While Kimmel made it clear at the top of his opening monologue he "won't ever understand" people "cheering" for Kirk's murder, Trump's Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair, Brendan Carr, still took great offense to the bit. The anti-Trump comedian said: "The MAGA Gang (is) desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it. In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving." A video clip played of a reporter asking Trump how he was holding up in the wake of Kirk's assassination, to which the president started discussing White House renovation projects. Two days later, Carr said Kimmel's remarks represented "the sickest conduct possible" during an appearance on far-right podcaster Benny Johnson's podcast.