Jimmy Kimmel had a pretty perfect response to Donald Trump’s latest “joke.” I don’t think annihilating millions of Americans is a “joke,” but the pro-life right-wing media has somehow classified Trump’s disgraceful remarks as a joke.
During Tuesday night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Kimmel tore into Trump over his bizarre remarks suggesting that Iran could “take out” Los Angeles or San Diego, calling them among the “craziest” and most indefensible statements he has heard from the president.
But Kimmel also saw an opportunity to highlight the enormous double standard surrounding Trump’s comments.
After Trump’s remarks were defended by MAGA voices as nothing more than a joke, Kimmel reminded viewers of the outrage that erupted earlier this year when conservatives demanded that he face consequences over one of his own jokes about Melania Trump.
“So now it’s a joke,” Kimmel said, essentially. “Before, it was not a joke.”
He then delivered the punchline: “I’m going to report him to the FCC!”
The joke was particularly pointed given Kimmel’s ongoing battle with the Trump administration and the FCC. ABC is currently fighting an FCC review of its broadcast licenses that the network argues is politically motivated retaliation.
Kimmel’s larger point was that Trump’s defenders suddenly seem very comfortable dismissing disturbing presidential remarks as “jokes”—a luxury his critics were hardly willing to extend to him.
The hypocrisy, Kimmel suggested, is pretty hard to miss.