Late Monday on ABC, viewers saw the latest instance of a liberal double standard as, if the comment below had been leveled against a female journalist, politician, or spouse would have fetched wall-to-wall condemnations. During his eponymous show’s monologue, host Jimmy Kimmel quipped that the “always-sycophantic” FBN and FNC host Maria Bartiromo had been “auditioning for the position of” President Donald Trump’s fourth wife.
And if that sexist smear wasn’t enough, Kimmel peddled a liberal media-fueled lie that First Lady Melania Trump hates Christmas while trashing her White House Christmas decorations.
Kimmel began the Trump portion of his monologue by mocking the “tiny little desk” he used to sign a Thanksgiving proclamation and that the “closest” thing Trump has to a dog “is when he feeds Giuliani a bucket of frozen mice.” Then came the pivot to Bartiromo.
Referring to Monday as “day 27 of squattergate,” Kimmel led into a soundbite from Trump’s interview with Bartiromo on FNC’s Sunday Morning Futures by complaining: “Trump gave his first post-election interview yesterday. He called into the always-sycophantic Maria Bartiromo’s show yesterday to make a cornucopia of unchallenged false claims.”
After the clip, Kimmel leveled his sexist attack with applause, cheers, and laughter from his on-set staff (doubling as an audience):
Yeah, when you get to his age, a lot of the conversation is about the size of your dumps. But Maria Bartiromo by the way — [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] I don't know what happened to her, but she appears to be auditioning for the position of Donald Trump's next wife. [LAUGHTER] Because that was some interview.
Ah, yes. Let’s boil down a woman who’s been a business anchor, correspondent, and host for over 25 years (and currently the host of the most-watched business news program), and the daughter of working-class parents to a housewife.
Imagine if a Fox News comedian said this about, say, Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris or a journalist like Dana Bash or Norah O’Donnell. The silence would be deafening.
As for the First Lady, Kimmel spent almost two and a half minutes furthering a debunked lie about her supposed disdain for the December 25th holiday and airing the first of two parody White House videos (click “expand”):
KIMMEL: Melania Trump today unveiled the annual White House Christmas decorations. She wrote: “During this special time of the year, I am delighted to share “America the Beautiful’ and pay tribute to the majesty of our great nation. Together, we celebrate this land we are all proud to call home.” Which is odd because one of the stories that got buried when Trump's tax returns came out were the tapes of Melania saying how much she hates doing Christmas at the White House. But now, she loves the majesty of America. This is a video the First Lady’s Office put out today, putting her Be Best foot forward.
[WHITE HOUSE VIDEO]
[Fake Ornament #1: “GET ME THEE F**K OUT OF HERE”]
[Fake Ornament #2 with Trump’s face: “I HATE HIM”]
[Fake Ornament #2 with train cars: “This Is Bull[expletive]”]
KIMMEL: Well, you know, at least she's having fun with it. Make no mistake about it. Melania Trump is not enthused about being in charge of Christmas at the White House. In the war on Christmas, she is General Lee.
Prior to a commercial break, he aired a second, which featured a narrator asserting: “Christmas is coming. The sleigh bells are ringing and the First Lady hates every bit of it.”
The narrator trumpeted a fake album Melania Trump’s Who Gives a F**k About Christmas Stuff” with “timeless carols” such as “F**k The Halls,” “F**k Thees Navidad,” and “the all-time holiday classic, I Saw Daddy Humping Stormy Claus.”
And yet, this was what counted as comedy in 2020.
This sexism was enabled by (and thus endorsed by) advertisers such as McDonald’s, Target, and Verizon. Follow the links to the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant ABC transcript from November 30, click “expand.”
ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live
November 30, 2020
11:43 p.m. EasternJIMMY KIMMEL: Can you imagine Trump having a dog? I can't picture him feeding anyone but himself. The closest Trump gets to that is when he feeds Giuliani a bucket of frozen mice. [LAUGHTER] Meanwhile, this is how the lame duck chose to spend his final Thanksgiving at the White House. He threw a world-class Trumper tantrum from behind a tiny little desk.
[TRUMP VS. JEFF MASON]
KIMME: Don't you dare speak to me the way I speak to everyone else. [LAUGHT] Sitting at a little baby desk screaming, “you can't talk to the president that way" is exactly how I want to remember this president. This desk he was sitting at has been used by many presidents to sign bills, but usually they're surrounded by a group of people, so you don't notice how little it is. It looked like he went back to visit his old elementary school. The last time I was at a desk like that, I had my head down and we were playing heads up, seven up. The future former president was also asked about his plan for his final turkey day in the white house, and that went about as well as you might expect.
