Late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert were live on air Tuesday night to offer their live reactions to Donald Trump’s first SOTU of his second term on February 24. Needless to say, both late-night hosts revealed their best humor for the event.
On Jimmy Kimmel Live! the host described Trump’s State of the Union as an “angry” address, saying it was “like a Christmas message from the Grinch,” adding, “When you ramble mostly incoherently for two hours, is that technically still a speech, or does it, at some point, become a conniption fit?”
Meanwhile, Kimmel has a field day with the historic length of the SOTU, an incredible 1 hour and 47 minutes, which was the longest on record. Jimmy asked, “He’s probably still going, right?” before joking, “They do need to hire an orchestra to play him off like the Oscars. At the stroke of 90 minutes, go straight into ‘YMCA’ and end it.”
During the longest SOTU in history, the president told lawmakers “our nation is back,” while describing the US as being in a “golden age” on the year of its 250th birthday. Trump went on to discuss everything from his immigration agenda, to the economy, and the death of Charlie Kirk, whose widow, Erika Kirk, was in the audience.
However, Kimmel’s monologue discussed what he described as the “real state of the union,” which he said was being led by a “nutjob wannabe king.”
Not to forget Stephen Colbert, who also went live on The Late Show following the State of the Union, where the funny man concluded there “really wasn’t much new material” in Trump’s address.
The White House was quick to hit back at what Trump termed “late night losers.” In a statement to USA Today on February 25, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded to both Kimmel and Colbert’s on-air comments, while highlighting moments from Trump’s address.
“Last night, President Trump honored many great Americans, including Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe who was nearly murdered by an illegal terrorist and young Dalilah Coleman who nearly lost her life when an illegal alien trucker crashed into her,” Jackson said, about the West Virginia National Guard member critically injured in a fatal ambush near the White House. She pointed out that the attack was by Afghanistan-born suspect Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who pleaded not guilty to the charges.
“He also highlighted Americans who are benefiting every day because of the Administration’s commonsense policies,” Jackson continued. “It’s disappointing, but not shocking, that these low-rating, late night losers would dismiss and smear these patriotic Americans – these types of deranged takes are why no one cares about their so-called shows.”
Meanwhile, Colbert pointed out that the speech came during an important moment, as Trump grapples with low approval ratings. He said this would be unlikely to change anyone’s mind about the president and his agenda.
“It was a dark speech, filled with divisive lies, and it’s unlikely to win him much support with the voters who have grown disenchanted with the chaos and dysfunction of his second administration,” the comedian said.
Moreover, he also quipped about the theme of the speech being “America at 250: Strong, Prosperous and Respected,” saying, “If you have to say you’re strong, prosperous and respected, it kind of feels like you’re not.”
