Jimmy Kimmel responded directly to Melania Trump during his opening monologue on Monday night after the First Lady called for his firing: "I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do. And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it."
"You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and the First Lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired from your job? We've all been there, right? What a day.
"As you know, they had to cancel the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington on Saturday night after a man with multiple guns and knives crashed the party and may have shot a Secret Service officer. Fortunately, the guy was wearing a bulletproof vest and is okay. He was charged today. No one was hurt, thank goodness. A lot of people were shaken up on a night that is supposed to be light-hearted.
"The White House Correspondents' Dinner, if you don't know, it used to be an annual event before Trump showed up, but every year they'd have a comedian roast the room. The President, the Vice President, members of the press—everybody got roasted. I did it once; I hosted it. It was a lot of fun.
"But this year they said, 'No comedian. We're bringing in a mentalist instead.' So on Thursday, three days before the event, in order to keep that cherished tradition alive, I did my own version of the correspondents' dinner on my show. I put on a tuxedo. We pretended we had an audience of luminaries. We used old footage of the Trumps, of Pete Hegseth, J.D. Vance, Kid Rock, Vanilla Ice, all the members of his cabinet, and we made it seem like they were all together in a room. We had a little roast.
"Again, this was Thursday, and there was no big reaction to it until this morning when I greeted the day facing yet another Twitter vomit storm, and a call to fire me from our First Lady, Melania Trump, saying I should be fired because of a joke I made, again, five nights ago.
"It was a pretend roast. I said, 'Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at her. So beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.' Which obviously was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they're together. It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he's almost 80 and she's younger than I am. It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination, and they know that. I've been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence in particular.
"But I understand that the First Lady had a stressful experience over the weekend, and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house. And also, I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do. And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it... because, by the way, I also should point out: Donald Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants to say, as are you, and as am I, as are all of us. Because under the First Amendment, we have as Americans a right to free speech."
The irony is almost painful.
For years the Kremlin has portrayed Russia as a misunderstood victim surrounded by enemies.
Now one of its top propagandists is describing a country isolated behind fences, trapped in its own fears, and wondering why the world keeps its distance.
Sometimes the most accurate criticism of Russia comes from Russians who don’t realize they’re talking about Russia.
The most dangerous moments in history rarely begin with tanks in the streets.
They begin when millions convince themselves that every new outrage is temporary, every abuse of power is justified, and every warning is an overreaction.
Years later, people look around and wonder when the line was crossed.
The truth is they watched it happen in real time.
And applauded.
Richard Gere on Trump: “We’re living in the darkest moment that I’ve experienced on this planet. Whoever thought America could turn like this? Whoever thought that a maniac like this would be president and dismantle all the good things? America’s never been a perfect place, but it has a perfect ideal. First day this guy dismantled almost everything that was good about the US government and people”
A zoo curator in Bangladesh was fired after placing a sign reading “Donald Trump” on the enclosure of a 1,500-pound albino buffalo.
https://t.co/pDaGSUPSjU
Congratulations to @DebHaalandNM for winning last night's primary to be New Mexico's next governor. If elected, she'll continue to make history as the first Native American woman to serve as a governor anywhere in America. Onward!
This is the latest Trump corruption to push back on.
He's gotten the attorney general to exempt him from the tax laws that govern everyone else—including other presidents.
Bill and I released 30+ years of tax returns and were audited a few times! https://t.co/6JiiVjIv3F
Look at Donny Shakespeare, he didn’t even read this, never mind write it. Thank you for your attention to this matter whilst I take another cognitive exam.