With most late-night hosts on vacation, Jimmy Kimmel unpacks Donald Trump’s full pardons of fellow reality stars Julie and Todd Chrisley, among others.
Jimmy Kimmel
Jimmy Kimmel admitted on Thursday evening that yes, he is often critical of Donald Trump. But “it isn’t fair to focus only on the negative,” he said. “We should focus on the positives too. And today, President Trump showed that he isn’t just a dishonest, divisive, money-grubbing, golfball-pounding narcissist who cares only about himself.”
“He is also capable of showing compassion and he did that today,” because on Thursday afternoon, Trump granted a full and unconditional pardon to Todd and Julie Chrisley, stars of the reality show Chrisley Knows Best who were convicted of defrauding community banks out of more than $30m.
“He doesn’t forget his roots,” Kimmel joked of Trump. “He has a soft spot in his heart for fraud.”
The Chrisleys were out of prison by the evening and reunited with their daughter Savannah – a reality star in her own right who, as Kimmel noted, has vocally supported Trump. “The real reason Trump released the Chrisleys is because A) their daughter is good-looking, and B) she spoke in support of him last year at the RNC,” he explained. “Turns out that was a savvy move.”
The Chrisleys were not the only recipients of Trump’s convenient generosity. The president also floated the idea of pardoning the men who plotted to kidnap the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, and granted clemency to a man convicted of tax evasion … a month after his mom dropped $1m at a Maga fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago. That man, a nursing home executive named Paul Walczak, was convicted of stealing money from employees’ paychecks to buy a yacht, and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Kimmel noted the lack of outcry from Republicans over the clear pay-for-pardon scheme. “I don’t want to go down the ‘if Biden did this’ road, but the man stole from nursing home employees to buy a yacht. And do we hear anything from Congress? No!” he fumed. “That sound you hear coming from the Republican side of the aisle? It’s crickets, specifically the ones they feed Ted Cruz at night.”
Meanwhile, JD Vance continued his own money-making scheme this week. On Wednesday, he hosted a fundraiser in Las Vegas with tickets selling for $1m each. “I guess nobody told these guys that once you win the election, you stop asking for money for awhile,” said Kimmel.
“Imagine you have one night out in Vegas and that’s what you go to see,” he added. “If I’m paying a million dollars to see JD Vance in Vegas, he better be on that stage, pants down, humping a sofa while Celine Dion sings the Titanic song to cheer him on.”
