Donald Trump's 'Late-Night Morons' Attack Becomes Jimmy Kimmel's Latest Punchline

Jimmy Kimmel didn’t need a long rebuttal to President Donald Trump’s latest swipe at late-night TV, just a single line that captured the absurdity of a feud that refuses to fade.

“You know what? You’re welcome. I don’t know if you were thanking me, but you are welcome. On behalf of all my fellow late-night morons, you are welcome,” Kimmel said during his monologue, responding to Trump’s Truth Social post blasting hosts for “horrible ratings” and “gigantic salaries.”

The latest clash began when Trump lashed out at network coverage of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, folding comedians into a broader critique of media institutions. In a post on TruthSocial, he praised FCC Chairman Brendan Carr “looking at the licenses” of broadcasters of abusing “FREE American Airwaves” and “perpetuat[ing] LIES,” singling out what he called “the Late Night Morons.”

What once felt like sporadic presidential commentary has become routine, turning comedians into recurring political adversaries.

Kimmel, for his part, has adjusted accordingly, treating the attacks less like breaking news and more like predictable material.

Kimmel’s response leaned into humor and dismissal, a strategy that has defined his approach in recent years. But the back-and-forth dynamic has created a feedback loop: Trump criticizes late-night, Kimmel responds, and the exchange becomes content.

It also underscores how closely Trump appears to track the format. His repeated references to Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon keep late-night firmly within the political conversation.

Still, not everyone sees that as a positive. Renowned body-language expert Lillian Glass, Ph.D., argues that the tone of modern late-night may be contributing to audience fatigue.

“The reason why Kimmel's ratings are so low is because of the hate that is disseminated. It's reflected in his hateful tone. It is no longer humor and clever repartee. Instead, it is laden with such anger and vehemence that people weren't able to tune out,” she said.

“Trump is not wrong; the salaries are absurd for the little work that is done at night talk shows,” she said. “People know that whenever Kimmel appears, they will always be Trump-bashing, and no matter what side of the aisle you're on it gets old, and that is why people are tuning out. Kimmel needs to let it go as indicated by his not being invited to be the host of the Oscars.”

Trump’s critique of “horrible ratings” in late-night doesn’t fully align with recent data. According to a LateNighter analysis of Nielsen Live+3 ratings data, CBS’ highly political The Late Show with Stephen Colbert averaged 2.43 million viewers for the week of March 1, an increase of 1 percent overall from the week before and an increase of 5 percent in the key 18–49 demographic.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! followed closely with 2.28 million, an increase of 5 percent from the week before, but the program led the key demo with 263,000 viewers.

NBC’s less political The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, meanwhile, averaged 1.35 million viewers and 191,000 in the key demo.

Despite that criticism, the back-and-forth shows no signs of slowing. If anything, the exchange has become part of late-night’s identity.

Whether it’s boosting ratings or driving viewers away likely depends on who’s watching, but one thing is clear: as long as Trump keeps talking about late-night, late-night will keep talking about Trump.