With much of the media rushing to take Donald Trump’s comments about an impending “bloodbath” in the auto industry, Fox & Friends declared that this is why viewers should trust them to cover the news accurately instead. This did not sit well with ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, who accused them on Monday of both sides-ing the issue and ultimately proclaimed that the truth doesn’t actually matter.
Kimmel was going through a series of clips from Trump’s recent rally when he teed up a clip of the “bloodbath” remarks, “But of all the very disturbing things he said, this was probably most disturbing.”
What makes Kimmel’s hot take about Fox even more ridiculous is that he played the part of the clip where Trump was very clearly talking about his trade policy, “We're going to put a 100 percent tariff on every single car that comes across the line and you're not going to be able to sell those to us if I get elected. Now, if I don't get elected, it's going to be a bloodbath for the whole -- that's going to be the least of it.”
Kimmel responded, “The longer this election goes, the more he talks like Thanos. He’s saying ‘bloodbath’ -- so after the bloodbath remark, people went, ‘oh, that's not great.’ So, Trump went into spin mode, saying he was only talking about a bloodbath in the auto industry. He had to post an explanation on Truth Social, which is on fire, by the way. They even had to activate the Fox & Friends to do damage control.”
In a clip of Monday morning’s Fox & Friends, co-host Steve Doocy was shown declaring, “And with Donald Trump, you have to watch and don't let people report what they think he said. Context is always important, and we try to give you as much of it as we possibly can.”
Fellow co-host Ainsley Earhardt added, “And if you watch a mainstream media outlet, you don't get the whole story.”
Doocy added, “Just watch us. We'll tell you both sides,” to which Earhardt agreed, “So true.”
Mocking Earhardt, Kimmel returned, “So true. Not just true, so true. There are-- listen, there are very fine people on both sides of the bloodbath.”
Kimmel then claimed that the actual context doesn’t matter, the fact that there’s a debate around what he said is problematic enough, “The truth is, the context we should be considering isn't whether or not Trump meant that bloodbath literally. What we should--is that he’s such a lunatic, we actually have to debate if he meant it literally. We have to ask ‘Was that totally crazy or just kind of crazy?’"
If it is true that in politics perception is reality, then context absolutely matters because taking something out of context alters people’s perception of political candidates. Somebody who claims to have a rigorous fact-checking process for his jokes should understand that.
Here is a transcript for the March 18 show:
ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!
3/18/2024
11:43 PM ET
JIMMY KIMMEL: But of all the very disturbing things he said, this was probably most disturbing.
DONALD TRUMP: We're going to put a 100 percent tariff on every single car that comes across the line and you're not going to be able to sell those to us if I get elected. Now, if I don't get elected, it's going to be a bloodbath for the whole -- that's going to be the least of it.
KIMMEL: The longer this election goes, the more he talks like Thanos. He’s saying “bloodbath” -- so after the bloodbath remark, people went, “oh, that's not great.” So, Trump went into spin mode, saying he was only talking about a bloodbath in the auto industry. He had to post an explanation on Truth Social, which is on fire, by the way. They even had to activate the Fox & Friends to do damage control.
STEVE DOOCY: And with Donald Trump, you have to watch and don't let people report what they think he said. Context is always important, and we try to give you as much of it as we possibly can.
AINSLEY EARHARDT: And if you watch a mainstream media outlet—
LAWRENCE JONES: Right.
EARHARDT: -- you don't get the whole story.
DOOCY: Just watch us. We'll tell you both sides.
EARHARDT: So true.
KIMMEL: So true. Not just true, so true. There are-- listen, there are very fine people on both sides of the bloodbath. The truth is, the context we should be considering isn't whether or not Trump meant that bloodbath literally. What we should--is that he’s such a lunatic, we actually have to debate if he meant it literally. We have to ask "Was that totally crazy or just kind of crazy?"
