Jimmy Kimmel called out President Donald Trump for contradicting his own rhetoric on mail-in ballots.
Trump voted by mail in Tuesday’s special election in Palm Beach County, Florida, despite having described mail-in ballots as fraudulent and “cheating.”
Trump has been pushing Senate Republicans to refuse any deals to end the ongoing partial government shutdown until his SAVE America Act is passed. The Act will strictly regulate voting with mail-in ballots.
Kimmel was amused by Trump’s brazen hypocrisy in his monologue on Tuesday.
“He’s unbelievable,” Kimmel said, adding, “Donald Trump claiming he wants to protect election integrity is like Bill Cosby telling you he’ll watch your drink for you.”
Referencing Trump’s long-documented hatred of wind turbines, Kimmel joked further, “Next we’re going to find out that his blow dryer is powered by a windmill or something.”
Kimmel mused that Trump was cracking down on “the most heinous crime of all: putting your ballots in a mailbox.”
Kimmel also played a clip of Trump at a press event in Memphis on Monday, where Trump declared, “Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating.”
The late-night host joked that Trump “prefers in-person cheating, preferably with a porn star.” He went on to fact-check Trump’s claim that the United States is the only country to allow mail-in voting.
“When is somebody going to step in and tell him that is not true?” Kimmel asked. “Thirty-four countries have mail-in voting.”
Trump’s SAVE Act would not only crack down on mail-in ballots, but it would require citizens to provide ”documentary proof of United States citizenship" before voting.
This rule would complicate the voting process for many women who changed their last names after getting married. It would also create new hurdles for voters in sparsely populated states like Alaska.
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski explained in a Capital Hill speech last week that the bill would require rural Alaskans to take a plane to urban Alaska to get their newly required identification in order. It would be a major change to the state’s current voter registration process.
“While disenfranchisement may not be the intent of the SAVE America Act … I fully expect it to be an outcome of this,” Murkowski said.
Kimmel has repeatedly ripped into Trump’s SAVE act on his show, accusing it of being Trump’s plan to disenfranchise Democratic-leaning voters before the 2026 midterm elections.
The results of the special elections across the country on Tuesday signal a hopeful shift for Democrats, even in the seemingly red state of Florida.
In one special election in Tampa Bay, Florida, Democrat Brian Nathan flipped a red seat by just over 400 votes. In 2024, Trump had won the district by over 7 points.
The special election in Trump’s district, which Trump himself won by 11 points in 2024, also shifted heavily towards Democrats on Tuesday. The Democratic candidate Emily Gregory won by a small but decisive margin.
Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried celebrated Gregory’s win Tuesday night, saying, “This victory reiterates an undeniable trend in Florida: with year round organizing and infrastructure investment, Democrats can run and win anywhere–including Donald Trump’s backyard.”
