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Jimmy Kimmel pokes fun at rumor Kamala is using ‘method actor Trump’ ahead of presidential debate

‘How can you possibly prepare to debate Donald Trump?’ questioned the comedian

Myriam Page
Tuesday 10 September 2024 14:44 BST
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Jimmy Kimmel offered his two cents on the highly anticipated Trump-Harris debate

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Jimmy Kimmel has given his late-night show viewers a breakdown of the preparations going into Tuesday's highly anticipated debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

The comedy show host brought up a New York Times headline on Monday night, which claimed Harris has been at a vigorous Pittsburgh training camp for the last five days for "highly choreographed debate practice," complete with a replica stage, television lighting, and even an adviser in "full Lee Strasberg method-acting mode" standing in for Trump.

"Is she trying to win an election or a Tony Award here?" cracked the Jimmy Kimmel Live host.

Tuesday's debate, set to kick off on ABC at 9pm ET, will be the first opportunity for the two opponents to face each other in the presidential election.

This will also be Harris' first debate as the Democrat's 2024 presidential candidate but Trump's second on the 2024 Republican ticket, as he already debated Joe Biden on 27 June before the president pulled out of the race the following month.

"How can you possibly prepare to debate Donald Trump?" continued Kimmel.

"This is a man who, if he doesn't like the direction a hurricane is going, just draws a new hurricane on the map," he added, referring to when Trump was accused of personally doctoring a map of Hurricane Dorian and falsely claiming it would hit Alabama in 2019.

"You can't debate that," he said amid the audience's laughter.

Donald Trump addresses reporters in 2019 while holding a questionable hurricane map
Donald Trump addresses reporters in 2019 while holding a questionable hurricane map (Getty Images)
Jimmy Kimmel offered his two cents on the highly anticipated Trump-Harris debate
Jimmy Kimmel offered his two cents on the highly anticipated Trump-Harris debate (Jimmy Kimmel Live)

He then turned his attention to bets associated with the debate, saying people can bet on the color of Trump's tie if they want, as well as the odds of him saying the phrases "Comrade Kamala", "Tampon Tim" and "witch hunt".

Whether or not the presidential nominees will shake hands is also up for bets, with “No” being the heavy favorite.

"I would go heavy on ‘No’ because those two are not going to shake hands," Kimmel said, adding his own two cents to the question.

"If I was Kamala, you know what I'd do? I'd give him a little pinch on the cheek when I came out," he quipped.

After several days of back-and-forth, people will finally get the chance to see Harris and Trump have it out on the live TV debate - which comes with the same rules as the Trump-Biden debate.

The terms include no pre-written notes, no live audience, no sitting, and no speaking with campaign staff between commercial breaks and, some people would say disappointingly, muted microphones between answers.

The rule will "shield Donald Trump from direct exchanges with the vice-president", according to a letter to ABC News from the Harris campaign and obtained by CBS News.

The letter claimed the campaign suspected this to be the "primary reason for his campaign's insistence on muted microphones", which will also be of a "fundamental" disadvantage to Harris.

Trump is well known for interrupting people and butting in when under attack, so much so that judges have scolded him for speaking out of turn in the courtroom during his civil and criminal trials.

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