Jimmy Kimmel has ridiculed Donald Trump by staging a mock interview with the 79-year-old president’s “badly bruised” right hand.
The late-night host marked the first anniversary of Trump’s second term with a skit posing a series of questions to the president’s hand, which has routinely appeared with large, dark bruises, as widely reported by the Daily Beast.
“Hello, America. It’s me in the flesh, the rotting, diseased flesh,” Trump’s hand says to introduce itself. When Kimmel notes that the hand has a large “black and blue” mark, it replies: “Oh, you can see that? Hold on. Let me apply some subtle foundation.”
Another hand from off-screen then liberally applies orange-colored Easy Cheese to the bruise, which is being powdered “like a donut”—a reference to how the president often tries to conceal his unsightly bruises with blobs of mismatching makeup.
The Jimmy Kimmel Live! bit continues to mock the long list of health concerns surrounding the 79-year-old, including Trump’s tendency to nod off at public events.
“Can the president hear us right now?” Kimmel asks the hand. “No, no. He’s in an extremely important meeting that requires deep concentration and laser focus.”
“So he’s sleeping, is what you’re saying?” Kimmel adds. “That’s right. He’s sleeping like a baby hippo,” the hand replies.
The clip goes on to show the bruised, makeup-smeared hand of Trump signing an executive order banning “handsgender” in school, as well as a vile moment in which Secretary of State Marco Rubio forces a hot dog down the hand’s “mouth.”
“Call me Haitian, because I love eating dogs,” the hand said—a reference to the president’s racist attacks against the Haitian community in Ohio during the 2024 live presidential debates.
For nearly a year, the Daily Beast has led coverage of how Trump has regularly appeared in public with mysterious bruises on his hands.
The White House has tried to explain that the bruising is because Trump meets “more Americans and shakes their hands on a daily basis than any other President in history,” combined with his daily aspirin use. Trump reportedly takes the blood thinner to help with chronic venous insufficiency, a condition that causes his swollen cankles, which the president has also attempted to shield from public view.
Trump, who is on course to become the oldest sitting president in U.S. history, has shown numerous worrying signs of frailty and cognitive decline. These include apparent difficulty walking down stairs or in a straight line, erratic and rambling public speeches, frequent memory lapses, misremembering basic facts about his life, or simply making things up on the spot.
Trump also caused confusion last October when he let slip that he had undergone an MRI during his second physical of the year. Months later, however, Trump told The Wall Street Journal it wasn’t an MRI but a “scan.” The president’s physician, Dr. Sean Barbabell, said the scan was conducted to rule out any “cardiovascular issues.”
At the end of the Jimmy Kimmel Live! skit, Trump’s bruised hand tells the host that he is “well connected,” adding: “By the way, you want to interview my friend, cankle?”
A grossly swollen ankle then appears on the desk, which the hand praises as having “big, beautiful bone spurs,” before more Easy Cheese is squeezed onto the bruise.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
