Late-Night and Daytime Hosts Unite in Scathing Critique of Trump, Provoking Furious Response From President

By Elena Rivera

LOS ANGELES — In a rare convergence of daytime and late-night television, Jimmy Kimmel and Whoopi Goldberg joined forces Wednesday to deliver a withering, coordinated assault on President Donald J. Trump, turning a guest appearance on “The View” into an hourlong evisceration that ricocheted across social media and left the White House reeling. The segment — billed by ABC as a “holiday crossover special” — saw Kimmel, fresh from his own show’s battles with network censors, trade barbs with Goldberg and the panel over Trump’s recent Truth Social tirades, the protracted government shutdown, and resurfaced Epstein files. What began as lighthearted banter escalated into a blistering takedown, prompting a midnight meltdown from Mar-a-Lago and underscoring the enduring potency of broadcast satire in an administration that has long sought to silence its critics.

The episode aired live from “The View’s” Manhattan studio, drawing an estimated 3.8 million viewers — the show’s highest-rated broadcast since the 2024 election — as Kimmel, 58, took his seat alongside Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin. Goldberg, 70, opened with a nod to their shared history of Trump-era clashes: Kimmel’s 2018 health-care monologues that drew presidential ire, and her own suspensions from the program for controversial remarks. “We’re the survivors’ club,” Goldberg quipped, before pivoting to Trump’s latest excesses — a 3 a.m. post accusing “radical left comedians” of “treason” amid the 55-day shutdown.

Kimmel wasted no time. Projecting a montage of Trump’s recent posts — including one musing about “reverse-mortgaging the White House” and another labeling Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney a “water hoarder” — he leaned in with trademark incredulity. “This man is running the country like it’s a late-night infomercial gone wrong,” Kimmel said, eliciting gasps and applause. “He’s up at all hours, posting more than a teenager on TikTok, while federal workers miss their third paycheck. If this is ‘America First,’ I’m moving to Canada — at least they have water.” Goldberg, nodding vigorously, interjected: “He’s been obsessed with us for years. Remember when he called me ‘filthy’ and threatened to sue? Honey, the only thing filthy is his record — Epstein files dropping left and right, Hegseth shooting boats like it’s a video game. We’re laughing because if we cry, he wins.”

The panel piled on. Behar dubbed Trump “President Tantrum,” while Hostin, a former federal prosecutor, dissected the legal perils of the Epstein emails, calling them “a ticking time bomb.” Farah Griffin, the lone conservative voice and former Trump communications aide, attempted nuance — “Some posts are over the top, but the shutdown hurts everyone” — only for Goldberg to retort: “Alyssa, darling, when your old boss calls for jailing comedians, it’s not ‘over the top’ — it’s authoritarian.” The exchange, raw and unscripted, trended instantly on X under #KimmelWhoopiTakedown, amassing 2.1 million posts by evening.

The brutality peaked in a joint bit: Kimmel and Goldberg reenacting Trump’s “faucet” demand to Canada, with Goldberg as a stern Carney turning a comically oversized tap labeled “Sovereignty” while Kimmel, in a red tie and blond wig, pleaded desperately. “Open it, Whoopi — I need the water for my golf courses!” Kimmel implored, collapsing dramatically as the audience roared. Goldberg closed the segment with a pointed sign-off: “Donald, we’re not going anywhere. Keep coming for us — we’ll keep coming for the truth.”

At Mar-a-Lago, the reaction was swift and chaotic. Sources familiar with the president’s evening described a furious Trump glued to the broadcast on a wall of screens, remote in hand, barking orders to aides as the segment unfolded. By 1:42 a.m., he unleashed a Truth Social fusillade: “DISGUSTING LOW-IQ WHOOPI GOLDBERG & FAILED COMEDIAN JIMMY KIMMEL — RATINGS DESPERATE LOSERS — ATTACK YOUR PRESIDENT ON FAKE ABC! Treasonous witches pushing HOAXES while America suffers. CANCEL THEM NOW! FCC — DO YOUR JOB!” The posts, viewed 28 million times by dawn, revived calls for investigations into ABC’s “bias,” echoing earlier threats that briefly sidelined Kimmel and Goldberg.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt amplified the outrage on Fox News Thursday morning, branding the appearance “a coordinated hit job funded by Disney dollars.” Yet the backlash revealed cracks: Even some conservative commentators, like Meghan McCain on her podcast, called the president’s response “thin-skinned,” while polling from Morning Consult showed 54 percent of independents siding with the hosts’ right to criticize.

For Kimmel and Goldberg, both veterans of Trump-era suspensions — Kimmel’s over Charlie Kirk remarks, Goldberg’s for Holocaust comments later clarified — the crossover was vindication. “We’re not bullies; we’re truth-tellers with punchlines,” Kimmel told reporters backstage, arm around Goldberg. She added: “At my age, I’ve earned the right to speak. He doesn’t scare us.”

The takedown arrives amid cascading crises: the shutdown’s economic toll now estimated at $300 billion, Virginia’s Democratic House flip shrinking the GOP majority, and Hegseth’s scandals threatening Pentagon morale. Late-night peers applauded: Stephen Colbert devoted his Thursday opener to the duo, quipping, “Jimmy and Whoopi just did what Congress can’t — hold Trump accountable for 22 minutes straight.”

In a polarized media landscape where entertainers increasingly fill the void left by traditional journalism, this “View”-Kimmel alliance reaffirms their role as cultural counterweights. As one ABC executive noted anonymously, “Ratings love chaos, but this was catharsis.” For Trump, the chaos at Mar-a-Lago is self-inflicted — another reminder that in the court of public opinion, laughter remains the sharpest rebuke. With holidays approaching and no shutdown end in sight, expect more such collisions: The stage is set, and the hosts show no signs of yielding the microphone.