--- title: Why People Are Circulating This Johnny Carson Trump Clip description: The president tweeted that Johnny Carson wasn't political. The internet proved him wrong. canonical: https://time.com/5551749/johnny-carson-on-trump-video/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-14T18:18:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:58:05.457Z og:title: Why People Are Circulating This Johnny Carson Trump Clip og:description: The president tweeted that Johnny Carson wasn't political og:url: https://time.com/5551749/johnny-carson-on-trump-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce32cddbafb40ffb/698946b8929fad4df8bf2def/johnnycarsonontrump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why People Are Circulating This Johnny Carson Trump Clip twitter:description: The president tweeted that Johnny Carson wasn't political twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce32cddbafb40ffb/698946b8929fad4df8bf2def/johnnycarsonontrump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why People Are Circulating This 1989 Clip of Johnny Carson Roasting Trump Everywhere > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=44c1d46a-1aef-4fd3-b025-b1b1f0940a7f&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 14, 2019 6:18 PM UTC  THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JOHNNY CARSON -- "Final Show" Air Date 05/22/1992 -- Pictured: Host Johnny Carson -- Photo by: Alice S. Hall/NBCU Photo Bank THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JOHNNY CARSON -- "Final Show" Air Date 05/22/1992 -- Pictured: Host Johnny Carson -- Photo by: Alice S. Hall/NBCU Photo Bank NBC—Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 14, 2019 6:18 PM UTC President Donald Trump has made it clear that he is not a fan of the late night talk show hosts. The president has been the frequent target of Jimmy Kimmel’s, Stephen Colbert’s, Seth Meyer’s and even [Jimmy Fallon’](http://time.com/5322026/jimmy-fallon-responds-to-donald-trump-tonight-show-monologue/)s jokes and he has had enough. While he has taken jabs at them in the past, calling Kimmel a “ no talent” guy [in 2018](http://time.com/5322064/donald-trump-jimmy-fallon-stephen-colbert-rally/), a name he [also used for Colbert](http://time.com/4777029/colbert-on-trump-no-talent/), recently Trump aired his frustrations on Twitter. “The three very weak and untalented late night ‘hosts’ are ‘fighting over table scraps,’” Trump fired off in a recent [tweet](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1106169458106744834), citing Fox & Friends guest comic Michael Loftus that, “\[Johnny\] Carson did a great job, it wasn’t political. I don’t know what they’re going to do in 2024 when he’s no longer President? Will be wacky in the unemployment line.” > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1106169458106744834) In response to Trump’s tweet and Loftus’s claim that Carson wasn’t political, the internet quickly unearthed proof that not only was Carson occasionally political, but he even managed to skewer Trump himself. Comedy writer Mike Drucker tweeted out a clip from back [in 1989](https://youtu.be/o1pvClN5byM) featuring Carson using his show’s opening monologue to joke about Trump [evicting people from their homes](https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/05/nyregion/trump-drops-5-year-effort-to-evict-tenants.html), using the short-lived game show, [_Trump Card_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump%5FCard), as a way to throw the homeless into the streets. > [](https://twitter.com/MikeDrucker/status/1106191242122199040) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5551749/johnny-carson-on-trump-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5551749/johnny-carson-on-trump-video/"},"headline":"Why People Are Circulating This 1989 Clip of Johnny Carson Roasting Trump Everywhere","datePublished":"2019-03-14T18:18:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:58:05.457Z","description":"The president tweeted that Johnny Carson wasn't political. 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