Eternal Trump antagonist Jimmy Kimmel has stepped in it — again.
During a roast of the White House Correspondent’s Dinner on Thursday, Kimmel said Melania Trump had a “glow like an expectant widow.”
Two days later, a would-be assassin tried to storm the White House Correspondents Dinner in a bid to kill the president and his administration.
Surely, Kimmel, a person who prides himself on his humanity, would admit regret over such a tasteless line — especially given all of the attempts on Trump’s life.
Instead, he used Monday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” monologue to repeat the “expectant widow” line, trying to explain it away as a crack at Trump’s age.
Sure, Jimmy. It was an age joke. About death. Aimed at a woman who has seen her husband shot during a rally in Butler, Penn., an attack that killed an innocent rally attendee.
Let us not kid ourselves. If anyone made this jab about a Dem’s wife, there would be swift movement to yank that person off air. Can them like ABC did Roseanne Barr after she tweeted a racially insensitive joke at Obama Senior Advisor, Valerie Jarrett. (Barr claimed she didn’t know Jarrett was black).
But hey, Kimmel was really talking about Father Time putting Trump in an eternal sleeper hold. He wasn’t referring to the bullets from the gun of Cole Allen or another would-be assassin.
It’s always a good joke when you have to explain it.
This incident was reminiscent of when Kimmel continued to make the case that MAGA was responsible for Charlie Kirk’s murder — which caused him to be yanked off-air for a brief moment.
Kimmel can’t stay out of hot water because he is so blinded by his hatred for Trump, he’s become careless.
Even in his call for cooling the rhetoric, he shifted the blame to the Trumps.
“I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it,” he said addressing the First Lady in his monologue.
What’s so rich about it all is that Kimmel truly sees himself as the good guy fighting a “dictator” — every night from his late night seat where he reportedly earns $15 million a year.
He believes his singular and all-consuming crusade to take down Trump has been under the banner of protecting decency and democracy.
This sentiment is evident in the way he turned what should be a breezy and fun sleepy time lullaby for a broad audience into hard, partisan MSNBC-after-dark.
It’s in the way his wife and executive producer, Molly McNearney, spoke about their family members who didn’t respond to her unsolicited “Don’t Vote for Trump” emails.
In an interview late last year, she bemoaned her now estranged family that didn’t fall in line with the Kimmel household’s political agenda.
“It hurts me so much … my husband is out there fighting this man, and to me, them voting for Trump is them not voting for my husband and me and our family,” she said.
Yes, the Kimmels, who probably cut off every non-showbiz normie, live in their echo chamber where down-to-earth folks like George Clooney affirm their TDS.
Even Bruce Springsteen, who has devoted his final act to screaming about Trump, interrupted his No Kings show in Austin, Texas, to offer prayers of gratitude that neither Trump nor any of his administration were injured.
“We can disagree,” Springsteen said. “We can be critical of those in power, and we can peacefully fight for our beliefs. But there is no place in any way, shape, or form for political violence of any kind in our beloved United States.”
Trump is president and therefore fair game for a late night host, but when every line is in service of tearing down one guy, it weakens the impact of jokes. Or of deserved criticism.
“My job is whatever I decide my job is or whatever my employer allows me to do,” he told Michelle Obama recently.
He then invoked George Carlin and Richard Pryor, two great comedians who did not host network late night television shows.
Equally, I don’t like Trump’s call for ABC to fire Kimmel — because it only creates a stupid narrative that Kimmel is a free speech martyr.
Trump has bigger battles to fight than a virtue signaling late night host. But Kimmel does not.
It’s a shame because Kimmel was once very funny.
Instead, he’s decided pursuing a political grudge is more important than being an entertainer.
Whatever he thinks his job is, his act is wearing thin.
