ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel devoted much of his monologue on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, to President Donald Trump’s eyelids. The longtime Trump nemesis needled the 80-year-old president for appearing to nod off at the September 11 memorial ceremony, staged on the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks — and handed him a nickname built entirely around how often he has been caught dozing in public.
The coinage: “Teddy Doze-evelt.”
“At the event, Teddy Doze-evelt got in a pretty good nap,” Kimmel said, telling viewers the White House had denied that the president fell asleep.
“They said he was just ‘solemnly listening,’” Kimmel continued. “Which is the same kind of ‘solemnly listening’ Melania does when he tries to crawl in bed with her.”
A Supercut of Public Catnaps
Kimmel backed the bit with a montage of clips — close to a minute of footage in which Trump’s eyes are shut. The reel ran through his 2025 swearing-in, the Fourth of July fireworks display, the third game of the NBA Finals, a Memorial Day observance at Arlington National Cemetery, the funeral for Pope Francis, the July funeral for Sen. Lindsey Graham, a string of Cabinet meetings, and the September 11 memorials in 2025 and 2026.
The host then pivoted to hypocrisy, reminding the audience that Trump spent years attacking former President Joe Biden’s age and alertness under the label “Sleepy Joe.”
Trump has offered his own account of the closed eyes. In January 2026, he denied being asleep at a December Cabinet meeting, saying he shut his eyes because it “was a little bit on the boring side.” California Gov. Gavin Newsom took a social media jab at his Memorial Day appearance at Arlington, posting that “America deserves a mentally fit President.” Newsom has his own nickname for him, used on other occasions: “Dozy Don.”
A Compliment With a Catch
One compliment did make it into the segment, with a string attached. “Compared to Mitch McConnell, Trump has more energy than Kevin Hart,” Kimmel joked, then rolled a clip of Sen. Mitch McConnell, 84, looking dazed as he came back to the job in a wheelchair. The senator had been gone 92 days, hospitalized June 14 after a fall, and returned to the Senate floor the week of September 14. “For months, no one was sure if he was even alive. We still don’t know!” Kimmel added.
