Why I Doubt Melania Trump is Actually Angry at Jimmy Kimmel for His "Expectant Widow" Joke

(Alex Wong/Getty Images, Randy Holmes/Disney/Getty Images)

First Lady Melania Trump called upon ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel after he made a jest about her being an "expectant widow."

Keep in mind that Kimmel uttered the joke before the White House Correspondents Dinner. Nevertheless, the First Lady said the following:

Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America. People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate. A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him. Enough is enough.  It is time for ABC to take a stand.  How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.

Sorry, I cannot take this statement with any degree of seriousness notwithstanding the events of Saturday night.

If the First Lady truly decries "hateful and violent rhetoric" then she ought to have a heart-to-heart talk with her husband. Indeed, last night, Kimmel said as much during his monologue:

I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject, I do, and I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it

In recent months, Trump has publicly delighted in the deaths of Rob Reiner and Robert Mueller while slandering Renee Good after his ICE goons murdered her in cold blood. Perhaps Trump shouldn't have the opportunity to enter our homes day and night to spread hate.

As one of millions of Americans who've actually watched Kimmel's April 23rd monologue in its entirety, there is no way that anyone of good faith would conclude that by describing Melania Trump as "an expectant widow" that he was engaging in violent rhetoric. Last I checked, the First Lady is nearly a quarter century younger than the President and the President isn't exactly a picture of health. It is more likely than not that the President will die before the First Lady whatever the cause of death.

But the Trump White House doesn't engage in good faith. Trump has wanted Jimmy Kimmel off the air since it was announced that Stephen Colbert and CBS were parting ways last summer. Last September, there was a concerted effort by the Trump Administration through FCC to remove Kimmel from the airwaves following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. And now, lo and behold, the FCC has now announced plans to review of ABC's broadcast licenses.

The Trump Administration wants another bite at the apple and will keep taking bites until they get Jimmy Kimmel off the air or former FBI Director James Comey behind bars. No sooner than Brendan Carr had announced the FCC review, the DoJ issued another indictment against Comey for seashells. Arranging seashells in the form of "8647" is no more violent rhetoric than calling Melania Trump "an expectant widow."

I also doubt the First Lady is actually angry at the quip. Again, if you watch Kimmel's monologue, prior to the "expectant widow" quip, he makes several jokes about the First Lady in connection with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Considering that the First Lady called an impromptu press conference earlier this month to claim to demand that people stop linking with her with Epstein and Maxwell, it seems to me that this riled her up far more than calling her "an expectant widow."

But Melania Trump is tethered to Donald Trump. So, she will play along with his shenanigans. Otherwise, I don't think she really cares and doesn't think we should either.

Phillies Fire Thomson After 9-19 Start; Name Mattingly Interim Manager

(Former Phillies manager Rob Thomson (l) and Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly (r))

It is really tough being a baseball manager. Just ask Alex Cora who, along with most of his coaches, was abruptly fired as manager of the Boston Red Sox a mere 72 hours ago.

Now Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson has joined Cora on the unemployment line. Of course, Thomson took over a struggling Phillies club in 2022 after Joe Girardi was dismissed with a record of 22-29. All Thomson did was to lead the Phillies to a NL pennant and then three additional post-season appearances including back-to-back NL East titles.

The Phillies extended Thomson's contract through the end of the 2027 season in December 2025.

That was just over four months ago, and Thomson would not survive the month of April.

Being a baseball manager is a tough job because it doesn't take much to lose it. All your success doesn't amount to hill of beans if you hit the skids for a few weeks.

It was speculated that Cora might be in line to succeed Thomson given his connection to Phillies President Dave Dombrowski. However, Cora turned down the job.

Instead, the Phillies looked down the dugout and named bench coach Don Mattingly as the interim manager. Mattingly was hired by the Phillies back in January after spending two seasons as the bench coach for the defending AL champion Toronto Blue Jays. Of course, Mattingly managed in the big leagues for 12 seasons - five with the Los Angeles Dodgers (2011-2015) and seven with the Miami Marlins (2016-2022). Mattingly went to the post-season with the Dodgers thrice between 2013-2015 getting as far as the NLCS in 2013 in which they fell to the St. Louis Cardinals. During his tenure with the Marlins, Mattingly reached the post-season during the COVID shortened 2020 season. Yet some are calling it "nepotism" on the grounds that Mattingly's son Preston is the Phillies GM.

