Jimmy Kimmel found the bright side in President Donald Trump’s plan to remake the Gaza Strip into a “Riviera of the Middle East.”
He argued that the proposal, which has been immediately condemned by human rights groups, is so crazy it’s got everyone else on Earth in agreement that it’s a bad idea.
“The leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Turkey, France, Germany, Spain, the U.K., have all forcefully rejected it," Kimmel said.
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He added, “The only thing the United Nations and the Taliban have in common is they both think this is a terrible idea.”
Trump’s plan for Gaza would apparently involve displacing the resident Palestinians to Egypt or Jordan for an indeterminate length of time to build a “Riviera of the Middle East.” Critics like U.N. chief Antonio Guterres have said that such a plan could qualify as ethnic cleansing.
But as Kimmel acknowledged in his monologue Wednesday, the disapproval of the rest of the world hasn’t stopped Trump so far.
“Trump said he spoke to the leaders, and everybody loves it,” Kimmel said, unconvinced. He noted the shocked reaction of Trump’s chief of staff Susan Wiles during his Gaza press conference.
“That is the face of a woman whose soul just exited her body at the speed of light,” Kimmel joked.
The late-night host also ripped into Trump’s explanation that the new, rebuilt Gaza would be inhabited by “the world’s people.”
“The world’s people,” Kimmel mocked. “Maybe the Village People, I don’t know. You can see he’s really thought this through.”
“Every idea is worse than the last idea,” said Kimmel. “He seems to believe that the reason there’s conflict in Gaza is because no one thought to give them a pickleball court.”
He added, “Everything, no matter what the crisis may be, everything always comes back to real estate with him.”
Kimmel noted about Trump’s latest idea, “It’s like our country is being run by the maniac from Saw. You know, Donald ‘Jigsaw’ Trump is running this.”
