This Sunday (December 7, 2025), President Donald Trump will hand out medals to Kennedy Center honorees, and he made a surprising statement in the process.
He said he believed the broadcast, which will air on CBS on December 23, 2025, would garner good ratings, far better than those of his nemesis Jimmy Kimmel. He also claimed that he did a far better job than the late-night host who presented a tribute to honoree David Letterman in 2012. Trump even went as far as to say that he does not deserve to be the President of the United States if he weren’t more talented than the late-night TV personality.
Jimmy Kimmel was horrible, and some of these people. If I can’t beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don’t think I should be president.
Trump pointed out to reporters that he is the first president ever to host the Kennedy Center event. He added that despite what the critics have to say, he knows he’ll do a fine job and that everything will work out in his favor. And, he is confident that the ceremony will go down in CBS history as their best broadcast. He told reporters, “It will be the highest-rated show they’ve ever done.”
We have never had a president hosting the awards before. This is the first.
I’m sure they’ll give me great reviews, right? You know, they’ll say he was horrible. He was terrible. It was a horrible situation. No, we’ll do fine.
The president acknowledged that the network has performed very well in the past. However, he promises that the upcoming ceremony will be a night to remember, and everything else will pale in comparison to what audiences are about to witness. “They’ve gotten some pretty good ratings, but there’s nothing like what’s going to happen tomorrow night,” he explained.
Trump’s feud with Kimmel goes all the way back to 2016 after the former was elected as president. The late-night host has only become increasingly critical of him since. Things escalated earlier this year after ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the air for a week following his comment regarding Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Despite Trump’s efforts to keep him off the air, Kimmel ultimately returned. During his suspension, many celebrities and politicians (including those who don’t even like him) rushed to his defense. Republican politicians argued that this was an attack on free speech, and while they disliked Kimmel, they believed that he was at least entitled to the right to speak his mind. Several Disney actors also encouraged their fans to unsubscribe from Disney+ after they heard the news, pulling support for their former employer.
Birthdate
June 14, 1946
Birthplace
New York City, New York, USA