Jimmy Kimmel fought back tears during his opening monologue on Wednesday night, as he lamented that Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential election victory marked a “terrible night” for just about everyone in America – and beyond.
In his first show since Trump beat Kamala Harris in the race for the White House, the Jimmy Kimmel Live host reeled off an extensive list of all the people and parts of society he thinks could now suffer under a second Trump term.
“Let’s be honest, it was a terrible night last night,” Kimmel, a long-time Democrat, said.
“It was a terrible night for women, for children, for hundreds of thousands of hard-working immigrants who make this go, um…” he paused, choking back tears and taking a brief pause.
“For healthcare, for our climate, for our climate, for science, for journalism, for justice, for free speech,” Kimmel continued.
“It was a terrible night for poor people, for the middle class, for seniors who rely on social security, for our allies in Ukraine…,” Kimmel added, once again tearing up.
“For NATO,” he continued, regaining his composure. “For the truth and democracy and decent and it was a terrible night for everyone who voted against him.”
Kimmel also argued that it was even a “disaster” for Trump’s most fierce MAGA supporters.
“Guess what? It was a bad night for everyone who voted for him too – you just don’t realize it yet,” he added, to applause from the studio audience.
“Most of all, it was an absolute disaster of a night for Melania [Trump, incoming first lady],” he joked.
There were, however, some beneficiaries of Trump’s win, Kimmel said, pointing to dictators, some of the world’s wealthiest people and Trump’s prospective head of healthcare Robert F Kennedy Jr.
“But it was a really good night for [Vladimir] Putin and polio and the lovable billionaires like Elon Musk and the bros up in Silicon Valley and all the wriggling brainworms who sold what was left of their souls to bow down to Donald Trump,” he said.
Kimmel’s analysis came as Trump won a historic second term in the White House in a shocking political comeback four years after leaving office.
The Republican candidate surpassed the threshold of 270 Electoral College votes early on Wednesday after winning several key battleground states.
Republicans are now eyeing an election trifecta with the Senate flipping to a GOP majority and the Democrats trailing in the House with several races yet to call.