Jimmy Kimmel began his show Monday night by trying to find something funny about the deadly wildfires currently devastating large swaths of California. It wasn’t easy.
Pointing out that the Woolsey fire in Malibu has partially destroyed the house where The Bachelor is filmed, Kimmel joked, “Usually when something spreads like wildfire at The Bachelor mansion, it’s herpes.”
On a more serious note, Kimmel offered his “gratitude for the men and women who risk their lives to fight these fires,” adding “they do an incredible job and they do it so bravely” and urging viewers to text “CAWILDFIRES” to 90999 to make a $10 donation to the Red Cross.
“We probably shouldn’t expect much help from the White House,” he added. “You know, as the fires raged, in the middle of all this, the president weighed in with this touching message of support.”
Trump tweeted over the weekend, “There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!”
After the boos died down, Kimmel said, “He didn’t even throw us a roll of paper towels like he did in Puerto Rico.”
“And of course everything about this tweet was wrong,” he continued. “The federal government manages most of the forest land, not the state. He’s the one who cut the funding. California actually pays more money to the federal government than it gets back. And of course, he does nothing about climate change, which is why these fires happen. But why get tangled up in facts when you can take shots at people who voted for Hillary instead of you?”
“Donald Trump was the only guy who went to Backdraft and rooted for the backdraft,” Kimmel joked. “I understand that California probably isn’t the president’s favorite state, but he can at least pretend to care about us, like he does with Donald Jr.”