Trump is visiting, ostensibly, to review the damage caused by the devastating wildfires. But like pretty much all Republicans, he has also responded to them with incredible cruelty and petty bitterness. That includes using the fires as an excuse to say bigoted things, spreading conspiracy theories and attempting to punish California for being a blue state by holding aid hostage — which, of course, is par for the course.

So it makes perfect sense that Kimmel during his monologue on Thursday lamented that the president is actually on his way “to blame us for the fires in person.”

“It’s the first time in history that a natural disaster will be visited by an even bigger natural disaster,” Kimmel joked. “He’s coming to, I guess to survey the damage and meet with the governor, mostly to get away from Elon for a couple of days.”

“You know, we knew Donald Trump was gonna be terrible. When I say ‘we,’ I mean, you know, ‘us’  here in the room. But what we didn’t know? He would be so terrible that he would actually threaten to not help us in an emergency situation if he doesn’t get what he wants,” he said, at which point he played a clip of Trump doing just that.

“Great point Jacques-Off Cousteau,” Kimmel retorted. “He is so ridiculous. And we have to sit around with the place on fire, hoping he gives us our own money back.” This was a reference to the very real fact that the vast majority of taxes come from blue states, especially California, and get sent to red states.

“Trump and his minions are planning to leverage any federal aid that they might give to force us to help him round up and deport our neighbors,” Kimmel explained, referring to their racist demands that California cooperate with unconstitutional treatment of immigrants or lose federal disaster aid.
 
“As if we’re Eric and he’s cutting off our allowance to teach us some kind of a lesson. Which, on one hand you might think, ‘Wow, what a truly — only a despicable human being would use disaster relief money as a bargaining chip,’ but on the other hand… there is no other hand.  It’s just that hand,” Kimmel declared. “It’s just that grubby, grabby little hand of his.”

It should be noted that blue state leaders and Democrats have never demanded that disaster aid be withheld from red states in retaliation for racist, anti-democratic or similar policies that are nearly ubiquitous in states controlled by Republicans.

The post Jimmy Kimmel Jokes Trump Is Coming to LA to ‘Blame Us for the Fires in Person’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

In response to a series of tired puns Musk made referencing infamous Third Reich figures, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said, “We’ve said it hundreds of times before and we will say it again: the Holocaust was a singularly evil event, and it is inappropriate and offensive to make light of it. Elon Musk, the Holocaust is not a joke.”

Musk shocked many viewers Monday when he capped off a televised speech during Donald Trump’s inaugural event by putting his right hand to his chest, and then forcefully — to the point of grunting with exertion — extended his arm straight out, palm down, fingers straight. He then repeated the gesture, which immediately drew widespread condemnation for its resemblance to the Nazi salute.

While Musk subsequently complained that the criticism, which he dismissed as “everyone is Hitler,” is “sooo tired” and “dirty tricks,” he has not as of this writing specifically denied the accusations that the gesture was a Nazi salute.

Others have taken the liberty of denying this for him however, including the ADL. In a statement issued shortly after the incident, the group decried the influence of social media and insisted Musk “made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute. “In this moment,” ADL added, “all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath. This is a new beginning. Let’s hope for healing and work toward unity in the months and years ahead.”

Skip ahead to Thursday, when Musk, referencing the accusations, posted, “Don’t say Hess to Nazi accusations! Some people will Goebbels anything down! Stop Gőring your enemies! His pronouns would’ve been He/Himmler! Bet you did nazi that coming.”

The late night hosts have had plenty of fodder to work with since the gesture Monday afternoon. On Wednesday night, Seth Meyers not only went after Musk for the questionable gesture but also cracked off a joke at the ADL for initially giving the billionaire the benefit of the doubt.

“It does help answer the question, ‘What do you get for the man who has everything?’ The benefit of the doubt!” Meyers said. “So I’m going to take that advice. I mean, who among us hasn’t sieged when we were trying to zag?”

The post ADL Rebukes Elon Musk for Nazi Jokes Just Days After Downplaying His Nazi Salute Controversy appeared first on TheWrap.

Following the clip, Chieng grabbed his stack of papers and furiously wrote, mimicking Trump, “New executive order: We are banning church!” The recurring “Daily Show” star then turned his sarcasm on Budde, jokingly reminding her, “We don’t go to church to hear a lecture about having mercy on the less fortunate. That’s not what church is for!” Trump, Chieng asserted, only showed up in the first place because he heard there would be “free crackers.”  

“He was probably looking up at Jesus on the cross and thinking, ‘Hey, you and me both, brother,'” Chieng continued. “To be fair, I mean, can you imagine going to church and the pastor is only addressing you?” The comedian and actor, of course, noted that there are many public figures who are angry at the president right now. “Trump was also getting yelled at by everyone just because he released hundreds of violent insurrectionists back into the streets or something,” Chieng noted, referencing Trump’s sweeping executive order pardoning those involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

You can watch the full segment below.

