Jimmy Kimmel returned from the holiday weekend on Tuesday night to weigh in on the surprisingly dramatic, if ultimately anti-climactic conclusion to Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial.
“Mitch McConnell tried to have it both ways this weekend,” the late-night host began. “After voting to acquit, McConnell gave a blistering speech condemning Trump’s actions and inaction. Basically saying, ‘Donald Trump is guilty of all the things I just found him not guilty of.‘”
Instead of giving McConnell the triumphant video treatment, Kimmel aired audio of his scathing speech behind video of a turtle eating a leaf, before joking, “It was the tortoise versus the crazy yellow hare.”
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Then, since Trump is “not allowed to tweet” and “has to write letters now,” Kimmel read aloud from the seven-paragraph statement the former president released earlier in the day. “The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political ‘leaders’ like Senator Mitch McConnell at its helm,” Trump declared, adding, “Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again.”
“Unsmiling,” Kimmel echoed. “Has Donald Trump met his wife? Melania hasn’t smiled since like 2011.”
“Now, I have to say, I think Mitch McConnell blew it,” the host continued. “This was his party’s best chance to make sure Trump never ran again.”
Finally, to bring the point home, he offered up an analogy for viewers. “You remember the end of Lord of the Rings when Frodo brought the ring all the way to the volcano and then decided not to throw it in? This was like a dumb version of that.”
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