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Late-night hosts blast Trump’s campaign as ‘soulless goons’ with ‘fascist rhetoric’

By Jake Beardslee · November 20, 2023

In brief…

  • Late-night hosts Colbert, Kimmel, Meyers expressed concern about Trump's 2024 potential bid
  • Kimmel joked about chaotic Trump loyalist appointments and Truth Social's $73M losses
  • Meyers made fun of Don Jr.'s real estate praise and polling of DeSantis-Haley "dogfight"
Late-night comedians Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, and Seth Meyers mocked and expressed alarm about Donald Trump's 2024 presidential bid.  CBS Television Studios/Wikimedia

Late-night comedians Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, and Seth Meyers had plenty to say about former president Donald Trump’s potential 2024 presidential bid and the potentially concerning signs coming from his campaign this week.

On The Late Show, Stephen Colbert delved into Trump’s “91 charges” and what he called “openly fascist rhetoric,” stating that “as much as all of us talk and think about this numbnut, every so often, it’s really important to, let’s say metaphorically, jam the sharpened stick of knowledge into the soft inner thigh of your mind and just grind it around a little bit to try to reawaken the horror of what our country would be like if this hate-filled dingus and his soulless goons ever got a hold of power again.” Colbert pointed to Trump’s use of language like “vermin” and his adviser Stephen Miller’s plans to place undocumented immigrants in detention camps as evidence that “Trump calls his opponents vermin, says he will crush those who disagree with him, holds on to power at all costs, would declare martial law to stop an imaginary evil cabal, plans to put people in camps.”

On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Kimmel discussed Mike Pence’s memoir Go Home for Dinner and joked about potential Trump administration appointments should he win in 2024. Kimmel also highlighted that Trump’s Truth Social platform has reportedly lost $73 million since launching.

Late Night’s Seth Meyers mocked Don Jr.’s praise of his father’s real estate acumen and got in jabs about polling showing Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis in a “dogfight” for second behind Trump in 2024: “And you can tell DeSantis and Haley are getting ready for a rumble because they both just took off their heels.”