Out-Foxed
Jimmy Kimmel grills Biden on gun legislation inaction after Uvalde and other school shootings
President Biden sat down with Jimmy Kimmel on Wednesday's Kimmel Live, and Kimmel started the interview with some serious questions on why America hasn't done anything significant on gun violence, even after the Uvalde, Texas, massacre and 26 other school shootings this year. He felt compelled to ask serious questions, he deadpanned, so as not to disappoint Fox News.
Biden said he believes Republicans won't vote for new gun laws because they are scared they would lose their seats in "a hard-right Republican primary." Kimmel said that even if the GOP has veered right, the country hasn't and tighter gun laws are overwhelmingly popular. "Can't you issue an executive order?" he asked. Former President Donald Trump "passed those out like Halloween candy."
"Well, I have issued executive orders within the power of the presidency" to address gun violence, "but what I don't want to do — and I'm not being facetious — I don't want to emulate Trump's abuse of the Constitution and constitutional authority," Biden said. "I often get asked, 'Look, the Republicans don't play it square, why do you play it square?' Well, guess what? If we do the same thing they do, our democracy will literally be in jeopardy."
"I understand that argument, but also it's like you're playing 'Monopoly' with somebody who, you know, won't pass Go," Kimmel said, "and how do you ever make any progress if they're not following the rules?" "You gotta send them to jail," Biden joked, assuring the audience he meant in the game, not real life.
Biden and Kimmel discussed climate change, voting rights, and the pending Supreme Court decision striking down abortion rights. "I don't think the country will stand for it," he said of overturning Roe v. Wade and other reproductive rights, "but I think what we're gonna have to do is there's some executive orders I could employ, we believe — we're looking at that right now."
"It's kind of exciting to have the president come visit you at work, but not everyone's thrilled about his appearance here tonight," Kimmel said in his monologue. "The folks over at Fox News and the wannabe Fox New Jr.'s are very upset that the president is doing an interview with, of all people, me while he's in town for the Summit of the Americas." He noted the critique from Fox hosts about the need to serve presidents tough questions, then showed clips of them lobbing praise and softballs at Trump.