Donald Trump was already getting an earful from nearly all of the media when he took two days to denounce Nazis and white supremacists by name following the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. Yet, his unhinged press conference Tuesday evening, during which the president backtracked his condemnation and tried to morally equate racial hatred with anti-racist activism, immediately sparked a flurry of news responses. Politicians, pundits and late night personalities were the first to join in, but Jimmy Kimmel took it all a step further when he responded to Trump fans decrying his monologue on Facebook.
“I want to apologize in advance because we had so much fun stuff planned for you tonight,” the Jimmy Kimmel Live host began. “I even thought, ‘Hey maybe we won’t talk about Donald Trump much tonight. And then he opened his mouth and all manner of stupid came out. And I am not joking when I say that I would feel more comfortable if Cersei Lannister was running this country at this point.”
Before showing the audience a few choice clips from the press conference, Kimmel quipped, “I feel like I can say this with reasonable certainty. The president is completely unhinged. The wheels are off the wagon and hurtling towards the moon right now.” But it was what the comedian had to say to the “very fine people on the Trump side” of the president’s “both sides” comments — after recounting the election and the past seven months — that irritated Kimmel’s detractors the most.
“The truth is, deep down inside, you know you picked the wrong guy. And it isn’t getting better, it’s getting worse. So you can do one of two things,” he said. “You can dig in like Chris Christie at a hometown buffet, or you can treat this situation like you would if you put Star Wars wallpaper up in the kitchen. ‘Alright, I got caught up. I was excited. I made a mistake. And now it needs to go.’ Well now he does need to go, so it’s time for especially those of you who voted for him to tell him to go.”
Needless to say, the many pro-Trump trolls that comb the annals of social media weren’t too pleased with Kimmel’s monologue, and they let him know (in droves) on his Facebook page. Kimmel then copy and pasted the same concise answer in response to almost every single one of the Trump fans who didn’t like his video: “you are a stupid person.”
If the late night talk show gig ultimately doesn’t work out for Kimmel, he definitely has a bright future as a social media manager should he opt for a career swap.