A social media post from a “California congressman” had diehard MAGA figures foaming at the mouth Saturday as they demanded he resign, only to learn hours later that he was not a real person.
“Rep. Jack Kimble” had sent Donald Trump supporters into a tailspin with an X post lamenting that he earns less than $200,000 a year despite “working nearly 140 days,” threatening to leave Congress if he isn’t “properly compensated” or allowed to trade stocks.
A MAGA congressional candidate was among those to fall for the ruse.
“WOW. A Californian congressman really said this. As if to justify their rampant personal corruption,” Marcie Everhart fumed in a since-deleted post.
Everhart, who describes herself as a “hardcore America-First” candidate in the primary for Oklahoma’s fourth district, pointed to Kimble as exactly why she was running for office.
“These jackwagons need to get out of the way for the wave of America First patriots like me EN ROUTE NOW,” she wrote.
MAGA influencer Bethany O’Leary also amplified the scandal.
“The average American GRINDS 260+ days a year for a fraction of that, pays your salary with their taxes, and somehow doesn’t threaten the country like a whiny toddler when they don’t get a raise,“ she wrote.
“The real threat isn’t you leaving. It’s that entitled clowns like YOU are still there in the first place, living better than the people you claim to serve!!!! Stay. Quit. Rot in the private sector. America will be just fine without another swamp parasite.”
O’Leary wasn’t the only MAGA mind who fell for the posts, which included a picture of a large steak at a high-end restaurant with the caption, “Notice what you don’t see—an appetizer #letustrade"
MAGA megaphone Gunther Eagleman reposted one of Kimble’s posts with the caption “Jack should resign.” He later deleted it.
As Kimble’s post started to go viral, a community note was finally added clarifying that there is no 54th congressional district in California and no such congressman.
The only things that were true about the series of posts Kimble made was the base salary of a congressman and the comments by Speaker Mike Johnson just over a year ago, the apparent inspiration for the satirical spree.
The Johnson video taken at a press conference last May showed his response when he was asked about a plan to ban members of Congress from trading stocks and potentially benefitting from insider information.
In it, he says: “I don’t think we should have any appearance of impropriety, but the other side of it, some people say, is well, look, the salary of congress has been frozen since 2009...over time, if you stay on this trajectory, you’re going to have less qualified people who are willing to make the extreme sacrifice to run for congress.”
The video began to resurface on the one-year anniversary of the statement, May 14. It has gathered steam since then and has been circulating online as Americans grapple with high inflation and skyrocketing gas prices.
Not everyone fell for Kimble’s ruse. One user pointed out that to resign, he’d have to be elected first.
After the dust settled, Kimble issued another satirical post to apologize for the initial message that prompted an uproar.
“Evidently, when I was enjoying the weekend, my staffers went a little crazy. I told them to echo Mike Johnson, but this is tone deaf entitled stuff and there’s no excuse for it,” he wrote.
Separately, he said the controversial Johnson video was just a “deep fake” that had made all lawmakers “look bad,” adding: “I hope Kash Patel will investigate and hold them accountable.”