Should the Phillies turn it around and get into the post-season, no one will care about the father-son manager/GM relationship especially if the Phillies win their first World Series title since 2008 which would be Mattingly's first ever ring anywhere. On the other hand, if the Phillies continue to play terribly then people will feel sorry for Rob Thomson who after four years of success was let go during the first sign of trouble.

With this in mind, one wonders of the fate of New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza whose team enters tonight with an identical 9-19 record. In some ways, it is surprising that Mendoza has hung on longer than Thompson. Aside from a 12-game losing streak this season, the Mets have been struggling since last July after owning the best record in MLB. It is astonishing there is more patience in New York than in Philadelphia and, for that matter, Boston.

Then again, Phillies fans would boo both Santa and a child struggling during an Easter Egg hunt. 

Rob Thomson never stood a chance.

Steve Kerr Has No Compassion for Jews Taken Hostage & Slaughtered by Hamas

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has made it loud and clear that he has no compassion for Jews taken hostage and slaughtered by Hamas. In an interview with The New Yorker, Kerr tore into the United States and Israel:

My dad was killed by Iranian proxies forty-two years ago. I have no regard for the Iranian regime whatsoever. But the answer does not lie in starting a war and killing innocent people. Imagine being a parent of one of the one hundred and seventy-five girls who died when their school was bombed. Their loss, their suffering . . . How are they going to feel about America? Violence begets violence. We’ve seen it in Israel and Lebanon as well. There was an opening for Israel to handle their business with the Palestinians diplomatically that would have solidified the Abraham Accords and allowed stronger alliances with Arab countries that would have really cornered Iran. Instead, Israel sought revenge for October 7th and now seventy-two thousand Palestinians have been killed and Israeli settlers are taking over the West Bank illegally, with the approval of Israel’s government and the U.S. Ambassador, Mike Huckabee. That’s not a path to any sort of peace or security for Israel or the rest of the Middle East.

Kerr's father, Malcolm, was the President of American University in Beirut when he was executed by Islamic Jihad terrorists funded by Iran in January 1984.  

Under the circumstances, it is understandable that Kerr identifies with the parents of the 175 schoolgirls who were killed in an American airstrike on Iran. So why does Kerr have no compassion for the families of 1,200 people (mostly Jews) murdered by Hamas on October 7th? All Kerr has to say for October 7th is that Israel should have sought peace with the Palestinians who celebrated the deaths of Jews instead of holding Hamas to account as well as Hezbollah who launched attacks on Israel on October 8th. While there can be no doubt Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israeli forces, like the Hamas run Gaza Ministry of Health, Kerr makes no distinction between Palestinian civilians and Hamas terrorists who not only kidnap, rape and murder Jews but execute fellow Palestinians who do not toe their line.

There is one other important difference between the U.S. airstrike which killed 175 Iranian schoolgirls versus Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7th. The U.S. military did not deliberately target the school much less the schoolgirls while Hamas deliberately targeted civilians on kibbutzim and at the Nova Music Festival. That Kerr is unable or unwilling to make this distinction is telling.

So, do I think these statements should cost Kerr his job? This should not cost him his job any more than his outspokenness against Trump where it concerns ICE. It should be on the basis of the Warriors' performance on the court. Although Kerr has led the Warriors to four NBA Championships, nothing lasts forever. Just ask Alex Cora. The Warriors were 37-45 this year and have missed the playoffs two of the last four seasons since winning their last NBA Title in 2022. Kerr's contract is up and he and the Warriors might mutually part ways.

If Kerr does move on from the Warriors, I am sure there are 29 other NBA teams who would love to have him at courtside. Kerr will one day take his rightful place in the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame.

