The biggest news to come from day one of Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial on Monday was that the disgraced ex-president apparently fell asleep in the courtroom. Naturally, Jimmy Kimmel thought this was both hilarious and very telling.
On “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” the host noted how Trump’s longstanding nickname for President Joe Biden has been “Sleepy Joe,” adding that nodding off in court makes Trump “Dozo the Clown.”
Now just in case you missed it, Monday was the start of jury selection in the business fraud criminal trial over the money Trump paid to keep his affair with former porn actress Stormy Daniels a secret in 2016. According to multiple reporters in the room including Maggie Haberman of the New York Times, Trump appears to have dozed off with his mouth agape at one point, stayed out for a short but significant length of time and then snapped awake.
Kimmel began his monologue by talking about the trial generally, joking that “it’s very crazy that on the Monday after O.J. dies, the Donald Trump trial begins.”
Kimmel also joked that after the court clerk announced the trial, there was “15 minutes of thunderous applause.” Then he talked about the gag order the presiding judge has placed on Trump — one of many Trump’s received over the last few years — and then noted that Trump has of course continued to violate it, including the morning of the trial.
The trial is expected to last six weeks, or “until the courtroom sketch artist runs out of orange, whichever comes first,” Kimmel said later, before talking about how forcing Trump to attend the trial four days a week “is going to drive him insane.”
“It’s like making an 8-year-old go to six weeks of church,” he said.
Kimmel then called out what he sees as a big double standard in political media coverage. “I mean, can you imagine, imagine if Joe Biden fell asleep in the court on the first day of his trial? Trump would be calling him ‘Comatose Joe.’ Fox News would be talking about this until Christmas. But not old Donny Nappleseed.”
“Multiple reports said Trump’s head drooped until his chin hit his chest, which… I don’t know, maybe he was just following the price of his Truth Social stock. Either way, it’s nice to see even Donald Trump is exhausted by Donald Trump,” Kimmel added.
