Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel turned his attention to President Donald Trump during Tuesday’s broadcast of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, using a brief moment from an Oval Office event to deliver a pointed joke about Trump’s repeated references to former President Joe Biden.
During his monologue, Kimmel focused on Trump’s continued use of the nickname “Sleepy Joe Biden,” a phrase that became a recurring feature of Trump’s political rhetoric during the 2020 presidential campaign and has remained part of his attacks on his predecessor.
Kimmel played footage from a White House event announcing a proposed $15 billion steel plant in Iowa. During the event, Trump brought up Biden while discussing his political record.
“Sleepy Joe Biden, have you heard of him?” Trump said.
Kimmel responded with a sarcastic punchline, pretending that Trump’s frequent references to Biden were unfamiliar to him.
“No, I haven’t heard of him, you’ve never mentioned him before,” Kimmel joked.
The late-night host then shifted the focus to another portion of the same event. Footage captured only minutes after Trump’s remarks appeared to show the president seated behind the Resolute Desk as industry executives spoke. At one point, Trump’s eyes appeared closed and his head briefly dipped downward.
Kimmel immediately seized on the apparent contrast between Trump’s criticism of Biden and the footage from the Oval Office.
“Then, only minutes after invoking the name ‘Sleepy Joe Biden,’ Nappy Don Trump drifted off to dreamland on live TV,” Kimmel quipped, adding another joke involving former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.
The exchange quickly became another example of the way late-night television hosts have used short political video clips to comment on the contrasting rhetoric surrounding Trump and Biden.
Trump and his representatives have repeatedly pushed back against suggestions that the president is routinely fatigued or falling asleep during public events. They have argued that isolated video clips can be misleading and may capture moments of concentration, blinking or brief pauses that do not accurately reflect a person’s overall alertness.
Nevertheless, the footage provided Kimmel with an opportunity to turn one of Trump’s familiar political attacks back toward him. By juxtaposing Trump’s “Sleepy Joe” reference with the subsequent video from the Oval Office, Kimmel framed the moment as a humorous example of political rhetoric colliding with an unscripted television image.
The segment reflects the broader role late-night programs continue to play in political commentary, particularly when brief moments involving public officials rapidly circulate across social media and become part of the day’s political conversation.
