Jimmy Kimmel on Trump’s speech: ‘Surprise primetime episode of The Worst Wing’
Late-night hosts discussed – or ignored – Donald Trump’s surprise primetime address and dug further into the explosive new interview the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles.Jimmy Kimmel opened his Wednesday night show with an acknowledgment of the president’s 9pm ET national address, also known as a “surprise primetime episode of The Worst Wing tonight on every channel”.Trump announced only on Tuesday that he would deliver an impromptu fireside chat during the season finales of Survivor and The Floor.“It’s weird to think that had a couple of states just gone the other way, he’d be hosting one of those shows,” Kimmel joked.“Trump shouldn’t be pre-empting The Floor.
He should be mopping it.”In a Truth Social post hyping up the address – subject unknown – Trump promised: “It has been a great year for our country, and THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”“I agree – the Epstein files are due on Friday,” Kimmel quipped.“Basically, the speech tonight was taking the stand in his own defense.It was opening statements.“It really is amazing that this fool is president.
”In other Trump news, the president recently unveiled a new “presidential hall of fame” in the White House, featuring highly politicized plaques offering a Maga interpretation of history: that Barack Obama passed the “‘Unaffordable’ Care Act” and was “one of the most divisive political figures in American history”; that Joe Biden, represented only by an autopen, was “dominated by his Radical Left handlers”; and that Ronald Reagan was “a fan of President Donald J Trump long before President Trump’s Historic run for the White House”.Reagan, as Kimmel reminded, died in 2004 and was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease a decade before that.“What was he a fan of, exactly? Trump’s Pizza Hut commercials?” Kimmel wondered.“What a sad individual this is.He knows, deep down, deep down in the pit where his soul should be, in that pot where all the undigested chicken and off-brand Sudafed piles up, he knows that no one respects him.
He knows they all just want something from him.And he knows the world is laughing at him, and that his brain and face are like a Creamsicle melting on the sidewalk.“It takes a special kind of lunatic to get his insults cast in bronze,” he concluded.“Can we please put this man in a home before he completely destroys the one he’s in now?”On the Late Show, Stephen Colbert tried his best to avoid talking about the 9pm “old grandpa ramble-pants sundown jamboree”.“We talked about doing the show live tonight to cover the speech,” he told his studio audience, but decided not to “because – and just to give you a little peek behind the showbiz curtain – we would have to have watched it.
And I don’t want to do that no more.”Colbert took issue with Trump announcing the speech “out of nowhere” with the promise that “the best is yet to come!”“OK … kind of a mixed signal to announce an emergency national address because everything’s going great,” Colbert said.“It’s like your mom calling and saying: ‘Hey honey, I know you’ve got work, but is there any way you could fly down here tomorrow? Because your dad … is doing great!’“It’s a really big deal for networks to just hand over their primetime slots on such short notice,” he added, “especially because here, at CBS, his 9pm speech cuts right into the middle of the three-hour Survivor season finale.Unless that’s the final challenge – ‘Survivors, you’ve endured starvation, extreme heat and poisonous snakes.But for your final challenge, you must listen to a bitter old man talk about a ballroom.
’”And on Late Night, Seth Meyers checked in on a White House in “damage control” mode after the chief of staff, Susie Wiles, gave a series of highly candid interviews to Vanity Fair,Among other things, Wiles said Trump had an “alcoholic’s personality”, referred to JD Vance as a “conspiracy theorist for a decade” and called Elon Musk an “avowed ketamine user”,Meyers claimed it was “weird” and “in many ways, it’s not surprising” that Wiles said such things, other than the fact that she remains working at the White House,“She said the president she currently works for behaves like an alcoholic, the vice-president is a conspiracy theorist and the most likely explanation for the ramblings of the richest man on Earth is that he’s on drugs,” Meyers laughed,Wiles also defended Trump’s friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, because they were “young, you know, sort of young, single, whatever – I know it’s a passé word but sort of young, single playboys together”.
“I didn’t think it was possible to make Trump’s relationship with Epstein sound any worse, but Susie Wiles did it,” said Meyers.“You’re not helping Trump’s case by saying he and Epstein were playboys together.That’s like saying, ‘Oh yeah, I was friends with Hannibal Lecter, but only because we’re both foodies!’”Meyers also mocked the article’s accompanying photoshoot, which featured high-ranking cabinet members, including Vance, along with Wiles in the West Wing.“They all thought they were going to look so cool, and while they were posing for these glossy photos, their colleague was bad-mouthing them,” Meyers laughed.“This is like if you pose for a high-school yearbook photo thinking you’ve been voted ‘most likely to succeed’, and then when it came out, your superlative said ‘most likely to shit his pants at lunch’.
