The Senate today, by almost a party line vote (Mitch McConnell voted no) confirmed noted antivaxxer and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the new secretary of Health and Human Services. It’s obviously bad news for people who don’t like, you know, pandemics. And during his monologue on Thursday, Jimmy Kimmel was suitably disturbed by it all.
So he pretend-celebrated the moment. “As if we don’t have enough to worry about here. Like measles. The measles are on the rise! Measles and wide-leg jeans are back,” Kimmel said. “But don’t worry, we have a new Health Czar — Bobby Brainworm is on the job!”
This joke is obviously a reference to the brainworms RFK Jr. says he once had.
“RFK Jr. was confirmed today as our new Secretary of Health and Human Services, by a vote of 52 to 48,” Kimmel continued. “Mitch McConnell was the only Republican to vote no. Mitch McConnell is 82 years old. He survived polio as a kid, and thanks to RFK Jr., polio might get another run at him.”
The comedian then referenced the creepy statement Kennedy made when he was sworn in, where among other things he said, “God gave me President Trump.”
“Next God is going to send us diphtheria,” Kimmel quipped, this being a reference to, again, Kennedy’s long and well documented history of vaccine denial.
Earlier, Kimmel talked about some of the more disturbing statements Trump has been making about foreign policy.
“Yesterday, Trump had what he described as a ‘lengthy and highly productive’ call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And what a negotiator this Donald Trump is. They haven’t even started talks yet, Trump has already offered two huge concessions: Ukraine won’t be allowed to be part of NATO, and Russia will get to keep the territory they stole,” Kimmel explained.
“Russia’s like, ‘Well, you drive a hard bargain, Mr. Trump! Tell you what, throw in everything else we want and we have a deal!’ It’s honestly amazing the guy only bankrupted three casinos,” the ABC host said. “Trump said that he and Putin will work together to end the war in Ukraine. Which is like E. Coli and Ex-Lax working together to end diarrhea.”
“If successful, this will send a strong message to the rest of the world, which is that if you attack and murder our allies, it will make no difference at all,” Kimmel joked.
You can watch the whole monologue, below:
