Jimmy Kimmel and Trevor Noah brutally mock the Parkland students conspiracy theorists

Jimmy Kimmel and Trevor Noah tackled Parkland conspiracists

(Image credit: Screenshots/YouTube/The Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live)

On Wednesday, word came that "President Trump might be supporting a ban on bump-stocks and the strengthening of background checks — which is weird, right?" Trevor Noah said on The Daily Show. "Trump might do something good. You know you don't know how to feel about that." Maybe Trump is softening his opposition to gun laws because "he's watching the same kids we've all been watching over the past few days — survivors of the shooting" in Parkland, Florida, Noah suggested.

"Most people who see those kids are impressed by how articulate they are and they're inspired by their passion," Noah said, but others "think it's suspicious that these kids say they don't want to be shot in the face." He focused on that second group, swatting down their various conspiracy theories.

"Here's what I find funny about this whole debate," Noah said: "Most of the arguments boil down to one idea — teenagers are too young, too emotional, too inexperienced to talk about guns. But as soon as they turn 18, they can own as many of those bad boys as they want. And I guess in a way, this is how you know these students are having an effect: You've never seen gun advocates so desperate that they'd start attacking the victims of a mass shooting."

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Post-shooting "crackpots" always "come out of the woodwork with this irrational, paranoia-fueled nonsense — it happened after Sandy Hook, too," Jimmy Kimmel said Wednesday night. But it's crazy for people like Donald Trump Jr. and NRA board member Ted Nugent to be "perpetuating this kind of stuff."

Kimmel asked viewers, especially Trump supporters, if they believe these students "are actors who are part of some kind of deep-state, left-wing conspiracy," and if the answer's yes, he had "bad news": "You're crazy. You're a crazy person." If not, he said, "you can't just sit there and let these scumbags spread these lies about these kids." Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.