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Boys to learn difference between porn and real life to tackle misogyny in England’s schools
Children as young as 11 who demonstrate misogynistic behaviour will be taught the difference between pornography and real relationships, as part of a multimillion-pound investment to tackle misogyny in England’s schools, the Guardian understands.On the eve of the government publishing its long-awaited strategy to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade, David Lammy told the Guardian that the battle “begins with how we raise our boys”, adding that toxic masculinity and keeping girls and women safe were “bound together”.As part of the government’s flagship strategy, which was initially expected in the spring, teachers will be able to send young people at risk of causing harm on behavioural courses, and will be trained to intervene if they witness disturbing or worrying behaviour.Keir Starmer, announcing the strategy, said: “Every parent should be able to trust that their daughter is safe at school, online and in her relationships. But too often toxic ideas are taking hold early and going unchallenged
Council funding deal: who are the winners and losers – and will tax bills rise?
English councils have received a new three-year financial settlement. But is it fair? Who are the winners and losers? Will your council tax bill go up, and will it stop councils from declaring effective bankruptcy?The government announced a three-year funding settlement for English councils on Wednesday. This sets out each local authority’s core finance allocation, enabling them to set local council tax bills for next April and finalise an overall budget.For the first time, government funding for councils was distributed using a new Fair Funding formula that gives higher weighting (and thus a greater relative share of overall resources) to local authorities with high “deprivation” scores (relative deprivation is measured by factors such as income, employment, health, housing costs and crime).Middlesbrough, Manchester and Birmingham were among the most deprived local authority areas according to the latest indices of deprivation – and they will see some of the biggest increases in spending power from April
Acas offers to help break deadlock in resident doctors’ strike
The conciliation service Acas has offered to help try to break the deadlock in the resident doctors’ strike in England.The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service has made clear that it is willing to become involved in an effort to find a resolution to the long-running dispute, as medics remain on strike for the 14th time over pay and jobs.Acas’s intervention comes after NHS bosses and the Patients Association in recent days urged the government and the British Medical Association to agree to independent mediation to break the deadlock.“Acas is in contact with all the parties involved in the resident doctors’ dispute,” said Kevin Rowan, the body’s director of dispute resolution.However, Acas quickly clarified its position after Rowan’s statement led to speculation that it was already involved in trying to broker a deal
‘Permanent winter’: a day in the life of a hospital dealing with flu and strikes
Thirteen ambulances are lined up at the rear of the emergency department (ED) of the Royal Stoke university hospital, Staffordshire, as Ann-Marie Morris, the hospital trust’s deputy medical director, walks towards the entrance, squinting in the low afternoon sun. Behind the closed door of each vehicle is a sick patient, some of whom have been waiting for four hours or more, backed up in the car park, just to get in the door.The reason they are stuck out here is that there are no beds in the ED – and there is not much corridor space, either. In the tight foyer, a cluster of ambulance staff and a senior nurse in hi-vis are huddled around a computer station. Behind them, a corridor stretches into the ward, where at least six or seven beds are lined up head to toe along one side, each occupied by a patient
Rights group challenges trans-inclusive swimming policy at Hampstead Heath
Rules permitting trans women to share female changing facilities and swim in a women-only pond are discriminatory and unlawful, the high court has heard.The City of London Corporation is breaching equality legislation by allowing trans people to use the single-sex ponds on Hampstead Heath, according to a claim brought by the rights group Sex Matters. It is seeking permission to challenge the admission regulations.Daniel Stilitz KC, for the City of London, said Sex Matters had “steamed in”, bringing a premature legal action at a time when its officials were actively consulting pond users on its entry rules.Public bodies are redrafting their policies on single-sex spaces in response to the supreme court’s ruling in April that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex
Will resident doctors lose support over latest strike? | Letters
“Striking resident doctors are digging in. History suggests this will go on and on” says the headline on Denis Campbell’s analysis piece (16 December). As a retired public health research and policy adviser and the parent of a doctor currently in core training, I agree that it is likely to go on and on – but not because doctors are stubborn. It will persist because the numbers do not add up and too much of the response has been political posturing rather than workforce planning.This year, around 30,000 doctors competed for just 10,000 specialty training posts, leaving thousands unable to progress
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