In the wake of ABC suspending late night host Jimmy Kimmel Wednesday evening, NewsNation anchor Leland Vittert kicked off On Balance by calling out the “liberal elites” acting like “drunks” who’s “drug of choice is Trump hatred.” He also took a victory lap for the responsible management of Nexstar in blocking Kimmel’s show.
Vittert popped a whole in the liberal media’s swiftly cobbled together narrative that Kimmel was fired for telling jokes. He pointed out that Kimmel wasn’t doing a bit, instead lying to his ABC audience about Charlie Kirk’s assassin being part of the “MAGA gang”:
VITTERT: It comes after Kimmel went out of his way to suggest the suspect in Charlie Kirk’s murder was actually part of MAGA.
[Cuts to video]
KIMMEL: We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.
“What Kimmel said wasn’t controversial. It was just plain wrong. It’s the drunk who grabs a bottle and takes another swig to prove to you that they don’t have a problem,” Vittert chided, with an analogy he would return to. “Kimmel embodied the liberal elite of America. And what you saw in that clip fully display the liberal elite of America and their drunken-like he training of Donald Trump and Trump’s followers.”
Vittert poured another round for his “drunks” analogy by calling attention to how Kimmel and the other liberal elites (including the liberal media) couldn’t get enough of hating Trump and his supporters, which was why they thought Kimmel’s lies were jokes:
Drunks famously say they don’t have a problem. They play the victim and they blame everyone else. Everyone has somebody like this in their lives. So now replace what I just said with Democrats. Their drug of choice is Trump hatred. And that kind of explains America today because Democrats – and not all but the liberal elite of America, the Jimmy Kimmel’s, refused to admit they have a problem.
Despite the fact “[p]rosecutors say they know who did it and why” and how the evidence “is clear, convincing, and undisputed,” “it feels like almost half of America and most of the media refused to admit,” Vittert lamented. He then played a clip of washed up day-time TV host Montel Williams falsely claiming Kirk’s assassination was a “crime of passion,” as Vittert paraphrased.
“Montel is entitled to his opinion. He is not entitled to his own facts,” he scolded. “For example, and we know this, two of the shell casings referenced fascists. ‘Hey, fascist’ was written on one. That’s a label we hear often given to Trump and his supporters.”
He also called out Democratic Congressman Dan Goldman (NY) for returning to the stochastic terrorism America had been condemning for leading to Kirk’s murder:
VITTERT: Even in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder, members of Congress are still painting Republicans and their supporters as Nazis and fascists. The latest comparison comes today from New York Congressman Dan Goldman.
[Cuts to video]
GOLDMAN: This is the authoritarian playbook. And then it gets worse because he’s politicizing and weaponizing the Department of Justice as his own personal revenge and retribution arm. That is how our democracy gets degraded. And ultimately his goal is very clearly to take it over as his own authoritarian rule.
[Cuts back to live]
VITTERT: Goldman said that today after everybody had already said we need to turn down the temperature.
Before going to his first guest, Vittert stated that the current wave of political violence is “coming from the left” and that “[t]he liberal elite are drunk hating on Trump. It is a drug of tight for them. And for the first time now they have been made to pay a real price.”
He also commended NewsNation’s parent company for deciding to pull Kimmel’s show from their network of ABC affiliates:
Our parent company Nexstar announced this afternoon that it would not carry his show on our ABC affiliated stations for the foreseeable future. After Nexstar made the announcement, the ABC network pulled Kimmel off the air completely.
The transcript is below. Click “expand” to read:
NewsNation’s On Balance
September 17, 2025
9:00:35 p.m. EasternLELAND VITTERT: I think it is now fair to say the breaking news, things in America are changing rapidly and we start with the news from ABC, not ABC News, but the network says they are suspending Jimmy Kimmel, he’s the late night host. It comes after Kimmel went out of his way to suggest the suspect in Charlie Kirk’s murder was actually part of MAGA.
[Cuts to video]
JIMMY KIMMEL: We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.
[Cuts back to live]
VITTERT: What Kimmel said wasn’t controversial. It was just plain wrong. It’s the drunk who grabs a bottle and takes another swig to prove to you that they don’t have a problem.
Our parent company Nexstar announced this afternoon that it would not carry his show on our ABC affiliated stations for the foreseeable future. After Nexstar made the announcement, the ABC network pulled Kimmel off the air completely.
Kimmel embodied the liberal elite of America. And what you saw in that clip fully display the liberal elite of America and their drunken-like he training of Donald Trump and Trump’s followers.
We have Trump ally Benny Johnson on what sobriety might look like in America. Also this hour, General Mark Kimmit tells us if the west is ready for a drone war in Russia. Hint: We’re not. Congressman Jason Smith on the dangers of Republicans ignoring the economic pain. Plus NewsNation’s Brian Entin with an exclusive look inside the collapse of Hollywood. Our last story is closely related to our first one. And here it goes.
Drunks famously say they don’t have a problem. They play the victim and they blame everyone else. Everyone has somebody like this in their lives. So now replace what I just said with Democrats. Their drug of choice is Trump hatred. And that kind of explains America today because Democrats – and not all but the liberal elite of America, the Jimmy Kimmel’s, refused to admit they have a problem. And that’s our Why It Matters segment tonight.
A week ago. Hard to imagine it’s been a week. Charlie Kirk was murdered. Prosecutors say they know who did it and why. They have shown us the evidence. It is clear, convincing, and undisputed. Yet, it feels like almost half of America and most of the media refused to admit. For example, Montel Williams told CNN’s highest-rated show the assassination was a crime of passion.
[Cuts to video]
MONTEL WILLIAMS: I don’t believe he was motivated politically. I think this is motivated emotionally. I think this was a emotionally stunted person who literally – I’m going to say it this way, just hear me” tried to defend his significant other, not trying to defend some ideology.
[Cuts back to live]
VITTERT: Montel is entitled to his opinion. He is not entitled to his own facts. For example, and we know this, two of the shell casings referenced fascists. “Hey, fascist” was written on one. That’s a label we hear often given to Trump and his supporters.
Even in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder, members of Congress are still painting Republicans and their supporters as Nazis and fascists. The latest comparison comes today from New York Congressman Dan Goldman.
[Cuts to video]
REP. DAN GOLDMAN (D-NY): This is the authoritarian playbook. And then it gets worse because he’s politicizing and weaponizing the Department of Justice as his own personal revenge and retribution arm. That is how our democracy gets degraded. And ultimately his goal is very clearly to take it over as his own authoritarian rule.
[Cuts back to live]
VITTERT: Goldman said that today after everybody had already said we need to turn down the temperature.
You, our viewers, are fair-minded people. And I’ve heard from a lot of you, rightly so. The political violence has also come from the right. And that is true. We deal with issues here fairly. That’s what makes us different. But the political violence from the right was in the past. We deal with the present. And right now the attacks are coming from the left. They are inspired by the left. The liberal elite are drunk hating on Trump. It is a drug of tight for them. And for the first time now they have been made to pay a real price.
(…)
