The temporary redistricting measure.

Find out more about Prop 50, including how to volunteer and/or donate!

Jimmy Kimmel, a national hero in 2025…and also in 2017!

Video of that night’s monologue by Kimmel was viewed more than 14 million times; there were more than 230,000 Facebook responses. His advocacy was individualistic but also humanitarian: honest, sympathetic, principled, and clear-speaking. 

He and his show periodically revisited the issue while Congress continued its fight over the fate of the ACA. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, appearing on the May 8 Jimmy Kimmel Live!, described what he called, “the Jimmy Kimmel test,” where any kid born with a preexisting condition would still be able to get health care regardless of cost: Cassidy said he would only vote for a Republican bill if it passed the test. Kimmel responded, “Since I am Jimmy Kimmel, I would like to make a suggestion as to what the Jimmy Kimmel test should be. I’ll keep it simple. The Jimmy Kimmel test, I think, should be: no family should be denied medical care, emergency or otherwise, because they can’t afford it.”

The Congressional legislative battle swirled on, with different potential versions of a possible Republican bill emerging and the Jimmy Kimmel test widely recognized as an unofficial but key measurement of any proposal’s value and reach. In September, Cassidy and his fellow Republican senator, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, came forward with a bill of their own. In yet another monologue, Kimmel denounced that bill, as well as Cassidy, for failing to keep true to what the senator had previously pledged. Here’s a video of Kimmel’s Sept. 20th, 2017 monologue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOlibbx5sx0.

Cassidy went on various news shows to defend the bill; Graham called Kimmel’s monologue “absolute garbage,” and Trump tweeted away on behalf of the Cassidy-Graham effort. In a poll, voters said they trusted Kimmel more on health care than they did Republicans in Congress, 47% to 32%. Paying close attention was Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, who said on September 22 that he would vote against the bill, ending up casting the deciding vote, and thus the ACA was saved, though of course it continues to this day to be under assault from Republicans. Because he didn’t play it safe but spoke out fiercely in his humble yet indefatigable manner, Jimmy Kimmel saved untold numbers of lives. A comedian throughout, he was a national hero in 2017, just as he has been one in 2025. 

Of course, he isn’t the only one—anyone who in these days of duress speaks truth to power qualifies as being valiant, including those who protest peacefully in ‘No Kings’ demonstrations. It just happens that Jimmy Kimmel has twice been in the lion’s den and the public eye, and hasn’t flinched. His friend and fellow late-night host, Stephen Colbert, has similarly stayed the course; when Colbert’s CBS show was canceled under suspicious circumstances, with its run on that network now due to end in May 2026, Colbert didn’t knuckle under but continued to offer his style, wit, and sharp perspectives.

Trump had used his bully pulpit to speak ill of both TV hosts and quite publicly wish them off the air: a strange use of the awesome power of the presidency, to be sure. Recently, Kimmel told Colbert that he first heard about his friend’s show’s cancellation through a phone call from a mutual acquaintance, while at a “No Kings” protest, where Kimmel and family members were busy holding signs. Speaking truth to power doesn’t always happen in prime time, and that’s fine.

Uniting to Help Each Other

Sometimes, the worst of times and circumstances can bring out the best in people. That’s why we want to share a “resolution” from months ago that was adopted by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, concerning the horribly damaging and deadly wildfires that occurred in January 2025. This resolution thanked first responders who came from all over.

Of course, there have been (and will always be) other tragedies elsewhere. We’re merely sharing this one official resolution because it praises, gratefully, how people can and do come together—even from very far away—to provide helpful support to those in need.

We seem to be in a time when retribution is bragged about as if it demonstrates leadership. Hopefully, it never becomes the norm that it’s deemed OK to threaten and punish people and places over political or other differences.

America functions best when neighborliness and caring humanity are most evident, and any rude tendency toward divisiveness is put aside.

