American late-night television hosts have unleashed a fresh wave of satire aimed at Donald Trump, focusing on the former president's controversial suggestion of skipping the next election and the ongoing turmoil involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
Kimmel's Jenga Metaphor for a Nation in Turmoil
On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host painted a picture of a chaotic start to 2026, quipping that "all hell has broken loose" and if the situation were a game of Jenga, "there'd be blocks of wood all over the house." He zeroed in on Trump's threat to invoke the Insurrection Act in response to ICE-fuelled unrest in Minneapolis, joking that Trump "hasn't been able to get an insurrection for years."
Kimmel accused Trump of escalating tensions rather than calming them, sarcastically noting he "turns the temperature up on everything but his wife." He also mocked Trump's claim that protesters are paid, suggesting it's only because the concept of principled opposition is "incomprehensible to him."
Reacting to Trump's Reuters interview comments about potentially skipping the next election, Kimmel told his audience, "We can't have an election soon enough," a line met with applause. He dismissed press secretary Karoline Leavitt's defence that Trump was being facetious, retorting that "facetious" is "a word he can neither spell nor define."
Colbert and Meyers on ICE and International Farce
Stephen Colbert on The Late Show addressed the situation in Minnesota, describing it as "under siege by masked armed goons." He dryly observed that Trump's threat of the Insurrection Act was sure to "calm everybody down." Colbert highlighted a report revealing that a hiring error for 10,000 new ICE agents led to many being deployed without proper training, with a maximum training period of just eight weeks.
The host also touched on Trump's renewed interest in Greenland, which prompted NATO involvement and Germany to dispatch troops. Colbert wryly noted it was "the first time someone has said 'good news, the German troops are on the way.'" With Germany sending only 13 soldiers, he attributed the low number to "German efficiency."
Over on Late Night, Seth Meyers showcased a montage of Trump being booed, highlighting his "underwater" approval ratings. He focused on an incident at a Ford plant in Michigan where a worker called Trump a "pedophile protector," prompting the ex-president to respond with a middle finger and expletives. Meyers found it odd that Trump immediately assumed the insult was aimed at him.
Nobel Prizes, Healthcare Maths, and Alien Meals
All three hosts ridiculed the decision by Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado to give her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump. Kimmel imagined Trump "sucking on it like a pacifier," while Colbert called the gesture "so sad and so meaningless because he didn't earn it!"
Kimmel also fact-checked Trump's vague new healthcare plan, which promised price cuts of up to 500%. He reminded viewers this is "mathematically impossible," quipping, "This is what happens when your dad buys you your business degree."
Meanwhile, Meyers mocked Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins for claiming a meal could be assembled for $3 from a piece of chicken, broccoli, a corn tortilla, and "one other thing." Meyers suggested the extra item would be "a single french fry you have to wrestle away from a pigeon" and said the proposed meal sounded like "a meal aliens would bring to your cell after they abduct you." This contrasted sharply with reports of Trump hosting a lavish Great Gatsby-themed party, leading Meyers to wonder, given the book's brevity, "how did none of these people make it to the ending?"
