Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel dedicated a portion of his opening monologue Friday night to blasting elected politicians, including President Donald Trump, for what he called their inactivity on the issue of school shootings, and for “caring more about the support of the NRA than they do about children.”
After noting the numbers of people killed and wounded at a high school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, on Friday, Kimmel accused elected officials of sitting with their hands in their “pockets full of gun money,” while waiting for “the outrage to pass.” Kimmel also urged people to register to vote for politicians who “will do something,” about school shootings.
Kimmel said:
And, once again, our leaders are sending their thoughts and prayers. President Trump said he is with the people of Santa Fe in this tragic hour and will be with them forever—except for when it comes time to do something. Then he will not be with them. And neither will any of the congresspeople—or governors—who don’t ever do anything because they are fearful that it will hurt them politically. They know the truth. They know this has gone too far. But they’re too cowardly to do the right thing. They care more about the support of the NRA than they do about children.
‘So they sit there, with their hands in their pockets, pockets that are full of gun money, and do nothing. They just wait for the outrage to pass, because it didn’t happen to their children. There’s only one way to look at this: How would you feel and what would you do if these were your children who were killed today? The truth about our democracy is that the people don’t make laws, we vote for those who do. So… the least you can do is register to vote right now. I mean the only way we can make any meaningful impact on this epidemic is to make sure we vote for politicians who will do something.
Toward the end of his monologue, an advertisement for Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun group Everytown for Gun Safety appears across the screen after a clip played of President Donald Trump’s speech to the NRA.
Kimmel concluded his diatribe with yet another parting shot at lawmakers, “Our leaders right now seem to think that everything is fine… it isn’t fine. This kind of thing doesn’t happen in countries that have real, sensible gun laws. And I don’t know about you, but I for one am very, very tired of this.”
This is not the first time that Kimmel has reacted to a school shooting by lashing out at President Trump and other pro-Second Amendment politicians. In February, after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Kimmel called Trump “mentally ill,” while calling for voters to oust other politicians who support gun rights.
“Tell these congressmen and lobbyists who infest that swamp you said you were going to drain, force these allegedly Christian men and women who stuff their pockets with money from the NRA year after year after year to do something,” Kimmel said. “Now, not later. Now. And don’t you dare let anyone say it’s too soon to be talking about it, because you said it after Vegas, you said it after Sandy Hook, you say that after every one of these eight now fatal school shootings we had in this country this year. Children are being murdered.”
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn