(Mark E. Johnson, Contributor) Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel has accused the ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Good in self-defense of committing actual murder. A night later, the left-leaning comic followed up with a thinly veiled wisecrack about Menalia Trump’s sexuality.
On January 7, Good drove her car directly at Jonathan Ross, a 10-year ICE veteran, in an clear and obvious attempt to strike him, a act of violence that has been found many times to justify the use of deadly force.
But Kimmel offered a much different view of events in Tuesday night’s monologue:
“Trump also for the first time expressed a measure of sympathy for Renee Good, the woman who was murdered in Minneapolis.”
Ross has not been charged with murder or any other crime from that day at either the state or federal level. Despite Trump calling Good’s death “horrible” (twice) and “a tragedy” (also twice), Kimmel could not leave it at that, going on in a mocking tone to call into question the president’s motives:
“He now concedes that her death was a tragedy but not necessarily for the reason you might hope.”
Kimmel then offered video of Trump’s statement on Good:
“I felt horribly when I was told that the young woman who was—a tragedy, it’s a tragedy, it’s a horrible thing. Everybody would say — ICE would say the same thing, but when I learned her parents, and her father in particular, I hope he still is, but I don’t know, was a tremendous Trump fan, he was all for Trump, loved Trump. And you know, it’s terrible. I was told that by a lot of people, they said, “Oh, he loves you.” He was — I hope he still feels that way. I don’t know, it’s hard. Hard situation. But her father was a tremendous — and parents – were tremendous Trump fans. It’s so sad, it just happens. It’s terrible.
Kimmel closed by unleashing one final witticism on the matter:
“I have a theory, and I think this might explain a lot. Trump is jealous that all the shows on the History Channel are about Hitler and not him.”
Once upon a time in America, media figures ascribed to a strict standard that all persons are considered innocent until proven otherwise in a court of law. And comparing one’s political opponent to Hitler was deemed waaay out of bounds.
Also out of bounds at one time: personal attacks a on a First Lady – another boundary Kimmel saw fit to ignore on Wednesday night’s show:
“Greenland, Greenland, Greenland. Greenland is not even land, it’s a big, beautiful block of ice. And, he [Trump] should know: He’s been married to one of those for twenty years.”
The remark calls to mind the Victorian-era term “frigid” in reference to a woman who is sexually repressed or unresponsive. The term is now deemed “unscientific and sexist” according to the Women’s Media Center, a progressive outlet founded by radical feminists Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem.
