Every once in a while, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel will do a man-on-the-street interview type of segment where he sends someone out to demonstrate how dumb Donald Trump supporters supposedly are in an attempt to discredit one of Trump’s positions. However, Wednesday’s attempt at this unwittingly backfired on Kimmel, who was blissfully unaware that one conspiracy theory floated by one of the interviewees was popularized by an anti-Trump CNN analyst who insisted on redoing the 2016 election.
Kimmel introduced the package, “Since he got back, the president has used his fat little Sharpie to sign over 100 executive orders. He signed a bunch of them today. One of the most notable of the executive orders was his order to disband the Department of Education. Now, we already know how his critics feel about that. But what do the folks who voted for Trump think about it? To find out, we went all the way to Florida, to the Gulf of America, to ask some of Trump's bigliest fans what they think about the Department of Education.”
Throughout the whole segment, 13 people would be interviewed, but only two of them were explicitly shown claiming they supported axing the Department of Education. Still, the staffer Kimmel sent to Florida asked such questions as “Can you name the first president of the U.S.?”
After someone said Abraham Lincoln, another was asked, “What do the initials LBJ stand for?” When one woman got the correct answer, the interviewer followed up by asking, “What does the B stand for?”
The woman then answered, “Nothing. Just B,” which is incorrect, but how many people watching Jimmy Kimmel Live! at that moment knew the answer was “Baines.”
There were other cringeworthy moments, such as people not knowing who the U.S. fought in the Civil War or when the War of 1812 was, but eventually the interviewer came to “Do you know who shot Hitler?”
A man replied, “Nobody knows who shot Hitler. It's like—he may have killed himself. It’s kind of a mystery. I had a teacher tell me that he—he's still alive, this is what he told me a couple years ago, he's still alive, and he took a U-boat.”
The questioner followed up, “A teacher in school? Who do you think that teacher voted for?” To which the man answered, “Trump, probably.”
From 2015 to 2017 with an additional 2020 special, the History Channel had a show called Hunting Hitler, where ex-CIA operative Robert Baer considered the possibility that Hitler was among the high-ranking Nazi officials who managed to get out of Germany and escape to Argentina and the idea that he shot himself was just a cover story. Baer is now an intelligence and security analyst for CNN who insisted that the 2016 election be redone.
The idea that Hitler made it to Argentina on a U-boat is just proof that conspiracy theories are not unique to one side. If Kimmel were to go to one of those anti-Trump protests or ask liberal beachgoers similar questions, eventually he could get enough dumb answers to have a TV segment, but Kimmel won’t do that, because that wouldn’t fit the narrative he is seeking to build.
Here is a transcript for the April 9 show:
ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!
4/9/2025
JIMMY KIMMEL: Since he got back, the president has used his fat little Sharpie to sign over 100 executive orders. He signed a bunch of them today. One of the most notable of the executive orders was his order to disband the Department of Education. Now, we already know how his critics feel about that. But what do the folks who voted for Trump think about it? To find out, we went all the way to Florida, to the Gulf of America, to ask some of Trump's bigliest fans what they think about the Department of Education.
INTERVIEWER: One thing that Trump wants to get rid of is the Department of Education. Do you support that?
MAN 1: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Have you heard about Trump wanting to close the Department of Education?
MAN 2: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: And what do you think about that?
MAN 2: I think it's right. Put it back to the states.
INTERVIEWER: What do you think about his stance on the Department of Education? He wants to get rid of it.
MAN 3: You know, I'd love to be more educated on it, to give you a well-endowed answer.
INTERVIEWER: I want to do a fun, like, school quiz.
WOMAN 1: Sure.
INTERVIEWER: Can you name the first president of the U.S.?
WOMAN 1: The very first president? Was that Abraham Lincoln?
INTERVIEWER: What do the initials LBJ stand for?
MAN 4: LBJ?
INTERVIEWER: Yeah.
MAN 4: LeBron James?
WOMAN 2: Lyndon B. Johnson.
INTERVIEWER: What does the B stand for?
WOMAN 2: Nothing. Just B.
INTERVIEWER: Who wrote the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin?
MAN 5: Um — does anybody here know the answer — do you know the answer to that question?
INTERVIEWER: How many times has the U.S. fought in a World War?
WOMAN 3: Only World War II, so just one.
INTERVIEWER: When was the War of 1812?
WOMAN 4: Of 1812?
INTERVIEWER: Yeah.
WOMAN 4: Is that the Civil War?
INTERVIEWER: Who did the U.S. fight in the Civil War?
WOMAN 2: I don't know.
INTERVIEWER: Who did the U.S. fight in the Civil War?
WOMAN 5: U.S. Civil War was — was it Mexico and –
INTERVIEWER: What happened on D-Day?
MAN 4: Kill all the aliens.
INTERVIEWER: Marie Antoinette famously said let them eat –
WOMAN 6: Let them eat — was she, people, was she like a cannibal?
INTERVIEWER: Do you know who shot Hitler?
MAN 6: Nobody knows who shot Hitler. It's like— he may have killed himself. It’s kind of a mystery. I had a teacher tell me that he — he's still alive, this is what he told me a couple years ago, he's still alive, and he took a U-boat.
INTERVIEWER: A teacher in school? Who do you think that teacher voted for?
MAN 6: Trump, probably.
INTERVIEWER: Can you spell restaurant?
WOMAN 6: Yeah. R-E-S-T-R-U-A-R—wait. Restur—
MAN 6: R-E-S-T-U-R-A-N-T.
MAN 7: R-E-S-T-R-A-U-N-T. Restaurant. I think I forgot an E.
INTERVIEWER: How many sides does the Pentagon building have?
MAN 2: It should be ten.
INTERVIEWER: What are the first three digits of pi?
WOMAN 1: A, B, and C?
INTERVIEWER: What are the first three digits of pi?
WOMAN 5: I can see it, hold on. I cannot think of it. It's been a minute.
INTERVIEWER: How do you spell pi?
WOMAN 5: As far as, as like, blueberry? P-Y-E.
INTERVIEWER: Elon Musk, he has 14 kids. He gives seven of his kids up for adoption. One to Angelina Jolie and two to science. Why does he have so many kids?
MAN 6: That's a lot. I don't know.
