Late-Night Hosts Mock Trump Over Midterm Disaster - Newsweek

Late-night hosts mocked President Donald Trump after Democrats seized control of Congress in the midterm elections, targeting the president's campaign appearances and his attempts to distance himself from the Republican defeat.

Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers turned the Democratic wave into monologue material, while The Daily Show host Ronny Chieng satirized the campaign’s fixation on politicians’ appearances.

Former late-night host Stephen Colbert, a frequent Trump target, also celebrated Democrats’ victory in his native South Carolina.

The jokes marked the latest chapter in Trump's long-running feud with late-night television, whose leading hosts he has repeatedly attacked and threatened with losing their shows.

They also followed a sweeping result in which Democrats won control of both the House and Senate. With two Senate contests still unresolved early Thursday, the party had secured 54 seats after flipping Republican-held seats in Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas.

Fallon connected the results to Trump's final preelection appearance at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, where the president promoted the site’s renovation and warned that he would become "Mr. Veto" if Democrats won Congress.

"President Trump couldn't do it with the Reflecting Pool, but last night he turned the whole country blue," Fallon said.

The Tonight Show host also described the result as "a blue wave caused by an orange president," and joked that departing Republican lawmakers would take part in "a reverse January 6th."

Kimmel, meanwhile, called the Democratic victory a "blue tsunami" and said the only "a**" on Trump's mind was "the one that just got handed to him."

The joke referred to Trump's repeated campaign remarks about Republican Jon Husted's physique, who went on to lose Ohio's Senate race to Democrat Sherrod Brown.

Kimmel also joked that Trump had exhausted his supply of dipping-sauce containers to throw at the television and was now "a lame duck and an orange chicken at the same time."

Kimmel targeted Trump’s claim that Republicans would have won "in a landslide" if he had been on the ballot.

"Oh, shut up. Just shut up, please," he said, before comparing the president with dog hair because he was "on everything."

Meyers also focused on the president’s response, mocking him for shifting blame after Democrats captured Congress and highlighting the subdued reaction on Fox News.

Meyers opened his "A Closer Look" segment by cycling through increasingly dramatic descriptions of the result.

"The midterms are over and there was a blue wave or a blue tsunami, or a blue monsoon or a blue ‘Sharknado,’" he said.

After Democratic candidates exceeded polling expectations in several states, Meyers said Americans could finally say goodbye to the "shy Trump voter" and welcome the "shy, woke voter in Texas."

He then turned to Trump’s election-night interview with Fox News. Meyers said he enjoyed it when the president became "sad and philosophical."

Asked by Fox News host Bret Baier whether he would change his Cabinet, Trump rejected the suggestion and minimized the result.

"It’s just a point in time, Bret, just a point in time," he said. "It’s the way it is. There was a mood in the air, I guess."

Trump also blamed Fox News for the losses and criticized its polling during his election-night call. Baier responded that the results were close to what the network’s surveys had shown.

The Daily Show offered a short verdict on social media, posting: "Congratulations to Donald Trump on a successful regime change."

Its host, Chieng, mocked the emphasis placed on politicians’ appearances after showing a clip in which Trump was asked to choose the best-looking member of his administration.

Chieng responded with a "marry, f***, kill" routine involving Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Chieng then said that Democratic control might produce a governing party focused on serious issues rather than "how hot their candidates are."

The program immediately undermined that suggestion by showing a Democratic advertisement presenting several candidates as "hot."

Trump has branded Meyers "dumb and untalented" and accused his program of producing political attacks against Republicans.

He has also criticized Colbert, Kimmel and Fallon, saying the hosts were neither funny nor talented.

Trump also celebrated after CBS announced that The Late Show With Stephen Colbert would end in May 2026.

"I absolutely love that Colbert got fired," Trump wrote, before adding that Kimmel would be "next."

CBS said the cancellation was "purely a financial decision." Its timing nevertheless attracted scrutiny because it followed Colbert’s criticism of parent company Paramount’s $16 million settlement of Trump’s lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview. Colbert said he did not know who had ultimately made the cancellation decision.

Against that background, Colbert celebrated Democrat Annie Andrews’ victory in South Carolina by posting the state flag and the Latin phrase "Dum Spiro Spero," meaning: "While I breathe, I hope."

Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.

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