ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel is a big basketball fan, so to put Thursday’s show in basketball terms, he went up for a dunk attempt on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth only to slip, fall, and faceplant.
During a discussion on Hegseth’s alleged makeup studio—something Hegseth denies—Kimmel compared Hegseth with his predecessor, “By the way, do you know who this is? This is Lloyd Austin. He is a four-star general. He was the previous Secretary of Defense. You ever seen him before? No. You know why? He was inside the Pentagon, doing his job! He was not on TV every day. Pete Hegseth is on TV now more than Ryan Seacrest.”
Kimmel told zero Austin jokes in 2024, so the only question is whether Kimmel is deliberately ignoring Austin’s scandal, where he disappeared from the job without telling anyone at the White House, or whether he lives in such a liberal bubble he genuinely does not know about that controversy.
For all the talk about President Trump and Hegseth bringing culture wars to the apolitical military, it was Austin who inserted the Pentagon into the abortion debate when he flouted the Hyde Amendment and, yes, went on TV to defend it.
And that doesn’t even begin to talk about Austin’s record on military things. The chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and the administration’s overly restrictive and impossible-to-understand rules of engagement for Ukraine will be the things that most define his legacy.
As for Kimmel, he then teed up a clip of Hegseth, with a filter that showed him wearing copious amounts of makeup, declaring, “We're back with another DOD reform. Americans want to join a military with high, clear standards. We can meet those standards. Biden couldn't. President Trump has.”
After the video, he added, “You know, he does do a nice job. He's very pretty. The good news is when he gets booted from the Pentagon, he'll be able to get a job at Sephora. The Defense Secretary has a makeup room. The vice president wears eyeliner. And yet, somehow, this administration spends all day, every day complaining about trans women ruining sports.”
A few hours later, the cast of MSNBC’s Morning Joe highlighted the synergy between traditional liberal news and the late night comedians, as they were so enthralled by Kimmel’s Austin comparison that they replayed it on their show.
Here is a transcript for the April 24-taped show:
ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!
4/25/2025
12:25 AM ET
JIMMY KIMMEL: By the way, do you know who this is? This is Lloyd Austin. He is a four-star general. He was the previous Secretary of Defense. You ever seen him before? No. You know why? He was inside the Pentagon, doing his job! He was not on TV every day. Pete Hegseth is on TV now more than Ryan Seacrest.
PETE HEGSETH [FILTER WITH HIGH AMOUNTS OF MAKEUP]: We're back with another DOD reform. Americans want to join a military with high, clear standards. We can meet those standards. Biden couldn't. President Trump has.
KIMMEL: You know, he does do a nice job. He's very pretty. The good news is when he gets booted from the Pentagon, he'll be able to get a job at Sephora. The Defense Secretary has a makeup room. The vice president wears eyeliner. And yet, somehow, this administration spends all day, every day complaining about trans women ruining sports.
