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Kimmel roasts Trump’s VP shortlist: ‘Cloudy with a chance of Meatball Ron’

“It’s like he went running mate shopping at Goodwill, and that’s what they came up with”

Amelia Neath
Thursday 22 February 2024 16:37 GMT
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Jimmy Kimmel has fun with Donald Trump’s running mate shortlist

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Jimmy Kimmel has mocked Donald Trump’s vice-president shortlist line-up, saying that “he had better bookings on The Celebrity Apprentice.”

Mr Trump appeared at a Fox News town hall in South Carolina on Saturday and hinted at a few names that were reeled off by moderator Laura Ingraham.

The list featured former presidential candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Tim Scott, Florida congressman Byron Donalds and South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, and even the likes of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

“That’s right,” Kimmel exclaimed. “The forecast is cloudy with a chance of Meatball Ron.”

Kimmel’s gag referenced a report from last year that claimed Mr Trump gave DeSantis a ‘Meatball’ moniker, but the former president later denied this and instead dubbed him ‘Ron DeSanctimonious’.

“How is Ron Desantis on his shortlist?” Kimmel questioned, due to Mr Trump and Mr DeSantis’ rivalry that was brewing even before presidential campaign efforts started. “Maybe he thinks it’s a list of people who are short?”

Trump declined to commit to any of the candidates rumoured to be his potential running mate but did tell Ms Ingraham, “Honestly, all of those people are good”.

“They’re all good; they’re all solid. And, I always say, I want people with common sense because there’s so many things happening in this country that don’t make sense,” Mr Trump added.

Yet, Kimmel begged to differ.

“Wow, what a group,” he said. “He had better bookings on The Celebrity Apprentice.”

“It’s like he went running mate shopping at Goodwill, and that’s what they came up with,” he added.

Kimmel said Trump’s Navalny comment was a “disgusting thing to say”
Kimmel said Trump’s Navalny comment was a “disgusting thing to say” (Jimmy Kimmel Live)

Aside from Mr Trump’s potential vice-president list, he has also been peddling a “new line of nonsense,” as Kimmel describes it, after he compared his New York fraud case judgement to what happened to deceased Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

He made a comment that the judgement set against him was a “form of Navalny”.

“It’s a disgusting thing to say. This is a fine he got,” Kimmel retorted.

Now the fraud case has come to a close, Mr Trump owes a lot of money, around $355m, which has also been slammed with substantial interest, meaning the penalty can grow to $450m, according to Attorney General Letitia James.

Yet Ms James has little sympathy for the former president, telling ABC that “Financial frauds are not victimless crimes. He engaged in this massive amount of fraud; it wasn’t just a simple mistake.”

“... like Eric,” Kimmel added, referring to Mr Trump’s son.

Ms James told the outlet that she would seek to seize the former president’s assets if he is unable to pay his penalty.

“If he doesn’t come up with the money, she might seize Trump Tower,” Kimmel claimed.

“Turns out, one of the downsides of putting your name on everything you own is that everyone knows who owns it,” he added.

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