Getting the JB Done
You may have seen news coverage of the wonderful, very blunt speech that Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker gave in Manchester, New Hampshire on Sunday. (As much coverage as the speech received, it was hardly the first time he had spoken out as strongly against Trump.
Jimmy Kimmel had Gov. Pritzker on his late-night show as a guest on Thursday. Pritzker was terrific -- a bit awkward at first, not used to being on a late-night show, but quickly was thoughtful, pointed, easy-going, self-effacing, funny and, when the conversation went in that direction, as blunt about Trump as you'll hear any politician be.
A couple of digressions:
When I was back in Chicago, staying at my aunt's independent living residence, they had a guest speaker one night, MK Pritzker, to talk about her new history book. I knew there are a lot of Pritzker's in Chicago (I even went to summer camp with one...), I wasn't sure which one "MK" was, and didn't end up attending. (I may have had plans that night, I don't recall.) It turns out that she and JB are married, and she's the First Lady of the state. The book turns out to be a history of the governor's mansion.
And as a "Did you know?" off-beat tidbit -- if you've seen the 1997 movie Air Force One, the little girl who played Harrison Ford’s daughter, Liesel Matthews, is actually a Pritzker, one of the many cousins or nieces. I believe that “Matthews” is her mother’s maiden name, which she used as a stage name. And she’s actually Liesel Pritzker. Making this all the more amusing is that as wealthy as Harrison Ford no doubt is, she was not only the richest person on the set, but most certainly wealthier than everyone on the set combined. Her net worth is about $1.5 billion…
And as readers of these pages might recall, two years I posted the commencement address that Gov. Pritzker gave at the beloved Northwestern University -- and it was great. Extremely smart, wonderful advice, and very funny. He used as his theme "Life lessons I learned on The Office." And making it all the better is that one of the students graduating was Steve Carell's daughter. And he was there in the crowd with all the parents. If you want to see it -- and again, it's terrific -- you can see it here.
Anyway, back to the point of this is: Gov. JB Pritzker on Jimmy Kimmel's show. While they, of course, deal with politics, ultimately this is a late-night talk show, and the conversation is very entertaining.
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