Jimmy Kimmel has trashed Donald Trump’s latest stunt: dressing up in an orange high-visibility vest and clambering into the cab of a garbage truck.
“Shouldn’t they have put him in the back of that? The garbage goes in the back – it’s confusing,” the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host quipped on Wednesday night’s show.
Trump rolled up in a white garbage truck with “Trump Make America Great Again 2024” etched on its side in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Wednesday in a bid to troll President Joe Biden and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
“How do you like my garbage truck?” Trump asked reporters. “This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden.”
The former president’s stunt took aim at a gaffe made by Biden on Tuesday, where the president appeared to refer to Trump’s MAGA supporters as “garbage.”
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters, his, his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American,” Biden said, while speaking about comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s racist joke about Puerto Rico at Trump’s rally.
Both the president and the White House later insisted that his comments referred to the “hateful rhetoric” at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally and not to Trump supporters – who make up almost half the electorate.
Despite Trump repeatedly calling the US a “garbage can” in his campaign speeches and Hinchcliffe calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” just days earlier at Trump’s major election event, the GOP candidate has latched onto Biden’s words.
“Over the past week, Donald Trump has referred to America as a garbage can multiple times a day. But now that Joe Biden used that word… he’s driving a garbage truck,” Kimmel said with a wry grin on his face.
“He went out and rented a garbage truck and put his name on the side. Shouldn’t they have put him in the back of that?” the comedian asked.
Kimmel also roasted Trump’s choice of attire – with the GOP candidate keeping the high-vis jacket on throughout his subsequent campaign rally at the Resch Center.
“He even wore a sanitation worker safety vest. This is not a picture we created, this is an actual photograph of Donald Trump,” he said showing a photo to the studio audience.
“It really brings out the orange in his face, I have to say.”
Kimmel suggested that Trump’s theatrics are an attempt to draw attention away from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s remarks at his Madison Square Garden rally.
At the rally, Hinchcliffe referred to the US territory of Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” – comments that have prompted backlash from the Puerto Rican community, and raised questions as to whether this will alienate Hispanic voters.
“While he might try and play it off and distract us, this garbage thing is a serious problem for him. He’s facing a firestorm of anger from the Latino population,” the late night host said.
“But instead of apologizing – which is not something he does – he sat down to talk about it with noted racial tolerance advocate Sean Hannity.”
In an interview with the Fox News host on Tuesday, Trump claimed that Puerto Ricans flock to hug and kiss him when they see him on the street.
“Every time I go outside I see somebody from Puerto Rico. They give me a hug and a kiss,” he said.
“Yes, that definitely happens every time he goes outside…” Kimmel teased.
Trump has repeatedly tried to distance himself from Hinchcliffe’s comments, claiming he “doesn’t know” him while accusing Harris of “running a campaign of hate.”
Harris meanwhile has also attempted to distance herself from Biden’s remarks, telling reporters on Wednesday that she would “strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for”.