Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel delivered a somber and pointed monologue on Thursday, taking direct aim at former President Donald Trump and his administration's attempts to reshape the narrative following a fatal shooting by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.
A Monologue Born from Tragedy
The incident involved the death of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother, who was killed in Minneapolis. Kimmel began his show by acknowledging the difficulty of finding humor in the wake of such events. "This is one of those nights where it’s hard to do a show like this," he stated. "It’s hard to find things to laugh at and this is one of those nights."
He reflected on the constant presence of tragedy and injustice in daily life but posed a more profound question about the current political climate. "But what do you do when something terrible happens and a big group of people, including those who are running our country, tells you it didn’t?" Kimmel asked his audience. "They tell you you’re not seeing what you clearly see. Are you supposed to just accept it and move on?"
Confronting the "Baseline of Decency"
Kimmel issued a stark warning about the importance of acknowledging reality. "It’s important for us to know what happened and what is happening because if we don’t, it’s definitely going to happen again," he said. The comedian then contrasted contemporary responses with a past standard of conduct from leaders.
"There used to be a baseline of decency," Kimmel explained. He provided an example, referencing Trump's vitriolic attack on filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, following the death of their son. "Like when let’s say a beloved director and his wife were murdered allegedly by their own son, a leader would either say something nice or say nothing at all."
The Erosion of Political Norms
Lamenting the loss of this norm, Kimmel concluded, "Those days are gone. Maybe not forever. Hopefully not forever, but for now they’re gone." His monologue served as a critique of the Trump administration's spinning of the narrative surrounding the ICE agent's shooting and a broader commentary on the state of political discourse.
Kimmel's segment highlighted the tension between public tragedy and political rhetoric, questioning how society and its institutions respond when factual events are contested by those in power.
