Jimmy Kimmel had a message for President Donald Trump after Republicans suffered major losses in the midterm elections: stop making excuses.
During Wednesday night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the ABC host went after Trump for insisting he wasn’t responsible for the Republican defeats because his name hadn’t appeared on the ballot.
Trump had written that if he had been running, Republicans would have won in a landslide.
Kimmel wasn’t having it.
“Oh, shut up. Just shut up, please,” he said, drawing loud cheers from the studio audience.
“I mean, give us a break for one day and shut that ridiculous mouth,” Kimmel continued. “You are such a spoiled child.”
The comedian accused Trump of refusing to accept responsibility for anything, pointing to Republican candidates the president had personally supported.
Kimmel singled out several prominent Republicans, including Ken Paxton in Texas, Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio and JD Vance, whom Trump chose as his vice president.
He argued that Trump’s influence had been central to the Republican campaigns, making the president’s attempt to distance himself from the results particularly absurd.
Then came one of the night’s sharpest lines.
“You were on the ballot. You’re like dog hair. You’re on everything,” Kimmel said.
“You’ve infected every nook and cranny of our lives.”
Kimmel also accused Trump of dividing Americans and suggested the election had brought together voters who wanted to reject his political agenda.
“The only time you ever brought us together was yesterday when we all teamed up to get rid of you,” he declared, prompting another burst of applause.
The late-night host wasn’t finished with Trump’s political allies, either.
He criticized Republicans who had defended the president through previous controversies, warning that Trump’s willingness to blame others for the election losses should tell them something about his loyalty.
“He isn’t just going to throw you under the bus. He’s going to drive it,” Kimmel said.
The monologue followed Democrats’ victories in both the House and Senate, which handed Republicans a major setback halfway through Trump’s second term.
Trump maintained that the results weren’t a reflection of his own political standing. Kimmel spent much of Wednesday night’s show making clear that he disagreed.
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