{"id":621579,"date":"2026-09-11T16:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T16:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/621579\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T16:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T16:26:09","slug":"jimmy-kimmel-on-trumps-midterm-convention-that-arena-was-as-empty-as-a-waymo-late-night-tv-roundup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/621579\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Kimmel on Trump\u2019s midterm convention: \u2018That arena was as empty as a Waymo\u2019 | Late-night TV roundup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Late-night hosts recapped the second day of Donald Trump\u2019s underattended and unusual \u201cmidterm convention\u201d<\/a> in which he promised $5,000<\/a> for every adult US citizen if the Republicans win.<\/p>\n

Jimmy Kimmel<\/p>\n

Jimmy Kimmel<\/a> opened Thursday\u2019s monologue with a report from the second day of the Republican National Committee\u2019s \u201cmidterm convention\u201d in Dallas, held at the request of Donald Trump. \u201cHe demanded a midterm convention, which is something that had never been done before, because there\u2019s no reason to do that,\u201d Kimmel explained. \u201cAnd of course he got it. They do whatever he wants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump spent the previous night posting on Truth Social, disputing all evidence that the Dallas arena was less than crowded. \u201cHe is so embarrassingly desperate to convince us that the place was packed. He even tried to convince the people in the place that it was packed,\u201d Kimmel laughed before a montage of Trump saying \u201cthe place is packed\u201d or \u201cnobody has left,\u201d among numerous other comments about his audience size, including \u201cplease, if you don\u2019t mind, don\u2019t anybody go to the bathroom,\u201d lest the media take a picture of an empty seat. \u201cEasy for you to say, you\u2019re the only one wearing a diaper,\u201d Kimmel retorted.<\/p>\n

The host then played a clip of the half-empty arena itself, at the moment Trump asserted that it was still jam-packed. \u201cCould there be a better metaphor for this presidency than him bragging about the size of his crowd to a bunch of empty seats? I don\u2019t think so!<\/p>\n

\u201cThat arena was as empty as a Waymo,\u201d he added. \u201cBut his must be high-ness has so many trembling flunkies around him willing to corroborate his constant bullshit, why would he even bother to tell the truth?\u201d<\/p>\n

Later in his hour-plus speech, Trump promised to send $5,000 to every adult US citizen should the Republican party win the US House and Senate in November. \u201cI spent all day today trying to decide whether that was a bribe or a lie,\u201d said Kimmel, \u201cand I think it might be both things? I think Donald Trump just invented the libe.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow nice of the president to offer us our own money. This is like if I went in your bathroom and unplugged your electric toothbrush, put it in a box and gave it to you for Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

If such a scheme were to take place, Kimmel noted, it would add $1.3tn to the US federal deficit. \u201cHow is he going to pay for that?\u201d he wondered. \u201cIs Ivanka going to sell girl scout cookies to pay for that? No! We will have to pay it back with more taxes, and the best part is he wouldn\u2019t send us the checks anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you believe Donald Trump is going to give you $5,000 if the Republicans win, I have a Mexican-paid wall, a privately funded ballroom and a three-day long Iran war to sell you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Daily Show<\/p>\n

Trump may be unpopular, said Michael Kosta on the Daily Show, but \u201che has a secret weapon\u201d for the midterms, \u201cand it\u2019s called a bribe\u201d. As Trump claimed on Thursday, should Republicans win in November, he would send \u201ca dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s two trips to the grocery store! Or one, if you buy raspberries, Kosta quipped. \u201cI like how Trump calls this a dividend. Do you know when businesses hand out dividends? When they\u2019re raking in money. The last time I checked, we, as a country, have a negative $40tn of money. America should not be handing out dividends. We should be faking our own death and starting a new life in Thailand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even Trump\u2019s supporters seemed confused by the untenable offer. Brian Kilmeade, host of Fox & Friends, could only offer: \u201cNot bad \u2026 I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s OK but I think it\u2019s kinda fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s what being president is all about! Having fun,\u201d Kosta joked. \u201cEven Brian Kilmeade didn\u2019t know what to make of this \u2026 he sounds like Trump just asked him to throw rocks off the overpass.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut this is just the latest in a cycle of Trump\u2019s behavior with the American people,\u201d Kosta conclude. \u201cHe promises a huge payout; that never happens. And then he promises an even bigger payout, and then that never happens. This spiral is exhausting, poisonous, and it makes you question the very health of our democracy. And look, I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s OK, but \u2026 it is kinda fun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Late-night hosts recapped the second day of Donald Trump\u2019s underattended and unusual \u201cmidterm convention\u201d in which he promised…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282],"class_list":["post-621579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}