David Letterman to Stump for Tammy Duckworth Next Week

CHICAGO, IL — David Letterman will be in town next week to help raise money for U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth as she takes her campaign run to unseat U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk into the home stretch, according to Michael Sneed of the Chicagot Sun-Times.

The retired late-night talk show host will be one of the guests at a Duckworth fundraiser Tuesday at Carnivale, 702 W. Fulton St., the report stated. The event is being hosted by State Sen. Bill Marovitz, who owns the West Loop restaurant that specializes in South American, Spanish and Caribbean food.

So why is the East Coast-based Letterman coming to the Midwest to support an Illinois Democratic candidate running for U.S. Senate? Duckworth apparently impressed the Indiana native when he heard her speak during a Martha's Vineyard event he attended at the invitation of his pal, Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, Sneed reports.

Recently, Letterman has been publicly critical of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who had been a frequent guest on both of Letterman's shows. His remarks — in a New York Times interview and during a New Yorker-sponsored event Friday, Oct. 7 — have come while making the press rounds for his upcoming National Geographic Channel series, "Years of Living Dangerously."

In the Times interview, Letterman admits Trump was an entertaining talk show guest who played up his image as a "big blowhard billionaire" for laughs. But as a presidential candidate, Trump is "a damaged human being" who should be "shunned," Letterman says.

"Nobody took him seriously, and people loved him when he would come on the show. I would make fun of his hair, I would call him a slumlord, I would make fun of his ties. And he could just take a punch like nothing. He was the perfect guest. …

"I kept telling people he will absolutely not get elected. And then David Brooks said he’ll get the nomination and he will be crushed in the general election. And I thought: Yeah, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. I stand by that. The thing about Trumpy was, I think people just were amused enough about him to keep him afloat in the polls, because nobody wanted the circus to pull up and leave town."

More via the Chicago Sun-Times

David Letterman in 2011 (photo by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff | Wikipedia Commons)

Like What You're Reading? Stay Patched In!

• Like our Crime page on Facebook
• Live Traffic and Transit Updates