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Jimmy Kimmel Reacts to Trump Administration’s Signal Chat Scandal
This week, noteworthy news surfaced regarding the Trump administration, revealing that officials candidly discussed seemingly classified military plans within a group chat on the encrypted messaging platform Signal. The chat notably included Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, prompting significant public interest.
In his Tuesday night monologue, Jimmy Kimmel expressed his intrigue regarding the unfolding events, admitting that he found some humor in the situation despite its serious ramifications.
“Quick question for the audience – did anyone else get a group chat invite from the National Security Adviser today? Just me?” he quipped, highlighting what he perceived as a humorous absurdity in the competency of those in power. “I know we shouldn’t take pleasure in the certainty that we have a chaotic group running this country. But I’ll be honest. I can’t help it. I’m enjoying it right now.”
Reflecting on the situation surrounding the chat, Kimmel emphasized, “This week, in the race between dumb and evil, dumb’s in the lead! Dumb has a big lead!”
Kimmel proceeded to detail the ongoing scandal about the revelations from the Signal chat, which was organized by Trump National Security Advisor Michael Waltz. Attendees included high-ranking officials like Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. They engaged in discussions about military actions against Yemen while criticizing American allies, all under the mistaken belief that this information was secure from outside viewers.
“And just to add another layer to this, one of the individuals involved was in Russia at the time of the messages,” Kimmel noted. He pointed out that it would be reasonable to assume the administration would acknowledge its mistakes and hold individuals accountable, but he suggested this was not the case.
Kimmel further remarked on the administration’s response, which involved denying the severity of the breach and attempting to discredit Goldberg. This opened the door for Kimmel to reference the past criticisms of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she served as Secretary of State, suggesting a double standard in accountability.
“In any other world, these people would be fired or worse for something like this. Instead, they keep insisting, ‘oh this information wasn’t even classified,’ as if they meant for it to become public,” Kimmel added, supporting his claims with video clips that illustrated the officials’ contradictory statements.
The conversation eventually turned to Trump’s personal input on the scandal, where he seemed to downplay the incident significantly.
“What happened to this guy? He used to fire people on a daily basis. He fired Meat Loaf for less than this,” Kimmel joked, reflecting on how Trump had shifted from being a decisive figure to one appearing reluctant to take action against his own team. “It’s kind of sad. He’s like an old dog who doesn’t chase the ball anymore.”
Kimmel’s commentary sheds light on the absurdity of the situation while questioning the accountability of those involved in the breach, engaging his audience with humor while addressing serious issues of governance and national security.
For those interested, the complete monologue can be viewed below:
Source
www.thewrap.com