Jimmy Kimmel dings Trump's 'brazen hypocrisy' on golfing, calls America's mask war 'the dumbest standoff ever'


"This was a weird Memorial Day," Jimmy Kimmel said on Tuesday's Kimmel Live. "I think we can all agree: Zoom barbecues suck. This weekend Donald Trump, by unauthorized presidential order, made a sweeping declaration to open all churches, temples, and places of worship, in an effort to make sure that the most devout Americans can get a chance to contract the coronavirus, too." And Trump, "a man of great faith," he deadpanned, spent Sunday morning golfing.
"You know, people say he's unfit to be president — they forget, he's barely even fit to play golf," Kimmel said. "It looks bad for the president to be golfing with 100,000 Americans dead and a stay-at-home order in place, but try explaining optics to a guy who stared directly into an eclipse," he added, showing the "the brazen hypocrisy" of both Trump and Fox & Friends when it comes to presidential golfing.
Along with his golfing, Trump spent Memorial Day weekend "tweeting nut-job conspiracy theories and mocking Joe Biden for wearing a mask to a Memorial Day event," Kimmel said. He showed some scenes of mask-less crowds on beaches, more beaches, and at a "Zero Ducks Given" pool party at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, plus one Staten Island standoff where grocery shoppers yelled a mask-less woman out of the store.
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"I have to say, of all the fights we've had over the last few years, this one makes the least sense," Kimmel said. "This is the dumbest standoff ever. We all want to go back to work, we all want to go out to eat, we all want to hang out, none of us want to see people die. So if wearing a mask can help slow the virus and get us back to normal sooner, why not wear a mask? It's so selfish. Are these people also refusing to wash their hands? Or is that for wussies, too?"
The Daily Show's Michael Kosta spoke last week with Florida beach "grim reaper" Daniel Uhlfelder, whose macabre protests in favor of social distancing are, he hopes, giving succor to the mask-wearing majority disheartened by the anti-mitigation protesters. Watch below. 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.
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