Jimmy Kimmel spent large parts of 2025 publicly feuding with President Donald J. Trump over free speech concerns, and their public clash continued into 2026.
One day after winning the Best Talk Show award at the Critics’ Choice Awards for his show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” the late-night host showed no mercy in mocking the president yet again with the same cognitive test he claimed he “aced.”
In his opening monologue on Monday’s episode, Kimmel, 58, said he wanted to get “a sense of what he keeps babbling about.” Therefore, he found a doctor to administer the same cognitive test Trump has been taking.
“Weâve been hearing so much about these cognitive tests he keeps acing⊠and Iâve offered him the opportunity to take the test live on television. He still hasnât gotten back to me on it,” Kimmel joked, before agreeing to release the full, unedited version of his meeting with the doctor.
“Letâs find out just how difficult this big beautiful test is and how my brain stacks up against our stable genius presidentâs,” he said. Footage from the episode shows Kimmel seated with a doctor as he was given a series of cognitive tests, including drawing a cube and identifying animals. He was also asked to repeat numbers, solve simple math problems, as well as memorize a list of words that the doctor circles back to at the end of the exam.
After being told he got a perfect score of 30 out 30, Kimmel asked, “So I can be president”? The doctor shrugged her shoulders before a graphic featuring Kimmel’s face appeared onscreen that read, âAced it!âÂ
After seeing the footage and images of the test itself, fans began to cast more doubt on Trump’s results.
One social media user said, “I just saw Jimmy Kimmel take a cognitive test last night, on YouTube. And yeah, he scored 30 out of 30. No video footage has ever been released of the demented orange sphincter actually taking these tests. But he DID admit one time that he needed three tries to get one of the questions right. Which is NOT acing the test. Thatâs being spoonfed the answers.”
Another said, “No way stump [Trump] passed that test.”
Trump has repeatedly boasted that he âacedâ a series of cognitive tests, often presenting the claim as proof of sharpness rather than a routine medical screening. Just a day after publicly thanking Trump for helping him land his first award of the year, Jimmy Kimmel flipped the tone entirely, using his late-night platform to mock the former presidentâs fixation on the examsâquestioning the brag, poking holes in the bravado, and turning Trumpâs favorite talking point into the punchline.
During his acceptance speech on Jan. 4, Kimmel, 58, sarcastically thanked the man he’s been trading shots with online as the crowd erupted in applause.
âI want to thank our president, Donald âJenniferâ Trump, without whom, we would be going home empty-handed tonight,â Kimmel stated, substituting a womanâs name for Trump’s given middle name, which is John.
He continued, âSo thank you, Mr. President, for all the many ridiculous things you do each and every day. Itâs been a banner couple of weeks, and we can’t wait to get back on the air tomorrow night to talk about them.â
Jimmy Kimmel roasts Donald Trump after winning the Critics Choice Awards for Best Talk Show:
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) January 5, 2026
âAnd most of all, I want to thank our president, Donald Jennifer Trump, without whom, we would be going home empty handed tonightâ pic.twitter.com/4JagNhAD2H
Trump and Kimmel have been at odds for nearly a decade, dating back to the Republican leaderâs first term as president from 2017 to 2021. Many of Kimmelâs jokes presented on âLiveâ were filled with jabs at the New York-bred politician.
The heat intensified when Trump returned to the White House in 2025 and marked the host as a target in his second-term revenge tour. Kimmel’s comments on the passing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk and Trump’s reaction during a monologue in September ignited a fresh round in his dispute with the president.
ABC temporarily suspended âJimmy Kimmel Live!â following backlash from conservatives over his remarks about Kirk, who was shot at a Turning Point USA event in Utah on Sept. 10, 2025.
Trump initially celebrated Kimmelâs presumed career downfall, but when the network reinstated the comedian to the hosting duties just six days later, the president ranted on his Truth Social platform about his nemesisâs on-air survival.
âI canât believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. The White House was told by ABC that his show was cancelled! Something happened between then and now because his audience is GONE, and his ‘talent’ was never there,â Trump complained.
The entire ordeal was treated as a fight over First Amendment rights, which led Kimmelâs supporters to cancel their Hulu and Disney+ streaming services subscriptions as a way to protest Disney-owned ABCâs decision to pull him from the airwaves.
Kimmel got the latest lick in the back-and-forth by slamming Trump at the Critics’ Choice Awards. The âSmurfsâ voice actor took a victory lap at the ceremony that earned co-signs from social media users who dislike the sitting commander in chief.
âJimmy never lets him rest, and I love it,â an Instagram commenter expressed in reaction to Kimmel mocking Trump in front of fellow Hollywood elites, like TimothĂ©e Chalamet, Michael B. Jordan, and Ariana Grande.
Similarly, one comment read, âJimmy stays on Trump’s neck! I love it.â A third Kimmel supporter on the app declared, âJimmy [really] went against the POTUS and won. Heâs definitely different.â
However, Kimmel did face some pushback in the comment section as well. Knowing the presidentâs tendency to be petty against his rivals, a fan declared, âProtect Jimmy Kimmel at all costs.”
Kimmel reflected on his tumultuous 2025 while speaking with the press backstage at the Critics’ Choice Awards, comparing his temporary suspension to a famous scene from the classic novel âThe Adventures of Tom Sawyerâ by Mark Twain.
The father of four children said, âTo be here and to see that people reacted to it, not just in a positive way but in almost a desperate way. Weâre like, âOh, boy, when they come after the comedians, this is when we draw the line.â And weâre very grateful that they drew the line at us.â
The ongoing tit-for-tat between him and Trump will likely play out throughout the rest of 2026. A new episode of âJimmy Kimmel Live!â airs on Jan. 5, and viewers will be tuned in to see if he has more pinpointed words for the former âThe Apprenticeâ reality show star.