[TRUMP VS. KAITLAN COLLINS]
KIMMEL: Oh, I'll tell you what happens. Next Thanksgiving, you will be at Mar-a-Lago still screaming about the election and eating creamed spinach alone. [LAUGHTER] We are now on day 27 of squattergate. Trump still has not made a concession speech, he continues to dispute the results of the election. Last night, he wrote, “NO WAY WE LOST THIS ELECTION.” We might to have to file a restraining order against him. Trump gave his first post-election interview yesterday. He called into the always-sycophantic Maria Bartiromo's show yesterday to make a cornucopia of unchallenged false claims.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP [on FNC’s Sunday Morning Futures, 11/29/30]: I was called by the biggest people saying congratulations, political people. Congratulations, sir, you just won the election. It was 10:00 and you looked at the numbers and I'm sure you felt that way. This election was over and then they did dumps. They call them dumps. Big massive dumps in Michigan, and in Pennsylvania, and all over.
[LAUGHTER]
KIMMEL: Yeah, when you get to his age, a lot of the conversation is about the size of your dumps. But Maria Bartiromo by the way — [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] I don't know what happened to her, but she appears to be auditioning for the position of Donald Trump's next wife. [LAUGHTER] Because that was some interview. This is interesting. According to NBC News, Trump underperformed in 25 out of the 30 counties where he held rallies before the election. He did worse in those counties than he did in 2016. I guess telling a group of people who are freezing their nuts off that your opponent’s going to take away their air conditioning didn't rally the base like he hoped. The state of Arizona certified a win for Joe Biden today. They also just finished the recount in Wisconsin. The recount in Wisconsin cost the Trump campaign $3 million dollars, and the result of that recount was Biden picked up 87 more votes. [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] [LAUGHTER] Money well spent. No president has ever lost one election so many times. [LAUGHTER] But he could be coming back for more. Not only is he reportedly planning to run again in 2024, he’s floating the idea of launching his campaign during Joe Biden's inauguration week because of course he is. I think he should do it at Biden's inauguration. At the inauguration itself, run up, grab the mic, and complete his transformation into full Orange Kanye already. [LAUGHTER] Melania Trump today unveiled the annual White House Christmas decorations. She wrote: “During this special time of the year, I am delighted to share “America the Beautiful’ and pay tribute to the majesty of our great nation. Together, we celebrate this land we are all proud to call home.” Which is odd because one of the stories that got buried when Trump's tax returns came out were the tapes of Melania saying how much she hates doing Christmas at the White House. But now, she loves the majesty of America. This is a video the First Lady’s Office put out today, putting her Be Best foot forward.
[WHITE HOUSE VIDEO]
[Fake Ornament #1: “GET ME THEE F**K OUT OF HERE”]
[Fake Ornament #2 with Trump’s face: “I HATE HIM”]
[Fake Ornament #2 with train cars: “This Is Bull[expletive]”]
KIMMEL: Well, you know, at least she's having fun with it. Make no mistake about it. Melania Trump is not enthused about being in charge of Christmas at the White House. In the war on Christmas, she is General Lee. But there's an old Trump family saying that goes nothing we say is true, so we might as well find a way to make money off it.
FAKE WHITE HOUSE AD NARRATOR: Christmas is coming. The sleigh bells are ringing and the First Lady hates every bit of it. Now you can experience the angst and fury of a White House Christmas, with a new holiday album, Melania Trump’s Who Gives a F**k About Christmas Stuff. All of FLOTUS’s least-favorite holiday hits on one commemorative disk, with classics like F**k The Halls, The 12 Days of All These S**t, and Who Cares That Santa Claus Is Coming to Town? Whether you are in the mood or not —
MELANIA TRUMP: I'm working my ass off on this Christmas stuff.
STEPHANIE WINSTON WOLKOFF: I know.
FAKE WHITE HOUSE AD NARRATOR: — and you’re going to appreciate it, damn it. With timeless carols like, If I Hear One More F**king Bell on Christmas Day, F**k Thees Navidad, What Child Is Thees, (No One Asks Obama!), and of course, the all-time holiday classic, I Saw Daddy Humping Stormy Claus. This holiday season, it’s Merry [EXPLETIVE] Christmas to you and yours and if you don't like it —
MELANIA TRUMP: Give me a f***ing break.
FAKE WHITE HOUSE AD NARRATOR: — Melania Trump’s Who Gives a F**k About Christmas Stuff.” Available where pumpkin spice [EXPLETIVE] are sold.
[LAUGHTER] [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
KIMMEL: Move over, Mariah Carey!
