Jimmy Kimmel points out flaws in the GOP's anti-vaccine passport case, trawls Trump's new website

Jimmy Kimmel on vaccine passports — (Image credit: Screenshots/YouTube/The Washington Post, Jimmy Kimmel Live)

The Biden administration is starting to help private companies develop a standard of "vaccine verification" — or vaccine passports — that Americans can use to show they have been inoculated against COVID-19. And Republicans are making this "a new front in the pandemic culture wars," The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

"There's a controversy now — we now have controversies where we never had them before — over the so-called vaccine passports that the Biden administration and private industry are working on so that we have a way to prove that you got your shots for the purposes of travel or going to a concert, sporting event, whatever," Jimmy Kimmel said on Tuesday's Kimmel Live. "If you have a vaccine passport, you will be able to do that stuff, but unfortunately, many Republicans aren't on board with that ... which is very rich coming from the party that wants nine forms of identification before you can vote."

Kimmel singled out "Ron DeSantis, the terrible governor of Florida," and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who called vaccine passports Biden's "Mark of the Beast." "Poor Joe Biden — how can you reach across the aisle when the other side thinks you have hoofs?" he sighed. "There should be a test to get into Congress. You have take a test to be able to drive. Congress, they just wave you right through."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Kimmel also dug into the new website former President Donald Trump launched Monday. "45office.com? Is he launching a website or a new version of Microsoft Word? But this website, as you might guess, is something else," he said. "He basically set up a fan page for himself," but also offers to record videos for special occasions or even get hired for in-person events. "In three months, Donald Trump has gone from president of the United States to bookable birthday clown," Kimmel laughed. He also noted that Major, Biden's younger dog, nipped a federal employee again. "I wonder how they're going to handle this? You can't have a dog going around biting people! I mean say what you will about Donald Trump, Mike Pence never bit anybody."

The Washington Post has a deeper, more sober look at vaccine passports — and why they aren't all that new — and you can watch that below. Peter Weber

Explore More

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.