Jimmy Kimmel has hit out at Donald Trump over his remarks about the Hamas attack on Israel, accusing the former president of making the incident “all about himself.”
After news of the conflict broke on October 7, the 77-year-old claimed that the unprecedented attacks wouldn’t have taken place if he were still in the White House, blaming President Joe Biden‘s Iran policy.
The real-estate magnate slammed his successor on social media, claiming: “The horrible attack on Israel, much like the attack on Ukraine, would never have happened if I were President—Zero chance!”
Trump, frontrunner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, has also been lashing out at Biden on the campaign trail, referencing the war with the militant group in his recent speeches.
Kimmel was disgusted by the business mogul’s remarks. During the Jimmy Kimmel Live show on October 9, the comedian said that Trump: “immediately found a way to make it all about himself.”
He referenced the social media post by Trump, eliciting laughter from the audience.
“If he was president, we’d all be blissfully downing jiggers of bleach,” Kimmel said, mocking Trump’s alleged belief that the chemical could help fight COVID.
“There’d be no war anywhere,” he continued. “Seriously, can you imagine anyone else in the world doing anything remotely like that?”
The 55-year-old then cut to a clip of Trump during a campaign speech in Iowa earlier that day, telling the audience: “On the day one of our closest allies is hit by the devastating terrorist attack, Trump is on stage talking about how much better his body is than Joe Biden’s.”
In the footage, Trump makes fun of Biden’s body in a bathing suit, calling the 80-year-old’s form “not a pretty sight.”
Concluding the segment, Kimmel asks “After all the dumb terrible things that Trump has said and done, could there be anyone left who still supports this man?” before sharing a snippet of a fan claiming that “President Trump works for God.”
“God is all about America,” the woman tells the reporter, who appears to be from right-wing channel Real America’s Voice. “He’s using President Trump as one of his tools.”
Kimmel shared a clip of the three-minute segment to X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, on October 10, where it received over 93,000 views and divided users.
“Quit crying commie,” said RealArizonaPatriot.
“Man you’ve turned into such a clown,” wrote Sam Dombrose.
“You’re SUCH A JERK!!! Why don’t you talk about how HORRIBLE @joeBiden is???” commented KimberlyDMarlin.
“The irony of using that as material for your own show is hilarious. Talk about utter hypocrisy,” said V224info.
However, other users backed the talk show host, with Sophie Persists writing: “Boy, you sure do trigger the MAGA snowflakes, Jimmy.”
“The wannabe dictator is the most self absorbed human being to walk on this planet,” said Heather On.
“If you support Donald Trump, you do NOT support Israel,” wrote @patricig3927, while Marie101 commented: “He’s so disgusting. It says a lot about the people who worship him. Ghouls.”
During his term, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal. An agreement between Iran and China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany and the European Union (as well as previously the U.S.), the deal placed restrictions on Iran’s ability to produce nuclear weapons in exchange for lifting sanctions on oil and other exports, boosting the country’s economy.
Biden has previously expressed interest in reinstating the original agreement, but progress came to a halt after Iran declared support for Russia in the Ukraine war.
During a campaign rally in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, on October 9, Trump told the crowd that immigrants coming to the U.S. are “in many cases, the same people that just attacked Israel,” and claimed that America’s “perceived weakness” during Biden’s presidency led to the surprise onslaught from Hamas.
“When I was your president, we had peace through strength, and now we have weakness, conflict, and chaos,” he told the crowd.
“The atrocities we’re witnessing in Israel would never have happened if I were president.”
The same day, Trump’s purported sharing of top-secret intelligence with Russian officials came under scrutiny once more.
The politician was forced to defend himself in May 2017, after it was discovered he’d shared details of an apparent ISIS plot with then Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a visit to the White House. The information was supposedly provided by Israel, with the report allegedly putting the close relationship between the U.S. and Israel at risk.
Newsweek has reached out to Jimmy Kimmel, Joe Biden and Donald Trump for comment via email.