Late night host Jimmy Kimmel gave a tearful push for the progressive political agenda again on Thursday night, this time for “real laws” to promote gun control.
The “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host openly wept two times while ranting against President Donald Trump and the GOP to push for a crackdown on Second Amendment rights in the wake of the fatal South Florida school shooting, where 17 lives were taken by a 19-year-old with a history of psychological and behavioral problems. Kimmel thoroughly mocked “allegedly Christian” Republican lawmakers and their calls for prayer and said President Trump was “obviously mentally ill.”
After playing a clip of Trump addressing the nation about the devastating shooting, wherein the president called for unity, Kimmel blasted GOP lawmakers and demanded unspecified “real laws” for “assault rifles.”
“Tell your buddies in Congress, tell Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and Marco Rubio — all the family men who care so much about their communities — that what we need are laws, real laws, that do everything possible to keep assault rifles out of the hands of people who are going to shoot our kids,” said Kimmel. “Go on TV and tell them to do that.”
“I’ll tell you something. That is a perfect example of the common sense you told us you were going to bring to the White House. It’s time to bring it, we need it,” he continued.
Turning his focus to prayer and faith, the host labeled Republican lawmakers “allegedly Christian.”
“Tell these congressmen and lobbyists who infest that swamp you said you were going to drain, force these allegedly Christian men and women who stuff their pockets with money from the NRA year after year after year to do something. Now, not later. Now,” he said.
“Children are being murdered,” Kimmel said in a shaky voice as he was overcome with emotion.
He also claimed Trump was at fault for the attack for rolling back an Obama-era regulation which kept guns out of the hands of the “mentally ill” and went as far as to say Trump was “obviously mentally ill” himself.
“You’ve literally done nothing,” he said. “Actually, you’ve done worse than nothing. You like to say this is a mental health issue. One of your very first acts as president, Mr. Trump, was to actually roll back the regulations that were designed to keep firearms out of the hands of the mentally ill. You did that. Your party voted to repeal the mandates on coverage for mental health. So I agree, this is a mental illness issue, because if you don’t think we need to do something about it, you’re obviously mentally ill.”
Of course, the removal of this Obama-era regulation was supported by the American Civil Liberties Union (not exactly a right-wing organization) for the law’s broad discrimination and infringement on Constitutional rights. “The thousands of Americans whose disability benefits are managed by someone else range from young people with depression and financial inexperience to older adults with Down syndrome needing help with a limited budget,” said the ACLU.
But none of this matters to Kimmel, who routinely paints his political opponents as villains.
Kimmel closed by slamming prayer one last time for good measure. “This time we’re not going to allow you to bow your head in prayer for two weeks, until you get an all-clear and we move on to the next thing. We’re going to make sure you do something this time,” he said.
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