“The Daily Show” spent several minutes of its Wednesday show taking aim as well at the Republican representatives who have avoided commenting substantially on the president’s Jan. 6 decision by claiming that they “haven’t seen” or “didn’t see” the actions of those pardoned. “Daily Show” correspondent Troy Iwata jokingly explained that this isn’t because the figures in question are trying to dodge reporters’ questions but because they “actually have medical conditions that literally make it impossible for them to see the Jan. 6 footage.”

“[Alabama senator] Tommy Tuberville actually has that disease from ‘Memento,'” Iwata quipped, referring to the Christopher Nolan film about a man who suffers from short-term memory loss. “[Colorado congresswoman] Lauren Boebert was hypnotized at a child’s birthday party and just never fully recovered. [Florida senator] Rick Scott, he couldn’t see the footage because he’s actually half-horse, so he always has those blinders on, and [Tennessee congressman] Tim Burchett couldn’t see it because he got kicked in the head by Rick Scott because he walked behind him too quickly and it spooked him.”

The American people should start showing a lot more sensitivity to Republicans going forward, Itawa jests, promising, “There’s a lot of things coming down the pipeline in the next four years that they’re not going to be able to see, or hear, or remember, or legislate against, or understand, or consider, or acknowledge.”

The post ‘The Daily Show’ Jokes Impassioned Bishop Will Lead to Trump Banning Church in Next Executive Order | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

“This is a debacle,” Maddow said. “I mean, it’s morally, it’s obviously a debacle, strategically, in terms of our country holding itself together, it’s a debacle. But it’s a political debacle.”

Maddow began the segment, watchable below, by highlighting federal Judge Beryl Howell’s condemnation of Trump’s controversial pardons. The judge wrote at length on the reasons why the pardoning of those who attacked Capitol police is a misguided effort, even calling those charged “poor losers.”

“No ‘process of national reconciliation’ can begin when poor losers, whose preferred candidate loses an election, are glorified for disrupting a constitutionally mandated proceeding in Congress and doing so with impunity,” Maddow said, reading directly from Howell’s Wednesday dissent. “That merely raises the dangerous specter of future lawless conduct by other poor losers and undermines rule of law.”

Howell’s remarks were in response to Trump pardoning more than 1,500 people who were involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, riots, and commuting sentences for 14 others on his first back in the Oval Office. At the time, the group attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and in doing so invaded the Capitol building and brutalizing police officers.

Now, Howell and other federal judges in Washington, D.C. who presided over the cases are calling Trump out, saying his pardons promote a “revisionist myth” about the attacks.

“This is one of the three rulings by a federal judge today absolutely rebuking Donald Trump and his new justice department for trying to make these Jan. 6 cases disappear, to try to make it like Jan. 6 didn’t happen,” Maddow explained. “The decision to spring these guys from prison and to stop the ongoing trials of people convicted or charged with physically attacking police officers — this is a debacle. I mean, it’s morally, it’s obviously a debacle, strategically, in terms of our country holding itself together, it’s a debacle. But it’s a political debacle.

But it’s not only the judges who have who taken issue with Trump’s mass pardon, even his campaign supporters are speaking out, Maddow explained.

“The public doesn’t like it, the police don’t like it, not even the Trumpy police like it. Even the Fraternal Order of Police, which endorsed Trump and initially appeared flummoxed by this pardons decision, they’ve now come out and denounced it as well. The violent felons who Trump ordered freed yesterday are already today starting to be arrested for other violent crimes.”

Among those pardoned are high-level members of the far-right groups The Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. The family of Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick, who died the day after rioters attacked him, called Trump a “poor excuse of a man” and his pardons a “betrayal of decency.”

“It is our hope that the truth of what happened that tragic day will survive, irrespective of partisan political objectives,” the family said in a statement Tuesdasy.

The post Rachel Maddow Applauds Judges for Refusing Trump Order to Dismiss Violent Jan. 6 Charges: ‘Not Even the Trumpy Police Like It’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

“At this point, the only prisoner Trump hasn’t released is Melania,” Fallon joked, referencing Trump’s recent decision to pardon nearly every person charged in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Fallon also pointed out that the traditional 20th anniversary gift for a couple is china — or as Trump calls it, “‘Gina.’”

Kimmel took it one step further. The Los Angeles-based late night host celebrated the couple’s wedding anniversary by creating his own infomercial for a hypothetical “Donald & Melania 20th Trumpiversary China Collection.”

The collection was chalk full of china, featuring “romantic moments” from the pair: One where they sat awkwardly next to one another and another where Melania’s hat blocked her husband from an Inauguration Day smooch.

