Jimmy Kimmel Lays Into Trump Pardoning ‘1,600 Deserving Patriots’

Jimmy Kimmel
ABC/YouTube

What To Know

  • Jimmy Kimmel mocked Donald Trump’s reported plans to pardon a large number of allies.
  • He also referenced Trump’s recent posting of an AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus, highlighting the various explanations from Trump’s team after the image was deleted.
  • He humorously suggested Trump should become the next Ayatollah of Iran, arguing it would suit both Trump and Iran.

Jimmy Kimmel once again took aim at Donald Trump during his monologue on the April 14 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! The late-night host referenced a recent report from The Wall Street Journal that said Trump has plans to “pardon everyone in his orbit.”

Kimmel joked, “He has promised to pardon anyone who comes within 200 feet of the Oval Office. Basically, everyone but Melania [Trump] will get a pardon when he goes.”

He noted that it’s “unclear” whether Trump’s pardoning plans are a joke or “one of those things where it starts out as a joke, but then actually happens. Like him being President of the United States.”

During Trump’s first term in office from 2016 to 2020, he granted 144 pardons, Kimmel shared. “So far, not even halfway into this one, he’s already pardoned 1,600 deserving patriots,” he added. “Maybe he really is Jesus, you know? I mean, 1,600? That must be every pedophile he knows.”

The reference to Jesus was due to Trump’s recent posting of a now-deleted AI-generated image of himself as Jesus Christ. After deleting the image on Truth Social, Trump said he thought the photo was meant to portray him as a doctor.

“Even JD Vance wasn’t able to go along with his doctor storyline. He came up with an entirely different explanation,” Kimmel pointed out, along with a clip of the vice president explaining, “I think the president was posting a joke, and of course, he took it down because he recognized that a lot of people weren’t understanding his humor in that case. He was posting a joke, you understand? And like all the best jokes, it had to be explained and then deleted.”

Kimmel also joked about why Trump should be chosen as the next Ayatollah in Iran. “The problem is we killed the Ayatollah, or Israel killed he Ayatollah, but Iran replaced him with and even Ayatollier Ayatollah, and Trump doesn’t like the new leader they picked and we don’t like the leader we picked. So maybe, we can kill two birds with one stone and make Donald Trump the new Ayatollah,” Kimmel began. “We let him go run Iran and then we lock him out when he tries to come back.”

He went on to explain why the move would “make a lot of sense,” adding, “Iran has palaces made of gold for him to bulldoze and make golder. You have a lot of the same views when it comes to free speech, women’s rights. It’s a slam dunk. All he really needs is a beard and this war is done! I, for one, cannot think of a better way for Turmp to deliver on his promise to make Iran a living hell than to become their leader.”

Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Weeknights, 11:35/10:35c, ABC