This resolution from months ago was adopted by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party; the California Democratic Party adopted a version of it as well. No doubt others found their own ways to say thank you—we don’t mean to imply that others did not. We just happen to know about this resolution, which followed the stylistic and formatting rules of the LACDP. If you’d like to share other examples of expressions of gratitude and generosity of spirit, please don’t hesitate to send them our way at info@fightingfirewithfire.org:

Thank You, First Responders to Our Wildfires

WHEREAS Los Angeles County, California, and the nation suffered tragic hardship, loss,

and devastation due to recent wildfires in our region, exacerbated by extreme winds and

bone-dry climate conditions—roaring winds and raging flames made fighting the fires and their spread a desperate life-and-death challenge over many days and nights, which is why all of Los Angeles, and all of caring humanity, are so grateful for the selfless and courageous efforts of firefighters (some of whom lost their own homes), law enforcement, and all first responders who came forth from all over the state, nation, and even other countries; and

WHEREAS huge numbers of individuals, families, neighborhoods, communities, homes,

and businesses were at risk under the most terrifying conditions; firefighters and all the first responders were a bulwark for everyone hoping for the best, and they did their utmost to stem the destructive and deadly chaos; and

WHEREAS fires rage, but so too does a spirit of community, and people from throughout Los Angeles County and beyond have come forth with generous support to try to make life better for those hardest hit—while there is much that needs to be learned and undertaken so that this extreme disaster might never happen again, even with climate change an ever-growing existential threat, a transcendent priority must remain the recovery and well-being of those who were most harmed in these fires:

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Los Angeles County Democratic Party salutes and

thanks all the firefighters, law enforcement, and all first responders and personnel who so heroically and tirelessly confronted the Palisades, Eaton, and related wildfires—we are forever grateful; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Los Angeles County Democratic Party stands with the people of Pacific Palisades, Altadena, and all communities that were harmed or in harm’s way, and strongly supports short- and long-term efforts that are urgently needed to assist them.

Two Themes, One County

Issues of the day can pop up anytime, but that doesn’t mean their underlying themes haven’t been around for years or even centuries, bedeviling and defining our nation.

Two such themes will be at the core of constant Fighting Fire With Fire consideration. One is the use of national or nationalized military force in local jurisdictions; the other is the forced separation of families, often including children.

Sometimes both themes are embodied in something happening in the here and now, a vivid and terrifying example being the September 30 ICE raid on a South Shore apartment building in Chicago, where agents from ICE, the FBI, and other agencies, with helicopters, flash grenades, handcuffs, and of course guns, stormed the building, broke down doors, zip-tied and held U.S. citizens, including children, for hours without explanation. Trucks and military-style vans were used to separate parents from their children, leaving deep trauma to be overcome when those who were wrongfully treated were finally released and restored to freedom. Is that liberty and justice for all?

In 2025, the Trump administration has been sending troops into blue cities and states without asking their elected representatives whether that is warranted or welcome, leading to significant legal challenges that are yet to play out. There has been a wholesale lack of consultation, just the imposition of military troops and arms based on makeshift claims that trivialize what, by our nation’s standards, is as momentous an action as a government can take.

What is remarkable is how this issue is so fundamental to the birth of this nation, since probably nothing angered the colonists more than British troops being imposed on them without their having any say. If anything lit the fuse to start the American Revolution, that was it, and that tension has stayed with us ever since.

That does not mean everyone agreed; certainly, back then, there were “Loyalists” who wanted the Redcoat soldiers to be an occupying force in Philadelphia or New York or wherever, and arguments over what constitutes proper force and what constitutes tyranny predated the Revolution and have continued ever since.

The separation of families, and the desire for reunification, is part of American tragic lore, myth, and reality, evident in countless variations. Of course, there are the policies of forced separation at the border, an often militaristic strategy now being employed throughout the land, seemingly more about getting people away from this country and their loved ones and neighbors than about targeting the worst of the worst. But it is also the John Wayne character in The Searchersspending years hunting for his niece, or Dorothy wanting to get back home to Kansas from Oz, or Charles Foster Kane (Citizen Kane) being given away by his parents and forever suffering a lack no matter how rich his fortune; or those taken away and held in U.S. Indian boarding schools; or the countless enslaved who were removed against their will from spouses, parents, or children; or Emmett Till, removed by murder from his mother, Mamie; or the young trafficked by Epstein. The list, and the pain, go on and on.

Please feel free to contact info@fightingfirewithfire.org with suggestions regarding experts to interview, topics to cover, articles to undertake, or solutions to consider involving those two themes or any other subject of concern.

Fighting Fire With Fire, Political  I.D. #1483547