But being one of the greatest coaches in NBA history doesn't make you a good person. Whatever low regard he might have for the Iranian regime, he seems to have no trouble parroting propaganda from Iranian proxies like Hamas. That Kerr cannot extend the compassion he has for Iranian families with loved ones killed by an unintentional U.S. airstrike to Israeli families with loved one killed in a deliberate attack by Hamas at the very minimum demonstrates personal animosity towards Jews. 

At best, Steve Kerr is a fool. At worst, Steve Kerr has malice towards Jews. In which case, he is the sort of the person I would stay as far away from as possible.

Jews Kicked Out of WWII Victory Anniversary Rally in Italy

(Alessandro Bremec/NurPhoto)

From the Times of Israel:

Several Jews attending a rally in Milan celebrating the anniversary of Italy’s liberation from the Nazis and fascists at the end of World War II were insulted and prevented from continuing along the event’s itinerary on Saturday. Eventually, police urged Jewish participants, marching under the banners of the WWII Jewish Brigade and other Jewish organizations, to leave the event for safety reasons.

“[Yesterday] marked my 50th year joining the April 25 national rally,” Emanuele Fiano, a former MP for the center-left Democratic Party and the son of an Auschwitz survivor, told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Sunday. (In Italy, the war ended a few weeks before the official Victory Day celebrated across Europe on May 8).

“We were kicked out, I can’t describe it in any other way,” he added. “The Jewish Brigade that fought alongside the partisans against the Nazi-fascists, the ‘Left for Israel — two states for two peoples [organization]’, members of the Jewish community, members of the socialist Jewish scout group [Hashomer Hatzair], were all kicked out of a rally that was supposed to celebrate freedom.”

The Jewish participants were harassed by other participants in the parade some of whom chanted, "Long live Hitler!!!"

Yes, people participating in a rally commemorating Italy's liberation from the Nazis were chanting their support for Hitler.

So why exactly did authorities in Milan ask the Jewish groups to leave instead of the people who were harassing them? 

It would seem that it is now a crime to walk while Jewish in Milan.

The hatred which allowed Nazism and fascism to rise in Italy and elsewhere in Europe is back and emboldened by the refusal of the authorities to stop it and instead blame the victims.

Thoughts on The Incident at The White House Correspondents Dinner

(Screenshot of footage of President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump & WHCA President Weijia Jiang before being evacuated by the Secret Service)

As I am sure you are aware by now, last night a gunman fired shots outside the ballroom of the Washington Hilton Hotel as the White House Correspondents Dinner was getting underway. One Secret Service agent was wounded but is expected to survive his injuries. A suspect, identified as Cole Allen is in custody.

Under the circumstances, it is more than reasonable to conclude that Allen intended to assassinate President Trump and members of his Cabinet. 

I do not believe it is reasonable to conclude that this was staged or planned. They aren't that clever.

Of course, Trump has already used the incident to justify the construction of the White House Ballroom in what was the East Wing as well as to demand that Democrats in Congress fund the Department of Homeland Security.

Both talking points are nonsense. First, the White House Correspondents Association is independent of the White House. Such a dinner should not be held at the White House. To do so would compromise the independence of the press. Second, a fully funded DHS would not have prevented last night's incident.

At this point, we do not know if the suspect had a history of mental illness. But we do know that he obtained numerous weapons. Mentally ill or not, people who are determined to take the life of the President of the United States are unlikely to be deterred by an act of Congress.

I am sure that Trump and his allies will eventually seize upon Allen and his $25 donation to Kamala Harris and his attendance at a No Kings rally to paint all those who oppose him as set on violence. After all, CNN's Dana Bash is doing it for him as evidenced by her interview of Maryland Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin this morning claiming his party's uses of "heated rhetoric" against Trump.

Of course, Bash's question is predicated on the assumption that Trump is a beacon of rationality. Has she forgotten that Trump proclaimed he was glad that Robert Mueller had died? Less than 48 hours ago, Trump platformed claims that former President Obama and Hillary Clinton had committed treason. Does Bash not consider this heated rhetoric?

The truth of the matter is that millions of Americans oppose President Trump, his policies and his behavior and do so peaceably. 

A trial will sort out Cole Allen's responsibility for his actions last night. His actions do not speak for the vast majority of Americans who exercise their First Amendment rights to disagree with our government up to and including the President of the United States.

