It should be startling to hear the president of the United States described as looking like “a glazed ham with deep vein thrombosis”. Let alone on a mainstream talk show like Jimmy Kimmel Live! . But this recent punchline (deriding Trump’s medical expertise after the Tylenol saga ) is revealing of the combative climate currently engulfing the US TV landscape. In these feverish times, a joke like this has become not only acceptable but unexceptional.

It’s also an indication of just how punchy the show has become since returning from a week-long suspension in September . Kimmel and his writers have roared back with a vengeance and been relentless in their mockery of the country’s commander-in-chief.

Over the past seven weeks, nothing has seemed off-limits: Trump’s appearance and be

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