The infomercial went on to feature bonus extras available for purchase, including a Pete Hegseth wine glass, classified document placemats, an Eric Trump adult bib, a Marjorie Taylor Greene tablecloth (shaped like a KKK hood) and a Steve Bannon gravy barge.

Kimmel’s commercial, voiced by a Trump imitator, noted that the china would be made in “Gina by child laborers whose hands are even tinier and more supple than my own.”

The late night host also examined Trump’s social media acknowledgment of the big day. “This morning, Trump paid tribute to his longest serving wife by reposting this AI image of himself with a lion,” he joked to his studio audience.

Kimmel noted that after Trump was “reminded” by his followers on social media, he reposted a “sweet photo of Melania literally pushing him away from her. Then he posted a long love letter to Vladimir Putin and Russia.”

Meanwhile, Melania posted nothing to celebrate, he added.

The post Jimmy Fallon Roasts Trump for 20th Wedding Anniversary, Says Melania Is the Only Prisoner He Hasn’t Released | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

She made that clear during a Thursday appearance on Jon Stewart’s “The Weekly Show” podcast, saying, “This is now a billionaire feeding frenzy. It is a kiss ass race.”

“Mannn,” Stewart sighed, before AOC continued: “It is, how can I show how much fealty I have to Donald Trump in order to get my digs? And I think what’s really important for people to understand — now and every day of this administration — is that you’re being ripped off. You’re being ripped off, dude.”

Musk, notably, contributed $277 million to help get Trump back in the White House. And he was joined by a number of other Big Tech CEOs who sat behind Trump at his inauguration on Monday, including Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

(You can read what the president’s supporters felt about the tech CEOs going to Washington, D.C., to “kiss Trump’s ring” by clicking here.)

Interestingly, Trump’s opponent in the 2024 presidential election received far more support from billionaires; Vice President Kamala Harris was backed by 83 billionaires, while Trump received support from 53 billionaires, according to Forbes.

More billionaires backed Joe Biden against Trump in 2020 as well. Biden received donations from 230 billionaires, Forbes reported, while Trump received donations from 133 billionaires.

Ocasio-Cortez, during her Thursday podcast appearance, added that Trump is a” quintessential New York con man.” She also said he is “much more dangerous” now compared to his first term because he has been “normalized.”

Still, the New York congresswoman had some criticism for her own party as well, saying the Democratic party needs to be able to give Americans a “clear answer” on what it stands for.

You can hear her full conversation with Stewart — which includes an intriguing section on lawmakers getting rich off of stock trading — on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts.

The post AOC Tells Jon Stewart Billionaires Are in a ‘Kiss Ass Race’ to Please Trump | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

“Elon Musk is being falsely smeared,” Netanyahu posted on X, the platform Musk owns. “Elon is a great friend of Israel. He visited Israel after the Oct. 7 massacre in which Hamas terrorists committed the worst atrocity against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”

He continued: “He has since repeatedly and forcefully supported Israel’s right to defend itself against genocidal terrorists and regimes who seek to annihilate the one and only Jewish state. I thank him for this.”

Netanyahu’s support comes after Musk has been ripped by many over the past few days. On Monday, Musk, while thanking Trump supporters at a victory rally at Capitol One Arena in Washington, D.C., slapped his chest and extended his right arm upwards. His detractors immediately condemned the gesture as a “sieg heil” Nazi salute.

“Late Show” host Stephen Colbert was one of those critics who mocked Musk for the salute on his show. “Wow, that sure looked like what it was,” the host quipped on Tuesday. “Now, I don’t know if Musk intended to do a Nazi salute. He says he is not a Nazi, but what I do know is people who aren’t Nazis know how to avoid doing a Nazi salute.”

Musk has denounced claims he’s an anti-Semite previously, telling CNBC in 2023, “I’m a pro-Semite, if anything.” The following year, after visiting the Auschwitz concentration camp with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, Musk said he was “aspirationally Jewish.”

“I have twice as many Jewish friends as non-Jewish friends. I’m like Jewish by association,” he told Shapiro.

On Thursday morning, Musk joked about the recent salute controversy with an X post that referred to several Nazi leaders.

The post Netanyahu Defends Elon Musk Over Salute: ‘Falsely Smeared’ appeared first on TheWrap.

During his monologue, the CBS host dragged just about every Republican who blindly supported the pardons, and even gave the middle finger — censored, of course — to one senator. But Colbert was particularly incensed by Johnson’s reply when asked about the pardons.

“It’s not my place,” Johnson said. “It’s the President’s sole decision. And he made a decision, so I stand with him on it.”

“Not your place?!” Colbert balked. “They attacked the House of Representatives! That is literally your place!”

From there, the host took it one step further, imitating Johnson’s voice and offering an absurd addendum.

