Jimmy Kimmel sort of came to Donald Trump‘s defense after the former president was accused of using Nazi terminology. Although, by the time the late night host was done, Trump was more roasted than vindicated. Kimmel’s backhanded argument that the former president isn’t copying Hitler came while addressing Joe Biden‘s reaction to Trump’s increasingly antisemitic rhetoric.
“Biden, last night, weighed in on the furor over recent comments by Donald Trump vowing to root out what he called the ‘vermin’ in our country, which is everyone who opposes him,” Kimmel quipped. “Joe pointed out that vermin is a specific word with a specific meaning that echoes the language of Nazi Germany.”
Kimmel, however, isn’t fully convinced that Trump is like Hitler, and the late night host offered a pretty compelling case.
“I know a lot of people have been comparing Trump to Hitler lately, but there are some major differences between them,” Kimmel said. “For instance, Hitler was married to a woman who who loved him.”
After landing the zinger, Kimmel laid out his brutal argument for what he thinks Trump is really doing.
“I get why people believe Trump is intentionally using words that Nazis used. I just don’t agree that he is,” Kimmel said before dropping his thesis. “In order to know what words the Nazis used, you’d have to read, OK? You’d have to have some basic knowledge of history. Trump thinks Frederick Douglas is alive and doing an amazing job. He thinks Lincoln invented the Town Car, OK? He isn’t echoing Nazi terminology. He’s coming up with it all on his own. And you have to give credit where credit is due.”