Red Sox Fire Cora & 5 Coaches; Name Triple-AAA Worcester Skipper Tracy as Interim Manager

During the intermission of the Roger McGuinn concert on Saturday night in Arlington, I learned that the Boston Red Sox had fired Alex Cora as their new manager while also dismissing five of his coaches.

Although the Red Sox had their biggest win of the season with a 17-1 thrashing of the Baltimore Orioles this afternoon (including a 10-run 9th inning), it was not enough to save Cora's job nor that of five of his coaches who were shown the door. Bench coach Ramon Vazquez, hitting coach Peter Fatse, third base coach Kyle Hudson, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson and hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin were dismissed along with Cora. Jason Varitek, who served as the game planning and run prevention coach, will be reassigned to another position within the organization where he has spent the past 30 years with two World Series rings in 2004 and 2007.

Prior to Saturday's win against the O's, the Bosox had lost 6 of their last 7 games including getting swept by the New York Yankees at Fenway Park earlier in the week. They are 10-17 and 8 games back of the Yankees in the AL East. That record is tied for second worst in the AL along with the Kansas City Royals with the Houston Astros sitting at 10-18.

Cora was first hired to manage the Red Sox prior to the 2018 season. In that inaugural season, Cora guided the team to a franchise best 108-54 resulting in a World Series title. The team would dismiss him prior to the 2020 season after his role in the Astros sign-stealing scandal had been revealed. After a single season with Ron Roenicke at the helm. the Red Sox brought Cora back in 2021 and guided them to another post-season appearance reaching the ALCS where they were eliminated by the Astros. The Red Sox returned to the post-season last year with an AL Wild Card berth but would be dispensed with by the Yankees.

Alas, Cora might not be unemployed for very long as speculation abounds that he is waiting in the wings to be the new manager of the Philadelphia Phillies who tonight snapped their 10-game losing streak. Despite the win, the Phillies 9-18 record is currently the worst in MLB. While Phillies President Dave Dombrowski has said that Phillies skipper Rob Thomson is not on the hot seat, Cora's availability might change that equation. After all, it was Dombrowski who hired Cora to manage the Red Sox when he was President of that organization.

Replacing Cora in the dugout is Chad Tracy who has been the manager of the Triple-AAA Worcester Red Sox since 2022. This is not the Chad Tracy who played third base for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago Cubs, Florida Marlins and the Washington Nationals for 10 seasons. This Chad Tracy was a minor league journeyman outfielder in the Texas Rangers, Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles organizations between 2006 and 2014. Between 2015 and 2021, Tracy was in the Los Angeles Angels organization as a minor league manager and later a minor league field coordinator.

Of note, Tracy's father Jim was a big-league manager for 11 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates and Colorado Rockies. The elder Tracy led the Dodgers to an NL West title in 2004 and the Rockies to a NL Wild Card berth in 2009 after the team started 18-28 under Clint Hurdle. Can the younger Tracy do with the 2026 Red Sox what his father did with the 2009 Rockies? Or can no one turn around this year's edition of the Red Sox?

Roger McGuinn is a Byrd Still in Flight

 

(Roger McGuinn performing on stage at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, MA on April 25, 2026)

This evening, I had the pleasure of seeing and hearing Roger McGuinn in concert at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, just north of Cambridge.

I have been the Regent Theatre previously most recently in May 2025 when I attended a screening of the Jackson C. Frank documentary Blues Run the Game. Tonight, however, was the first time I would attend a concert at this venue.

McGuinn, of course, is best known for his association with The Byrds and his jingly-jangly folk rock guitar riffs on his 12-string Rickenbacker. Prior to this evening, I had seen and heard McGuinn perform live although not as the main act. The first time I saw and heard McGuinn perform live was at the 2000 Boston Folk Festival at UMass Boston where I would also see and hear acts like Richie Havens, Steeleye Spam and The Paperboys (featuring Tom Landa with whom I had attended high school in Thunder Bay). 

Another 19 years would pass before I would be in McGuinn's presence again. This time it would be at New York City's famed Radio City Music Hall where he was part of a 50th anniversary screening of Easy Rider. 

