Jimmy Kimmel Mocks Trump’s Sore Spot After Latter Claims, "I’m Greater Even Than Elvis"

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel recently took a jab at former President Donald Trump's ongoing obsession with crowd sizes. Kimmel focused on Trump's latest boast about drawing bigger crowds than Elvis Presley during his Thursday night monologue at a rally in Long Island, New York. Trump had declared, "So, I call up my wife, and I’d say, ‘Baby, who can draw crowds like me’...Nobody, nobody can. I'm the greatest of all time, maybe greater even than Elvis, because Elvis had a guitar. I don't have a guitar...I don't have the privilege of a guitar." In response, Kimmel couldn't resist poking fun.

Impersonating Trump, he said, "Thanks to my tiny baby hands I am unable to play the guitar." The late-night host then proceeded to fact-check Trump's claims about his crowd size. He showed images from the Nassau Coliseum, where Trump had spoken earlier, that seemed to disprove the ex-president's narrative; the photos showed numerous empty seats and people heading for the exits before the event was over. "Elvis hadn't left the building," Kimmel joked, "but half the crowd had," as per HuffPost. 

This obsession with crowd sizes has long been an apparent sore spot for Trump. He has frequently boasted about the turnout at his events. He even appears to get frustrated when others point out empty seats and early departures. The Democratic campaign, taking note, highlighted the same during the presidential debate. Vice President Kamala Harris argued that attendees frequently leave Trump rallies early due to 'exhaustion and boredom.' This touched a nerve with the former president, who responded, "People don't leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics."

Kimmel emphasized how this obsession with audience sizes has become an established pattern in Trump's campaign. He presented a tape from a recent Fox News interview in which Trump criticized fact-checking during the debate. "They fact-checked everything I said. And the audience, they went crazy," Trump stated. Kimmel was very quick to point out the absurdity of this claim. "There was no audience," Kimmel stated flatly. "The debate was held in an empty room. There was no audience. I mean, is he losing his mind, or does he lie so automatically he doesn't even know it anymore?" as per the Independent.

The comedian added, "At least in the past when he exaggerated the size of the crowd, there was a crowd." Local sources indicate that approximately 50,000 people attended Trump's Long Island rally. The former president's concern with crowd size is not a very new topic. Last month, he made a contentious remark comparing the turnout at his January 6, 2021 rally to Martin Luther King Jr.'s legendary I Have a Dream speech from 1963.