🔥 BREAKING: Jimmy Kimmel & Stephen Colbert HUMILIATE Trump On Live TV — His “DIRTY SECRETS” Bit Sends Him Into FULL MELTDOWN ⚡
In recent weeks, the already-tense relationship between former President Donald J. Trump and several leading late-night hosts has escalated into an open and unusually personal conflict—one that has drawn in federal regulators, major broadcast networks, and the broader debate over press freedom in the United States.
The latest flashpoint began when Mr. Trump expanded his criticism of the media to include journalists and comedians simultaneously. Over the weekend, according to multiple people familiar with internal discussions, Fox News host Pete Hegseth endorsed a proposed policy requiring journalists with Pentagon press credentials to sign a pledge agreeing not to report any information not explicitly authorized for release, including material that is unclassified. Critics within press-freedom organizations say the measure would effectively allow the executive branch to “define the news.”
The possibility of such a policy gained attention because of Mr. Trump’s increasingly frequent attacks on news reporters, as well as his ongoing fixation on late-night comedians who have mocked him on air for years. But two hosts—Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert—have drawn a disproportionate share of his ire.
According to advisers, Mr. Trump has become a regular viewer of their nightly monologues, watching episodes in near-real time and responding with tirades on Truth Social, his social-media platform. Several of those posts have included demands that networks “fire” the hosts, calls for advertisers to withdraw funding, and threats of regulatory action.
Those threats appeared to take on new weight last week when ABC abruptly suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! following remarks by the Trump-appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission that the network should face “consequences” for airing alleged defamation. The suspension, which ABC described as a “temporary internal review,” prompted immediate concern from free-speech advocates. “If ABC thinks this will satisfy political pressure, they are misunderstanding the precedent this sets,” one media-law expert said.
The controversy unfolded amid Mr. Kimmel’s own rising public visibility. On December 4, he opened his program with a segment announcing that he had been ranked the third most-trending person in the world by Google in 2025—a statistic he attributed, with trademark irony, to Mr. Trump’s constant criticism.
“None of this would ever have happened without the support of loyal viewers like President Trump,” Mr. Kimmel said. “He’s done so much this year to raise awareness of our show.”
The line triggered a torrent of responses from Mr. Trump on Truth Social, beginning shortly after 7 p.m. and continuing until nearly midnight. According to independent analysis of his posts, the former president mentioned Mr. Kimmel’s name more than two dozen times that evening alone. Mr. Kimmel responded the following night: “Thanks for watching us on TV instead of YouTube. Viewers like you keep us on the air.”
But the conflict has extended beyond ratings or political theater. Mr. Colbert, host of The Late Show, has increasingly focused on Mr. Trump’s associations with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, whose past connections to several public figures have returned to public scrutiny through court documents and leaked correspondence. In one segment last week, Mr. Colbert highlighted an email in which Epstein reportedly wrote, “I have met some very bad people. None as bad as Trump.”
The segment swiftly triggered another series of denials on Truth Social, where Mr. Trump labeled references to Epstein a “witch hunt hoax”—a phrase he frequently uses to describe investigations involving him. Mr. Colbert’s monologue also referenced new polling data indicating that Mr. Trump’s national favorability rating had fallen to roughly 40 percent, with a negative rating of around 60 percent, the worst for any major political figure currently seeking national office.
“Rest-stop bathrooms on Yelp have better ratings,” Mr. Colbert joked, prompting laughter in the studio. But to political strategists, the exchange underscored a deeper reality: Mr. Trump’s relationship with ridicule remains politically consequential. His tendency to respond forcefully, and publicly, often amplifies the very criticism he seeks to shut down.
Inside the Trump campaign, aides insist the former president’s online reactions are tools to “expose media bias,” not signs of agitation. Yet his late-night postings suggest direct engagement with the programs he denounces. On November 21, for example, he posted a complaint about Mr. Kimmel at 12:49 a.m.—just 11 minutes after the show ended on the U.S. East Coast. “Why does ABC fake news keep Jimmy Kimmel, a man with no talent and very poor ratings, on the air?” he wrote. “Get the bum off the air.”
Media scholars say such exchanges are becoming emblematic of a broader collision between political power and cultural criticism.
“Late-night hosts have always satirized presidents,” said one professor of political communication. “What’s new is the degree to which a former president responds in real time and uses regulatory threats to try to influence their platforms.”
Whether the current skirmish will have lasting impact remains uncertain. But the ongoing clash between political authority and satirical dissent—played out on network stages, social-media feeds, and regulatory arenas—has quickly become one of the defining media narratives of the year.
