Jimmy Kimmel pulled no punches during his monologue, delivering a blistering takedown of President Donald Trump’s eyebrow-raising decision to declassify government records — and the internet absolutely loved it.
The comedian spent part of his Brooklyn Academy of Music broadcast skewering Trump’s unexpected announcement regarding aviator Amelia Earhart’s who mysteriously vanished on July 2, 1937, while attempting to become the first woman to fly around the globe.
The timing of the declassification order raised eyebrows, coming amid intense scrutiny over government records tied to controversial figures and scandals, prompting Kimmel to hint that the move was anything but coincidental.
“The president has been hard at work coming up with all sorts of nonsense to distract us,” Kimmel joked on Monday before sharing Trump’s announcement.
The president had declared, “I am ordering my administration to declassify and release all government records related to Amelia Earhart. Everything else about her. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Kimmel didn’t hold back his response to the unexpected directive, noting that nobody had been paying attention to that particular matter in the first place.
The 57-year-old host, who is broadcasting from his native Brooklyn for the seventh time, according to People, didn’t miss the opportunity to connect the dots between the administration’s various document releases.
“At least he made it to the E’s in the files. That’s progress,” Kimmel added with characteristic bite. “Tomorrow, we will release the Ebert files. We will finally get to the bottom of what happened to Siskel.”
The comedian’s sharp observations resonated widely across social media users, who gave Kimmel for making Trump a punchline.
“You’ve just described Trump,” declared on People magazine reader. Another said, “Spot on! You nailed it! You described Convict47 to a tee.. your words are worth repeating.”
When the show posted it on its Instagram, many of its followers weighed in.
Another observer noted, “Keep going, Jimmy! @realdonaldtrump @potus crying himself to sleep over this.”
“And ‘they’ say he’s not funny??!!!! That was brilliantly funny,” noted a fourth person.
This latest roast continues Kimmel’s long-standing tradition of taking shots at the current administration.
The history between the comedian and Trump has been particularly contentious, especially after the president celebrated during Kimmel’s temporary suspension in September. Trump wrote on social media that the “ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED,” even encouraging other networks to follow suit with their late-night hosts.
"Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to @ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done…" – President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/Vhj6DQSssu
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 18, 2025
The president later doubled down, claiming he couldn’t believe the network gave Kimmel his job back and adding, “Let Jimmy Kimmel rot.”
The host fired back with equal fervor, saying, “You can’t believe they gave me my job back? I can’t believe they gave you your job back! We’re even.”
The temporary suspension stemmed from controversial comments Kimmel made during his Sept. 15 monologue, which prompted Sinclair and Nexstar station groups to initially refuse to air the program.
His return on Sept. 23 drew an impressive 6.3 million viewers — more than triple the regular audience and the second-highest viewership in the show’s history.
his ratings are outstanding ….thanks, MAG
However, those numbers didn’t sustain themselves in the following days.
According to TV Insider, by Thursday, Sept. 25, viewership had dropped to approximately 2.23 million total viewers, representing a 64 percent decline from the return episode. Still, these figures remain notably higher than the show’s second quarter 2025 average of around 1.77 million viewers.
Vice President JD Vance commented on Fox News that certain stations weren’t airing Kimmel because his ratings weren’t good, prompting the host to clap back: “My ratings aren’t very good? Your ratings are somewhere between a hair in your salad and chlamydia.”
The late-night host, who’s spending the week broadcasting from Brooklyn, isn’t backing away from the back-and-forth. With guests like Stephen Colbert, Emily Blunt, and Tom Hanks lined up, he’s doubling down on the mix of humor and political jabs that keeps his name trending.
And his audience most likely will be eating it up, especially since they know it’s safer for Trump to declassify files on Amelia Earhart’s plane than to address the questions people actually want answered.
