You know what’s more difficult than believing whatever orange-faced lie Donald Trump utters? Feeling sorry for the ex-president because he makes it so darn impossible not to point and laugh at his current status, especially when he’s trying to make himself feel better by obsessing over Jimmy Kimmel.
After farting, snoozing, and being reprimanded for exhibiting his lack of social etiquette in the first two days of his hush money trial, Trump decided that what should take precedence over his ongoing troubles is continued stewing over Kimmel’s viral Oscar joke. The joke involved Kimmel reading Trump’s Truth Social post, which mocked Kimmel’s work as the 2024 ceremony’s host, in front of the audience. Kimmel then proceeded to question the timeliness of the post with the quip, “Isn’t it past your jail time?” This happened over a month ago, but that hasn’t stopped America’s first indicted ex-president from continuing to pout about it while also providing brand new material to incite collective eye rolls.
Here’s what Trump posted about Kimmel on Truth Social the morning of April 17:
“Stupid Jimmy Kimmel, who still hasn’t recovered from his horrendous performance and big ratings drop as Host of The Academy Awards, especially when he showed he suffered from TDS, commonly known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, to the entire World by reading on air my TRUTH about how bad a job he was doing that night, right before he stumbled through announcing the biggest award of all, “Picture of the Year. It was a CLASSIC CHOKE, one of the biggest ever in show business, and to top it off, he forgot to say the famous and mandatory line, “AND THE WINNER IS.” Instead he stammered around as he opened the envelope.”
Wow, sanity and grammar both took a hit there. For starters, it was Al Pacino who announced the Best Picture Award. As for the “big ratings drop,” the 2024 Oscars brought in 19.5 million viewers, a four-year high for the ceremony, and as for the specifically customized ailment, “TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME” seems to affect anyone who doesn’t yell “Witch Hunt!” along with the GOP election candidate. Meanwhile, the next half of Trump’s post strives to give new meaning to “exaggeration” in the dictionary:
“Supposedly his wife, and even management, begged him not to do it, “DON’T READ HIS TRUTH, JIMMY, PLEASE DON’T DO THIS,” they said. He was made to look like a FOOL, which he is, and at the same time go down in Television History as the WORST HOST EVER OF THE ONCE VAUNTED ACADEMY AWARDS!”
To be clear, no one “begged” Kimmel not to make the joke at the Oscars. Yes, he was advised not to do so by his wife Molly McNearney, as she was concerned the joke wouldn’t land with the crowd that evening. But even she has admitted that she was wrong and agrees with the reigning sentiment — that the joke was not only one of the most hilarious moments from the 2024 ceremony, but also a major highlight of Kimmel’s career thus far.
What triggered Trump’s journey down memory lane at the outset of his hush money trial?
Trump has been stuck on the Kimmel track for a while now, so we can’t know for certain what triggered this sudden outburst, but we can make an educated guess. Kimmel did keep viewers entertained on April 16’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live by delivering hilarious punchlines aimed at the “Stormy day” in Trump’s life, AKA the ongoing trial. The episode featured everything from Kimmel theorizing that Trump is so sleepy in court because his lawyers are probably tranquilizing him to poking fun at his sons that “Daddy is running out of money,” a joke inspired by the fact that the continuously decreasing value of Trump Media & Technology Group has majorly hit Trump’s net worth and booted him from the billionaire list.
Like most other things in his life, Trump’s priorities are as much of a dumpster fire as he is. But if he wants to oscillate between complaining about being under a gag order while violating said gag order and reminiscing on how Kimmel made this year’s Oscars successful by cracking one-liners at his expense, who are we to complain? As with certain other blazes, it can occasionally be a pleasure watching something burn.