In an Oct. 1 X post, California Republican Representative Jack Kimble accused the “liberal media” of biased coverage of the JD Vance and Tim Walz vice presidential debate, which Kimble claimed Vance had won. If you hear alarm bells ringing, that’s because Kimble shared the post a full 12 hours ahead of the debate and then blamed an intern for his mistake.
At a time when Trump and Vance share blatant lies about Haitian immigrants eating dogs and cats, Kimble’s statement and explanation seemed believable enough (especially if you’re in the tiny camp believing Vance would actually emerge the debate’s victor). It wasn’t even outside the realm of possibility that an intern would make a mistake when scheduling Kimble’s post. Even Canadian radio personality Dean Blundell believed Kimble’s version of events.
But there’s one major problem here, and it’s bigger than Kimble’s supposed poor timing: Representative Jack Kimble isn’t real. If it’s any consolation to Blundell, others seemed to fall for the supposed debate posts. User Integrity is Everything commented, “So you haven’t seen the debate but you write about the outcome? Unf**kingbelievable. Shame on you.” At the same time, others seemed to assume Kimble was a Russian asset. “So you sent your Russian propeganda out too early? Will you still get paid?” another comment said.
X’s owner, Elon “Free Speech” Musk, has been caught sharing parody posts without proper attribution, and according to a recent New York Times report, about a third of Musk’s posts in just one week were “false, misleading, or missing vital context.” In other words, this Kimble mess tracks.
This isn’t Kimble’s first rodeo
The Trump-Walz debate post wasn’t the first time a Kimble parody post fooled some folks. “This trial has been so unfair to President Trump,” Kimble’s account shared, referring to Trump’s guilty verdict in the Stormy Daniels hush money trial. “This whole time he was trying to prove his innocence, there was another team of lawyers trying to prove he was guilty. I thought this was America.” Though Kimble’s account is still lacking the crucial moniker of “parody,” it’s clear that he is not, in fact, real, though that didn’t stop Reuters from fact-checking his Trump trial update.
Political misinformation has become a significant problem in the United States, but even we have to admit that some of Kimble’s posts, like theis one trolling Trump’s $100k watches, are pretty funny.
Fake Jack Kimble’s X bio says he’s a “Republican Representing CA’s 54th Dist. & co-sponsor of Poe’s Law.” It then links to the book Detective Jesus #1: Thou Shalt Not Kill on Amazon. Kimble’s Amazon author bio says Kimble is “the brainchild of a Chicago school teacher,” representing California’s “faux” 54th congressional district. (California only has 52.) According to Kimble’s Amazon bio, he’s been posting political satire online since 2009. Jack Kimble’s official website says, “My campaign has been working hard to contact you about your car’s extended warranty.” The Kimble account has also come clean at least once about whether or not it’s real in a thread. Take heed, gentle reader: Jack Kimble is not real. Sadly, unlike dump expert Marjorie Taylor Greene, he is a figment of the imagination and nothing more.