--- title: Jimmy Kimmel Jokes About Trump Kim Jong Un Nuclear Tweet description: The late night host called out both President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for their incendiary nuclear tweets to each other. canonical: https://time.com/5085670/kimmel-trump-un-nuclear/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-03T15:39:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:23.507Z og:title: Jimmy Kimmel Took Trump to Task for His Nuclear Button Hint og:description: The late night host compared Trump to Kim Jong Un, calling them both "maniacs" og:url: https://time.com/5085670/kimmel-trump-un-nuclear/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jimmy Kimmel Took Trump to Task for His Nuclear Button Hint twitter:description: The late night host compared Trump to Kim Jong Un, calling them both "maniacs" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Jimmy Kimmel Took Trump to Task for His 'Bigger' Nuclear Button Warning > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=5465fa64-8603-4a46-9067-de49b65d1443&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Donald Trump on Nuclear Weapons [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump on Nuclear Weapons](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1PwxZnjP.m3u8) (2:43)  _Published 2017-08-24. Donald Trump on Nuclear Weapons_  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jan 3, 2018 3:39 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jan 3, 2018 3:39 PM UTC President Trump began 2018 with plenty of fodder for late night television hosts, tweeting about U.S. nuclear capabilities as a response to a taunt by North Korea’s [Kim Jong Un.](http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/17279/kim-jong-un-rings-in-new-year-by-telling-world-he-has-nuclear-button-installed-on-desk) Jimmy Kimmel had no problem taking Trump to task. “Happy New Year everybody! We have two maniacs with nuclear warheads tweeting about who has the bigger button,” Kimmel joked in response [to Kim Jong Un’s New Year’s address](http://time.com/5083086/north-korea-kim-jong-un-new-year-address/), reading out the warning from the President. In the tweet, Trump says that his “Nuclear Button” is “bigger” and “more powerful” than that of the North Korean leader, another in a series of [jabs at Kim](http://time.com/4953283/kim-jong-un-donald-trump-insults/) that have filled his year in the presidency and [stirred concerns](http://time.com/5053580/north-korea-nuclear-war-inevitable/) about international safety and [the prospect of war.](http://time.com/5083086/north-korea-kim-jong-un-new-year-address/) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/948355557022420992) Of course, that tweet wasn’t the only thing that Trump shared; Kimmel noted that he posted no fewer than eight messages on his social media service of choice before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, including a claim for credit for a lack of commercial airline deaths in 2017, [which has been debunked](http://time.com/5084544/donald-trump-aviation-deaths-fact-check/). “It’s only Jan. 2\. I don’t think I can take another year like last year,” Kimmel joked about the ongoing deluge of news. ## Transcript As far as nuclear is concerned, this country, us we need a shield because Russia is unstable. We need a [ UNKNOWN ] defence shield. Donald Trump has long been fascinated by the power of nuclear weapons. In one of his first major interviews on politics, Trump told a reporter from the Washington Post in 1984, that his dream was to become the lead negotiator for the U. S. on a nuclear arms deal with the Soviets. It would take an hour and a half to learn everything there is to learn about missiles, he said. I think I know most of it anyway. Trump usually credits that knowledge to his Uncle John, a physicist at MIT. Having nuclear, my uncle was a great professor in scientist and engineer Dr. John Trump at MIT. Good genes very good genes okay? But to critics his understanding is thin enough to be a serious concern. At a 2015 debate in the Republican Primary, Trump seemed stumped by the concept of the nuclear triad, the defense system in which the US maintains missiles that can be fired from land, sea, or air. That is the single biggest problem that our country faces. Of the three legs of the triad though, do you have a priority. Do you want to go to Senator Rubio after that? To me, nuclear, the power, the devastation is very important to me. And he's made some provocative comments about nuclear weapons over the years. Let me talk about some of the issues. One is North Korea and you say that you, as President, would be willing to launch a pre- emptive strike against North Korea's nuclear capability. First, I'd negotiate. I would negotiate like crazy and I'd make sure we tried to get the best deal possible. And can you tell the Middle East we're not using any nuclear weapons? I would never say that. I would never take any of my cards off the table. How about Europe? We won't use them in Europe. I'm not going to take it off the table. You might use it in Europe? No. I don't think but I'm not taking-- Well just say it. I'm never going to use a nuclear weapon. I. In Europe. I am not taking cards off the table. I'm not gonna use nukes- Okay. But I'm not taking any cards- Okay, so trouble is the- During the campaign, both Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama argue that he shouldn't be trusted with the nuclear arsenal. A man you can bait with a tweet, is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons. [ APPLAUSE ] Apparently, his campaign has taken away his Twitter. If somebody can't handle a Twitter account, they can't handle the nuclear code. But now that Trump is president, he's continued making provocative comments about nuclear war. North Korea. Best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. 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