Kimmel Pushes El-Sayed and Talarico, Spreads Conspiracies With Newsom

Alex Christy
October 29th, 2026 9:56 AM

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On Wednesday, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel continued his efforts to help Democrats win next Tuesday in two ways. First, Kimmel used his monologue to defend Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed and Texas’s James Talarico from accusations of radicalness. Second, Kimmel welcomed California Gov. Newsom to spread conspiracy theories about the election and to resurrect the myth that Trump wants Iran to bomb the state.

Kimmel introduced a clip of El-Sayed by suggesting Republicans have no legitimate criticisms of him, “This guy, Abdul el Syed, is a very strong candidate. He’s very smart, he’s strong, he’s an excellent speaker, and so what do you do in a situation like that? Well, if you're Donald Trump, you call him a terrorist.”

 

 

After a clip of Trump claiming El-Sayed would have to be given “the metal detector test,” Kimmel retorted, “Remember when racism was supposed to be a secret?  Like, they'd whisper this stuff in their foursome on the golf course to each other, while they were looking around like this. Now it's your grandpa's Facebook page live on stage every day.”

Despite El-Sayed’s known affinity for the Muslim Brotherhood’s Egypt takeover over a decade ago, Kimmel claimed the concerns were dumb, “They keep saying El-Sayed is part of the Muslim Brotherhood. This guy was born in Rochester Hills, Michigan, and played high school lacrosse. He played lacrosse, football, and hockey, the three whitest sports there are. Oh my god, what is he hiding in those goalie pads? Give him a metal detector test!”

Kimmel then introduced a second clip, “And then Trump diced into his bag of doddering disinformation about lash out at James Talarico.”

After Trump warned that Timmy could come home from school as Sarah, Kimmel retorted, “Yeah, now that is true. That's what happened to Sarah Palin. She was Timmy Palin. The doctors got hold of her. They made her a Sarah and the parents didn't even know. Does anyone actually believe this? I mean if so, please trust me on this, if you drop off Timmy and he comes home Sarah, you picked up the wrong kid from school.”

California is a state with such laws, but that never came up in Kimmel’s discussion with Newsom. Instead, Kimmel feared, “Do we feel confident that here in California, at least, your state, that voting will be — you'll be able to vote, it will be counted, your votes won't be thrown out?”

Newsom played into the paranoia by answering, “He's tried to disenfranchise votes. He's tried to throw out 20,000 votes before they're even counted in the state of California. We had to go to federal court on Sunday. We went to federal court on Sunday, back on Tuesday, and right now I am focused on getting over 1,000 poll workers, folks out there to monitor the DOJ monitors that Trump's going to send to try to steal this election. No question in my mind he's going to try to steal votes.”

 

 

The duo also tried to bring back a long-since debunked controversy with Kimmel wondering, “A few months ago when he kind of toyed with this idea that Iran might send nuclear weapons, missiles, toward L.A. and San Diego, is that something like at that point — do members of your staff come and get you when he says something like that? Or is it now just now babbling and noise?”

Newsom mused that “Members of his cabinet should get him and then enact the 25th Amendment when it comes to comments like that. Let me nuke — it's not that — again, none of this is normal. We can't allow this to be normalized. He said it not once, he said it twice.”

 

 

Kimmel, still unaware of the concept of military R&D, further wondered, “Do you think he even knows Iran doesn't have the capability to reach the West Coast of the United States?”

Naturally, Newsom claimed he does not. On Wednesday, Kimmel spread at least four bits of misinformation, but he has the tenacity to say other people have a “bag of doddering disinformation.”

Here is a transcript for the October 28 show:

ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!

10/28/2026

11:39 PM ET

JIMMY KIMMEL: This guy, Abdul el Syed, is a very strong candidate. He’s very smart, he’s strong, he’s an excellent speaker, and so what do you do in a situation like that? Well, if you're Donald Trump, you call him a terrorist.

DONALD TRUMP: With the guy up in Michigan, we're going to have to do the, you know, the test, the metal detector test, before he's allowed to sit every day. He's going to have to go through a metal detector.

KIMMEL: Remember when racism was supposed to be a secret?  Like, they'd whisper this stuff in their foursome on the golf course to each other, while they were looking around like this. Now it's your grandpa's Facebook page live on stage every day. They keep saying El-Sayed is part of the Muslim Brotherhood. This guy was born in Rochester Hills, Michigan, and played high school lacrosse. He played lacrosse, football, and hockey, the three whitest sports there are. Oh my god, what is he hiding in those goalie pads? Give him a metal detector test!

And then Trump diced into his bag of doddering disinformation about lash out at James Talarico.

TRUMP: Tala-freak-o stated he loves transgender children and that’s alright. Look, that’s not — but, you know, these children, if you check it out and see what happens, they take them as young children and Timmy leaves home and comes back Sarah.

KIMMEL: Yeah, now that is true. That's what happened to Sarah Palin. She was Timmy Palin. The doctors got hold of her. They made her a Sarah and the parents didn't even know. Does anyone actually believe this? I mean if so, please trust me on this, if you drop off Timmy and he comes home Sarah, you picked up the wrong kid from school.

…

KIMMEL: I mean, he will anyway, we know that. But maybe not successfully, hopefully. Do we feel confident that here in California, at least, your state, that voting will be — you'll be able to vote, it will be counted, your votes won't be thrown out?

GAVIN NEWSOM: Look. We were in court this weekend. This is — it's an extraordinary thing. He's tried to disenfranchise votes. He's tried to throw out 20,000 votes before they're even counted in the state of California. We had to go to federal court on Sunday. We went to federal court on Sunday, back on Tuesday, and right now I am focused on getting over 1,000 poll workers, folks out there to monitor the DOJ monitors that Trump's going to send to try to steal this election. No question in my mind he's going to try to steal votes.

…

KIMMEL: A few months ago when he kind of toyed with this idea that Iran might send nuclear weapons, missiles, toward L.A. and San Diego, is that something like at that point — do members of your staff come and get you when he says something like that? Or is it now just now babbling and noise?

NEWSOM: Members of his cabinet should get him and then enact the 25th Amendment when it comes to comments like that. Let me nuke — it's not that — again, none of this is normal. We can't allow this to be normalized. He said it not once, he said it twice. He doubled down on stupid. He consistently does that. And by the way, San Diego is — I can't even imagine. This is an overstatement, but it may be one of the densest, most militarized cities in the world. One of the most critical assets in terms of the military preparedness. And he's quite literally threatened the city.

What I think happened, though Jimmy, it's interesting. He always says what he's thinking privately, because it wasn't just about nuclear Armageddon and it relates to encouraging Iran to go on those two cities are what he announced a few days later in L.A. and San Diego were large-scale ICE raids. So it was clear that he gave message, and he gave permission and directed those raids in those two cities, so it was on his mind, and typically of Trump, loose lips as it relates to what he said.

KIMMEL: Do you think he even knows Iran doesn't have the capability to reach the West Coast of the United States?

NEWSOM: No.

KIMMEL: Do you think he — I mean, honestly.

NEWSOM: I literally do not believe he has that faculty.

KIMMEL: You do not.

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