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Despots have always hated being beaten to the punchline
The Independent
|September 25, 2025
When Donald Trump attacked Jimmy Kimmel during the Oscars, Kimmel simply read Trump's rants aloud, letting the words expose the smallness behind the bluster (Disney)
On Tuesday evening, Jimmy Kimmel returned to late-night television, and so Donald Trump has reacquired one of his most persistent and most effective critics.
Why are comedians so much better than politicians at criticising Donald Trump? The answer is simple. It has always been thus. Comedy cuts through the nonsense and speaks to the gut in the way senators and governors cannot. Donald Trump understands this, and so for him, it is intolerable.
Trump reacts more furiously to comedy monologues than to Senate speeches. He spends more time complaining about Saturday Night Live than about editorials in The New York Times. Kimmel and others have got under his skin. Senators can oppose Trump's policies, but a comedian can rob him of his aura of authority, and that is the greater threat. When the weapon of choice is wit, Trump and his ilk are unarmed.
Denne historien er fra September 25, 2025-utgaven av The Independent.
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FLERE HISTORIER FRA The Independent
The Independent
Europe survive American surge to win Ryder Cup
The ball vanished deep into the hole and so too did Shane Lowry’s senses in an impassioned, lumbering dance across the 18th green. An exorcism of nerves on a sizzling afternoon at Bethpage Black, the Irishman saved a staggering Europe from a state of shock after a wave of red in the singles.
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3 mins
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2 mins
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Thunberg denies claims aid flotilla is a ‘publicity stunt’
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2 mins
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Benny Safdie's 'The Smashing Machine' has made Dwayne Johnson, its leading man, an unexpected Oscar contender. But it's also a clever bit of career course correction for the typically commercially minded star
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Arsenal savour inspired comeback over Newcastle
It was the same penalty box where Gabriel Magalhaes had ended up sprawling on the Tyneside turf some 90 minutes earlier.
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Oasis summon euphoric last hurrah to end reunion tour
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Burnham warns Starmer's Labour faces election 'peril
A defiant Andy Burnham has hit out at those demanding he make “simplistic statements of loyalty” to Sir Keir Starmer, saying they are underestimating “the peril” facing Labour.
2 mins
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The Independent
‘Tough’ home secretary set for immigration crackdown
Mahmood to overhaul main route to gaining UK citizenship
4 mins
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