Jimmy Kimmel scored a coveted (cough cough) interview with Donald Trump last night on Jimmy Kimmel Live. For those of you who did not stay up late to torture your ears and eyes with watching the nearly 19 minute long "Trump for President" commercial, view the video above, and this one:
At time it was pandering, with a long segment on Kimmel suggesting he be considered for VP and allowing Trump to go off on his conspiracy theories, at other times a bit snarkier with suggestions that Trump was really John Miller. But when you boil it down, it was really just a long commercial for Trump to try to connect with a segment of voters that don't really like him - 20 - 49 years old, college educated, women and men of all races that watch late night TV.
At times, Kimmel referred to Trump as a “tangerine-tinted Godzilla" after welcoming him as the “fire-breathing billionaire who incinerated all who opposed him to become his party’s presumptive nominee for President of the United States.”
At the end of the interview it seemed that Kimmel did a better job keeping Trump on his toes than any professional journalist had done so far, including that by Massive fail by Trump arch nemesis, Megyn Kelly. Turned out she exposed only her willingness to do whatever Roger Ailes said to.
One of the most "OMG did he say that" moments was when Trump agreed to debate Bernie Sanders for charity before the June 7th California primary. Yes, Bernie. Not Hillary.
But it wasn't due to his generous spirit. Earlier in the interview Trump got some solid hits at Bernie, saying that Bernie would be “easier to beat” than Hillary in the general election.
“Well, I actually think that Bernie would be easier to beat—even though he shows up a little bit better in the polls—and I may be wrong. But what I do like about Bernie is that, when he loses, because the system is rigged against him, totally—just the way it was rigged against me, I mean, the system is rigged—and if I didn’t win by massive landslides every state there was no chance I could have won. [Bernie] is sorta having the same thing… [Hillary] has superdelegates that were just handed to her. I don’t know how she got them. Nobody understands it, but it’s an unfair system. I think it’s very unfair what’s happening to Bernie Sanders, actually, and it’s a very unfair system."
But wait, Trump only likes winners! Unless they are losers on the other side who he can beat, right?
A funny exchange was when Kimmel brought up Ben Carson and the vice-presidential search committee:
“Ben is a great guy. I’ll tell you, Ben Carson is a great person. He is. He’s very smart, and he’s a very fine person. You know, I have Ben, and I have everybody looking. I have a lot of people I’m looking [at].”
"Ben was really up there [in the polls]." This brought chuckles; on what alien planet was Ben Carson "up" anywhere, except in his head was while he daydreamed?
Kimmel hammered him on the John Miller fiasco, saying that it definitely sounded like Trump to him. Trump did admit to using the name "Barron" but not Miller.
“To me, that didn’t sound like my voice....You know, over the years I’ve used aliases [Barron]… I would never wanna use my name, because you had to pay more money for the land. If you’re trying to buy land, you use different names. I actually used the name ‘Barron.’”
The topic of the discriminatory bathroom bill came up and Trump seemed to continue against the standard GOP narrative of "show us your penis if you are a man, show us your vagina to prove you are a woman."
KIMMEL: “You said, and I thought this was very interesting, you believe that transgendered people should be able to use whatever bathroom they want to which is contrary to what a lot of people, most people, in your party believe. Why do you think people have focused on that?”
TRUMP: “What really I’m saying is—and I think it’s pretty simple—let the states decide. And you know, we have to protect everybody. It’s a very, very small group. Right now, it’s a very small group.”
KIMMEL: “Would you say though, if you were voting personally or a member of New York State, you would vote for that right?”
TRUMP: “Well, the party generally believes that whatever you’re born, that’s the bathroom you use.”
KIMMEL: “Well, what about you?”
TRUMP: “Me? I say let the states decide.”
KIMMEL: “Would you personally support it? I think you do.”
TRUMP: “Would I support—no, what I support is let the states decide and I think the states will do hopefully the right thing.”
KIMMEL: “And what’s the right thing?”
TRUMP: “I don’t know yet. I mean, I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know… It’s a very….”
In the end, Kimmel got Trump to admit what we already knew, that he is full of shit. Kimmel brought up the fact that in 2008 and 2012, Trump had said that Hillary would make an excellent president. He said this:
"I’m a business man. I had a beautiful story recently where they said Trump is a world-class businessman. All over the world I’m doing jobs. I speak well of everybody. If people ask me about politicians, I speak well, so when they ask me about Hillary [it’s], she’s wonderful, everybody’s wonderful.”
“So you were full of shit?” prodded Kimmel.
“A little bit,” replied a smirking Trump.
Aaaand....[SCENE]
