them!! Hopefully, our recent experiences will put pause to the notion in the future. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954/12 "2017-10-04T17:57:16Z")
I just think that the things needed to be a celebrity greatly overlap in what people want in president. Even Trump, with his negative charisma, knew how to play to an audience. In my lifetime, I’ve never seen the less charismatic, less people oriented person win a presidential election. People made fun of Obama for his semi-celebrity status, but I think that’s what’s needed to win elections now. Bill Clinton had the same vibe. Gore, Kerry, and Hillary Clinton have the personalities of wet noodles. Also, Trump isn’t bad due to his lack of experience. In that particular area, he’s bad because he refuses to acknowledge his lack of experience. He is a sub 100 IQ person who thinks he’s always the smartest man in the room. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954/13 "2017-10-04T17:58:01Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I prefer my presidents to have some governmental experience. That’s so 2015. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954/14 "2017-10-04T17:58:40Z")
I agree that we should be done with celebrity Presidents, but that’s the direction our cuture is heading, so we might as well get used to it. Until the political class gets its head out of its collective ass, a glass ceiling on how far career politicians can go is forming above their dishonest little heads. Now, Jimmy Kimmel: on one hand, he’s just not qualified. He gets talking points from others and repeats them verbatim, not even trying to make it seem like he has any knowledge of his own. On the other hand, he can recite those said talking points as if they come from his heart, which is a huge plus. The guy has Bill Clinton level empathizing talent. And although what I said implies that he’s a phony, he’s not. He may not have knowledge(yet), but he does seem to deeply care about certain things. So I’ll take him over Oprah or Kanye West. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954/15 "2017-10-04T18:12:27Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Franken has proven himself to be a hardworking, intelligent, and competent Senator. I’d vote for him in a heartbeat. In his latest book, Franken admits that he was a fairly extensive drug user during the early part of his run on SNL – pot, cocaine, and LSD. He indicates that he stopped using after John Belushi died from an overdose. It’s probably something that wouldn’t disqualify him among most voters who’d vote for him anyway, but it’s also something that will endear him less among conservatives (though, one could argue that they’d never vote for him, anyway). > **[As Taliban resume their offensive, Pentagon downplays US airstrike in...](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/national-security/2624669/as-taliban-resume-their-offensive-pentagon-downplays-us-airstrike-in-response-to-deadly-attacks/)** > > ‘MIXED RESULTS’: Five days into an agreement with the Taliban, and five days before peace talks are supposed to begin between the Taliban and the Afghan government, the United States is trying to keep the warring parties on the path to peace.“This... ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954/16 "2017-10-04T18:20:56Z")
I’d note about Franken though that athough he was a celebrity, he’d written three extremely thoughtful and well informed books about politics. I dare say that Franken understands things better than 90% of career politicians. We need more Frankens in the entertainment world. One idea someone should propose to him as a public service is training politically active entertainers on day to day governing, something which 99% of people who are interested in politics can’t be bothered to care about, even if that’s their job. One thing I keep pounding on day after day in political discussions is that 99% of what our elected officials do is nonideological, and how well they do that part of their job has a lot more to do with our nation’s success than whether we have a progressive or regressive tax system, or whether we have a big navy or a small navy. Al Franken sweats this stuff, whereas even most career politicians think that’s work for their underlings while they work on the “important” stuff. And yet when you look at who gets elected and defeated among incumbents, it has a lot more to do with things like constituent services in the case of legislators and basic competence in the case of executives, than their ideology. As a matter of fact, the most successful politicians convince voters they don’t even care about ideology, just “what works”. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954/17 "2017-10-04T20:14:55Z")
> [@OP](#): > > So, any chance he can continue to look like a potential 2020 Presidential candidate? Continue? He doesn’t look like one now, so he can’t “continue” to look like one. Why don’t we just throw in the towel, scrap the whole election thing and create a new reality show: _America’s Next President_ to get the job done. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954/18 "2017-10-04T20:26:15Z")
You’re going to look really prescient not too long from now. All it takes is like debating, for candidates to agree to it. Obviously we still have elections, but I can certainly see a “primary campaign” that involves several candidates on an island being voted off each week. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954/19 "2017-10-04T20:26:41Z")
News from today: Mark Cuban reportedly mulling 2020 run :smack: ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954/20 "2017-10-04T20:41:24Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > News from today: Mark Cuban reportedly mulling 2020 run :smack: So we’ve got Cuban, Oprah Winfrey, the Rock, Jimmy Kimmel, Kanye West, and Will Smith cited as potential Democratic nominees. Jon Bon Jovi also wants to get into politics, although he may start at the state level. I’d say something snide, except my party actually elected a celebrity President. And most of those potential Democrats are better than Trump. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-kimmel-2020/797954.md?page=2)