Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyer react to Trump appointing RFK Jr. to run the Health and Human Services, putting up Matt Gaetz as Attorney General and more of his shocking cabinet picks.
The late night world is reacting to Donald Trump’s cabinet nominations.
After Trump nominated Matt Gaetz for Attorney General and Fox & Friends host Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary, late night comedians had a new shock in store when news broke that Trump had appointed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the head of Health and Human Services.
Stephen Colbert broke the news to some of his audience as the announcement had just been made moments before the Late Show taping Thursday.
“Donald Trump continued his exhaustive search for the most qualified people within his line of sight, and he has chosen anti-vaxx nepo maniac Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services,” he said. “I know that sounds insane but we should all keep an open mind because that’s how the worm gets in.”
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“Who better to be in charge of health and humans than a guy whose brain was partially devoured by a worm?,” he continued, referring to RFK Jr.’s infamous parasitic worm story as quoted in a 2012 deposition, in which he claimed a word got into his brain “ate a portion of it and then died.”
“Trump originally wanted a doctor in that role — turns out, the late great Hannibal Lecter isn’t a real person,” Jimmy Kimmel quipped, referencing one of Trump’s favorite talking points on the campaign trail.
“This tells you all you need to know about our country right now” he said. “RFK got caught having phone sex with a reporter and she was fired. What happened to him? They made him Secretary of Health and Human Services.”
Read on to find out what Kimmel, Colbert and Seth Meyers had to say about Trump’s surprise appointments.
Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Colbert also shared his thoughts on Trump’s appointment of Gaetz, who is currently being investigated for sex trafficking, after Trump announced the nomination on Truth Social Wednesday.
“Everyone’s still freaked out about the nominations he made yesterday, like making Matt Gaetz the Attorney General of the United States,” Colbert said to the boos of the audience. “And that story keeps getting worse ’cause the House Ethics Committee has been investigating Gaetz for sexual misconduct and elicit drug use. But last night, we learned that Gaetz resigned from Congress just two days before the committee was set to vote on releasing a ‘highly damaging’ report outlining its investigation. So now, Gaetz almost certainly won’t face consequences.”
He continued, “Coincidentally, ‘face consequences,’ also the name of his off-brand Botox. The truth is, you too can have face consequences. Now that Gaetz is no longer in Congress, it’s unclear whether the ethics panel will vote on releasing the report.”
In a tongue-in-cheek letter to Santa, Colbert asked for a comet to hit the earth and give the world the must needed re-start following last week’s upsetting election.
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Kimmel accused Trump of running the country like a reality show, similarly to the one he came to fame on.
“He’s running this country like it is a reality show. But instead of MeatLoaf and Dennis Rodman, he’s got Matt Gaetz and Tulsi Gabbard,” Kimmel quipped. “If we wanted the host of a reality show to run the country, there were much better choices!”
He went on to list some of the top reality hosts that he thought would be more suitable as U.S. president, like Survivor’s Jeff Probst: “He knows how to settle disputes between warring tribes.”
“What about the host of The Amazing Race [Phil Keoghan], that guy, whose name I don’t ever remember,” he continued. “Somehow he’s managed to win 10 Emmy Awards even though we don’t have any idea what his name is. He’s been everywhere. He could strengthen our ties all around the world.”
“Or another Emmy winner,” Kimmel added. “RuPaul. RuPaul would throw the most fabulous inauguration party in American history. Or maybe we need to come out gunns-a-blazing with Tim Gunn. American’s love guns. President Gunn. You know his catch phrase is, ‘Make it Work.’ It could be just the message we need.”
He even threw longtime host and on-air personality, Ryan Seacrest, into the ring, telling the audience that the American idol front man just might be the right man for the job.
“He never stops working, he’s proven he can stand up to dictators, Simon Cowell, and who knows more about free and fair elections than the man who saved us from Sanjaya?” Kimmel joked.
Late Night with Seth Meyers
For his part, Seth Meyers expressed his frustration with the prominent Republicans who seem surprised by President-elect Trump’s many controversial cabinet picks over the past week.
Meyers showed a news clip of Senator Lisa Murkowski’s response to Trump’s selection of Gaetz to run the Department of Justice.
The Alaska Republican said, “I don’t think it is a serious nomination for the attorney general. We need to have a serious attorney general, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to consider somebody that is serious. This one was not on my bingo card.”
“I love Republicans saying we need to have a serious attorney general,” Meyers said. “You didn’t seem to feel the need for a serious president.”
He added, “Your party chose a deranged criminal game show host with the same makeup artist as [the Italian opera] Pagliacci, who can’t close a f–king umbrella. Also, for everyone who didn’t have [Gaetz] on your bingo card, maybe throw out the bingo card, because there’s a whole new bingo now.”
Meyers also brought up how Trump’s former National Security Adviser John Bolton called the Gaetz pick “the worst nomination for a Cabinet position in American history.”
“Yet,” he replied. “You forgot the word ‘yet.’ Trump’s still got plenty of time to outdo himself.”