McGuinn, 83, has been touring along the East Coast for the past month or so with one more date scheduled next weekend at Monmouth University before stepping away from the road until he embarks upon a West Coast tour in the fall.

As soon as he hit the stage playing "My Back Pages", it was immediately apparent to me that McGuinn's voice was noticeably weaker than it was when I saw and heard him at Radio City Music Hall nearly 7 years ago. Of course, this is inevitable with the passage of time. No one can realistically expect McGuinn to sing like he sang when he was 23. For his part, McGuinn frequently asked the audience to sing along with him. 

I think the audience was just happy to be in McGuinn's presence and hearing his stories. Interestingly, most of those stories centered around his life before he joined The Byrds. McGuinn told the audience he fell in love with rock 'n roll when he heard "Heartbreak Hotel" on WJJD as a wee lad growing up in Chicago before becoming interested in folk music and learning it at the Old Town School of Folk Music where he would learn songs such as "Well, Well, Well" by Bob Gibson (the folk singer, not the Hall of Fame pitcher), Lead Belly's "Rock Island Line" and Pete Seeger's adaptation of "Turn! Turn! Turn!" from the Book of Ecclesiastes. Eventually McGuinn started writing his own material such as the "Gate of Horn", inspired by a folk club he frequented in Chicago.

McGuinn regaled the audience with stories of his time with the Limeliters and The Chad Mitchell Trio. While with the latter group, he would tour South America at the behest of the Kennedy White House. During this tour, McGuinn was alone near a cliff overlooking the ocean and began writing the chords of what would become "Chestnut Mare", a latter day hit for The Byrds. 

Before joining The Byrds, McGuinn would have a working relationship with Bobby Darin both in L.A, Vegas and later at the Brill Building in New York. It was through Darin that he met Peter Fonda and would later contribute "The Ballad of Easy Rider" to the film of the same name. While working for Darin in NYC, McGuinn would be part of the short-lived band The City Surfers and presented his attempt at surf music called "Beach Ball". The Bee Gees would record a version of this song in Australia. McGuinn quipped he will occasionally get a royalty check for $6. 

McGuinn reminisced about his times with Bob Dylan. As it turned out, Dylan liked basketball and McGuinn had a basketball hoop but didn't own a basketball. This would soon change. Dylan bequeathed McGuinn the first verse of "The Ballad of Easy Rider" and would join him on the Rolling Thunder Revue. It was here that McGuinn got to know Joni Mitchell and asked her if she could spare any songs. Mitchell gave him "Dreamland" which would appear on McGuinn's 1976 solo album Cardiff Rose. 

McGuinn would later reunite with Dylan in the late 1980's via Tom Petty. McGuinn and his wife attended a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers concert in Tampa where his wife would be struck by a frisbee. While seeking medical attention, Petty appeared on the scene and recognized McGuinn and invited him on stage for a couple of songs. Shortly thereafter, Petty arranged to have McGuinn be Dylan's opening act during a U.K. and European tour. During this time, McGuinn and Petty would co-write "King of the Hill" which would become an expected hit for McGuinn in 1990 after the release of his album Back from Rio. The album would be his first release in more than a decade.

Of course, when people of my age group would hear "King of the Hill" they would say that Roger McGuinn sounds a lot like Tom Petty. I would have to interject and tell them that Tom Petty sounded a lot like Roger McGuinn. For his part, McGuinn said that when he plays "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n Roll Star" many fans tell him they're glad he's playing a Tom Petty song.

McGuinn played a couple of traditional folk songs on the banjo - "This Little Light of Mine" and "The Preacher and The Bear". He saved the bulk of his Byrds material for the end of the show - "You Showed Me" (which became a hit for The Turtles), "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Eight Miles High" which McGuinn did in the style of Andres Segovia with a touch of the Theme to James Bond. Whatever the limitations of his voice, McGuinn has not lost a step with his guitar playing. For the encore, McGuinn played "Chimes of Freedom" and then closed with "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better."

I was pleased to have got the opportunity to see and hear Roger McGuinn perform a full-length concert. He is a Byrd still in flight.