Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker used an appearance on Thursday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! to come up with nicknames before President Donald Trump could think up another weight-based putdown.
Pritzker, a Democrat, has in the past compared Trump to Adolf Hitler and declared on Thursday that “we’ve got an authoritarian in office.” The president, whose feud with the ultra-wealthy Pritzker family runs deep, has poked fun at his foe’s appearance in the past.
During a campaign rally in Ohio last year Trump said Pritzker was “too busy eating” and “wants to eat all the time.” He also said his fellow businessman would order “five burgers.”
Kimmel played a clip of those comments to Pritzker, who earned a round of applause when he said: “He loves to make fun of people in any way you can. Frankly, that’s how you know he’s afraid of you.”
Kimmel then suggested to Pritzker, whose family owns the Hyatt hotel chain, that they beat Trump to the punch and choose their own nickname.
Kimmel’s suggestions, which he pre-warned would be “mean,” included JB Pizza, JB Back Ribs, JBiggy, JB the Hutt, JPritz His Pants-ker, Pritz Crackers, Gov. Big Shorts, and JB the Refrigerator Pritzker.
Pritzker came armed with his own. “Because I kind of know he’s coming at me,” he said. “He didn’t like that speech on Sunday either so, uh, there were a few other Republicans who attacked me after that speech, they felt like I had impugned their integrity, their honesty… if they had any,” he quipped.
“So I have two nicknames I could think of. One is of course JBurger… because he did talk about me eating burgers,” Pritzker said. “Or this is my favorite, JBeefy.”
“But I think if we were to let America vote, I think JB Back Ribs is it,” Kimmel added.
Pritzker has been gunning for Trump since his first presidential term. He, along with other incoming governors, were invited to the White House to meet Trump in 2018.
He told Kimmel of his bizarre interaction with the president. “I have to say, I contemplated whether to go or not. I had run an entire campaign where every chance I got, in fact, I started a lot of my speeches by saying ‘Everything we care about is under siege by racist, misogynist, homophobic, xenophobic president in the United States.’
“Oddly, he spent a lot of time talking to me, you know, seemingly interested in being my friend, which was very odd.”
Pritzker earned the ire of the MAGAverse last week when he called for Democrats to take to the streets “so that Republicans cannot know a moment of peace.”
Pritzker’s speech, at the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club Dinner, “had the room ready to storm the political barricades against President Trump,” according to The New York Times.
Some Republicans claimed Pritzker was inciting violence, and Elon Musk posted on X calling his speech “crazy.”
The post ‘JBeefy’ Pritzker Gives Himself Nicknames Before Trump Can appeared first on The Daily Beast.
