The Monday edition of ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! unwittingly revealed a truth about comedy shows: you can’t trust their man on the street segments. This particular segment saw the show head to South Carolina for a Trump rally in an attempt to portray Trump supporters as stupid, but the interviewer disallowed a correct answer because someone away from the microphone and camera already said it.
The interviewer began by asking, “what is the supreme law of the land?” and none of the people being interviewed gave the correct answer: the Constitution. Likewise, nobody knew that there are 27 amendments to the Constitution.
She then asked “What are the first three words of the Constitution?”
One man said “In God we trust,” while another guessed, “Life, liberty, and happiness.” The second man’s friend then jumped in, “No, it's we the people.”
The interviewer was not happy, ‘“Cause that guy said it walking past you. You heard. You cheated! You cheated like Joe Biden!”
The idea for the segment was that Trump supporters claim to want to make America great again and wrap themselves in the flag, so Kimmel wanted to know just how patriotic they really are. The joke was supposed to be that the answer is “not very,” but the fact that the Trump supporter who was not shown on camera knew the answer to the basic question shows that Jimmy Kimmel Live! was cherry-picking who they did show on tape for the sake of the narrative.
Furthermore, Biden supporters also wrap themselves in the flag, claiming that democracy itself is on the ballot this November. Why doesn’t Kimmel send someone to a Biden rally and see what kind of results he gets there? How many Jimmy Kimmel Live! viewers or Biden voters knew there are 27 amendments to the Constitution prior to the show putting the answer at the bottom of the screen? Surely the lack of civics education is not unique to one side.
Here is a transcript for the March 18 show:
ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!
3/19/2024
11:48 PM ET
FEMALE INTERVIEWER: We're out here today asking real Americans if they could pass the citizenship test. Do you think you could do it?
WOMAN 1: Sure.
MAN 1: Maybe.
GROUP OF YOUNG MEN: Easily.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER: Number one, what is the supreme law of the land?
MAN 2: I don’t know.
MAN 3: No!
MAN 4: Guns, liberty, and justice.
MAN 1: I have no idea.
MAN 5: We might fail the citizenship test.
MAN 6: Good question. Well, I'm not going to answer that one right now.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER: How many amendments does the Constitution have?
MAN 1: Thirty-two.
MAN 5: Thirty-two.
WOMAN 2: Ten?
MAN 7: No. I don't know.
WOMAN 1: 20-something I think. Maybe 13. I'm not real sure on that. I worry about number one and number two.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER: What are the first three words of the Constitution?
MAN 6: In God we trust.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER: Okay, so that's four.
MAN 8: Life, liberty, and happiness. Is that--
MAN 2: No, it's we the people.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER: 'Cause that guy said it walking past you. You heard. You cheated! You cheated like Joe Biden!