“It’s not, no, it’s not for me to say,'” Colbert mimicked. “No, it’s not. I mean, it’s not, it’s not my place to speak. To do so, I would have to be some sort of speaker. I have to go.”

Colbert was also floored by the fact that Vice President JD Vance and other Trump team members promised that the Jan. 6 cases would be reviewed for pardon one by one but that, according to insiders, in the end, the process took too long so Trump decided to just pardon everyone.

“What? Just because it was taking a minute?” Colbert marveled. “So from now on, the TSA can just go, ‘You know what? Line’s too long, everyone on the plane! Everyone on the plane.'”

You can watch Stephen Colbert’s full monologue in the video, above.

The post Stephen Colbert Tells Mike Johnson It’s ‘Literally Your Place’ to Weigh In on J6 Pardons | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

“The funny thing — maybe the sad thing — is he didn’t give himself a pardon,” he told Sean Hannity. “He didn’t give himself a pardon and he didn’t give some other people a pardon that needed it.”

Trump further alleged that he “heard [Adam] Schiff went to him and begged him for a pardon” and accused the California Senator of being “crooked.” The President further accused Gov. Gavin Newsom of failing the state amid the Los Angeles wildfires, noting that it looks like a “nuclear weapon went off” in L.A.

Elsewhere in their conversation, Trump explained his rationale behind pardoning roughly 1,500 people involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, including those who were violent with law enforcement.

“They were in there for three-and-a-half years, a long time. Many in solitary confinement, treated like nobody’s ever been treated, treated so badly. They were treated like the worst criminals in history,” he said. “And you know what they were there for? They were protesting the vote because they knew the election was rigged and they were protesting the vote. You should be allowed to protest a vote.”

Furthermore, Trump also hinted that his temporary blocking of the TikTok ban may not be necessary in the long run as “people want to buy it.” He also downplayed the Biden administration’s concerns that China could be using the social media app as potential spy software.

“You can say that about everything made in China. Look, we have our telephones made in China, for the most part. We have so many things made in China, so why don’t they mention that?” Trump questioned. “The interesting thing with TikTok, though, is you’re dealing with a lot of young people. Is it that important for China to be spying on young people, on your kids watching crazy videos?”

Watch the “Hannity” segment from Fox News in the video, above.

The post Trump Says It’s Funny Biden Didn’t Pardon Himself in First Interview Since Returning to the White House | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

“The Washington Post editorial this morning essentially equating Biden’s questionable pardons with Trump’s outrageous Jan. 6 pardons was unconscionable,” David Maraniss, a 1993 Pulitzer Prize winner who has been with the paper nearly 50 years, wrote on Bluesky. “The newspaper I’ve been part of for 48 years has utterly lost its soul.”

Maraniss didn’t link to the editorial in question, but he appears to be referring to one actually published late Tuesday by Jason Willick, titled “The Biden-Trump pardons show collapsing executive restraint.”

Among its arguments, the op-ed says “it’s debatable which president’s abuse of the pardon power on Monday… was more damaging,” and describes them as “tit-for-tat escalations.”

While it does refer to Trump’s mass-pardons for Jan.6 insurrectionists “indefensible,” it largely treats Biden’s preemptive pardons of people Trump has threatened to persecute with state power as, effectively, morally equivalent.

Maraniss didn’t follow up on the comment, and as of this writing he has not announced he is resigning from the paper. But it’s not the first time he’s called out his employer in such direct terms. In October, after owner Jeff Bezos killed the Washington Post’s planned endorsement of Kamala Harris, Maraniss wrote on Twitter, “Once again but this time more than ever I am embarrassed for my newspaper. The decision in this of all years to not endorse when democracy is on the line is contemptible.”

“The paper I’ve loved working at for 47 years is dying in darkness,” Maraniss added, referring to slogan it adopted during Donald Trump’s first term, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”

And he’s far from the only WaPo vet to revolt as Bezos forces the paper in a decidedly conservative, clearly pro-Trump direction. Among them was columnist Michele Norris, who called the decision to spike the Harris endorsement “a terrible mistake & an insult to the paper’s own longstanding standard.”

Editor at large Robert Kagan also resigned, while writer Molly Roberts and Pultizer Prize-winning journalist David Hoffman both resigned from the board in protest. And the Post’s most famous alumni, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, condemned the decision strongly.

More recently, longtime WaPo editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes resigned on Jan. 3 after editors pulled a cartoon that criticized Bezos.

Bezos has steadfastly stuck by the stark changes he’s imposed on the Post since last fall, enacted at the same time the billionaire visibly became one of Trump’s most prominent courtiers. But the changes have been a disaster for the paper, cratering subscriptions and revenues.

The post Washington Post Editor Slams Paper for Op-Ed ‘Essentially Equating’ Biden, Trump Pardons: ‘Utterly Lost Its Soul’ appeared first on TheWrap.