late night

Kimmel Mocks Trump’s Pelosi Meltdown—And His “Insane and Ineffective” Letter to Erdoğan

Kimmel wondered, “Is it even really a meltdown anymore? Trump didn’t have a meltdown; he had a Wednesday.”

President Trump had a very difficult day today,” Jimmy Kimmel told his audience Wednesday night. “He had a meeting with Democrats at the White House. He lashed out at Nancy Pelosi. He called her a third-rate politician. He called them communists. And he had what Nancy Pelosi described as a ‘meltdown.’ Which, is it even really a meltdown anymore? Trump didn’t have a meltdown; he had a Wednesday.”

The meeting—regarding Trump’s decisions in Syria—was the first between Trump and Pelosi since Congress launched its impeachment inquiry. Soon after Pelosi described the president’s “meltdown” to reporters outside the White House, the president shot back on Twitter, where he posted a photo of the Speaker during the meeting, captioning it, “Nervous Nancy’s unhinged meltdown!” (Pelosi responded by making the image her cover photo on Twitter, where the president would be sure to see it.)

“He really should be writing headlines for the Enquirer instead of running the country,” Kimmel said.

But Wednesday brought further alarming news regarding Trump’s actions in the Middle East, when a letter he sent to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan earlier this month became public.

“I’m not sure what this was supposed to prove, other than [that] he’s crazy,” Kimmel told his audience as he prepared to read the note aloud, “but this is a real letter from the president of the United States. We did not alter this in any way.”

The letter kicks off with the sentence, “Let’s work out a good deal!”—which, Kimmel quipped, makes it seem “as if [Trump is] running a Honda dealership or something.” Trump goes on to threaten that he will “destroy” the Turkish economy if Erdoğan doesn’t comply, and urges later, “Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!”

“He sent that letter on October 9,” Kimmel said. “Erdoğan immediately sent his tanks across the border—so it was insane and ineffective, which is the art of the deal!”

Trevor Noah, meanwhile, zeroed in on another subject on The Daily Show: the Trump children’s hypocritical criticism of Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine while his father served as the Obama administration’s point man on the country. “It looks very much like he got this business because of his father’s position,” Noah said of Biden. “I understand why a lot of people would complain about that. What I don’t understand is why these people are complaining about that.”

Noah went on to roll a couple clips of Eric and Donald Trump Jr. grousing over what would happen if they had done anything similar. But Noah countered, “If there was ever an example of people who got opportunities because of their names, it’s these two. I mean, Donald Trump Jr. just got paid $50,000 to give a speech at a college. If he wasn’t Donald Trump’s son, why else would they be asking him to speak, huh? To share his expertise on bad beards?”

“Even with their dad in office, the Trumps are still growing their business in places like India, Philippines, Indonesia, Uruguay,” Noah added. “They’re all over the world. It’s like The Amazing Race with no running and no chins.”

Why Reporting on Trump Is So Difficult

More Great Stories from Vanity Fair

— Our cover story: Joaquin Phoenix on River, Rooney, and Joker
— Plus: why a neurocriminologist left Joker completely stunned
— Charlize Theron’s transformation in the Fox News movie wows at the film’s debut
— Ronan Farrow’s producer reveals how NBC killed its Weinstein story
— Read an exclusive excerpt from the sequel to Call Me by Your Name

Looking for more? Sign up for our daily Hollywood newsletter and never miss a story.