Jimmy Kimmel has admitted his own role in “dividing” America in a 19-minute, last-ditch plea to Republican voters ahead of next week’s presidential election.
The comedian abandoned his “usual roast” of Donald Trump and, while he still cracked jokes about the Republican candidate, struck a more serious tone by making an appeal to GOP supporters on Tuesday night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live.
“We are very divided, and not just because of Donald Trump, because of people like – if I’m being honest – me,” Kimmel said.
“I do a lot of mocking and belittling, and it isn’t always productive.”
Kimmel urged viewers to share his monologue with people in their lives who are “either planning to vote for Trump or thinking about it” and urged them to watch the entire thing.
“I promise I won’t make you regret it because it’s not going to be our usual roast of Trump or some kind of liberal virtue signaling, none of that,” Kimmel said.
In his monologue, the late-night host asked Republican supporters to consider some of the statements Trump has made directly over the years, starting with healthcare.
Kimmel played a montage of clips of Trump promising to announce a healthcare plan, with the dates ranging from 2016 up until the 2024 debate with Kamala Harris on September 10, where he said he “had concepts” of a plan.
“Donald Trump was president for four years,” Kimmel said.
“You would think that at this point he would have some answers, some kind of plan, for simple questions about subjects like healthcare and childcare.”
He also slammed Trump for fearmongering with unfounded claims of forced sex change operations in schools. “I understand this is a tough subject, but this alarm he keeps sounding, about forced sex change operations, this is not happening. This is an imaginary problem,” Kimmel said.
In a lighter moment, Kimmel returned to more familiar ground when he joked that Trump is “the exact meeting point between Q-Anon and QVC.”
“You remember when Ronald Reagan was selling high tops in the 80s? No, you don’t because he wasn’t,” Kimmel said.
“Reagan didn’t sell sneakers, Clinton didn’t sell pork rinds, Bush didn’t sell baked beans, presidents don’t sell products – except for one who sells a lot of them.”
Towards the end of his monologue, the comedian turned to a wall full of photos of Republicans, including those from Trump’s first administration, who have backed Harris and abandoned their support for Trump this election.
“This has never happened before,” Kimmel said.
