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Ivanka as Trump’s Supreme Court nominee? These people on ‘Kimmel’ believed it

Ivanka Trump
Ivanka Trump is President Trump’s eldest daughter. And she has not been nominated by her father to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.
(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)
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If someone told you that President Trump planned to fill the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court seat with his daughter Ivanka, would you believe it?

If so, you’re not alone.

For Thursday’s edition of “Lie Witness News” — a recurring “Jimmy Kimmel Live” segment in which random people react to fabricated headlines — Kimmel pranked strangers outside his Hollywood studio by telling them that the president had named Ivanka Trump as his Supreme Court nominee.

“I was wondering, how far would be too far for Republicans to support Donald Trump,” Kimmel said on the show. “So we went out on the street to do a socially distant survey.”

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In real life, Trump and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky have vowed to swiftly replace Ginsburg, despite the feminist hero’s dying wish that her successor be chosen by the next president.

“A big announcement today: President Trump replacing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ... with his daughter Ivanka,” one of Kimmel’s producers told a passerby. “What was your reaction when you first learned about that?”

“I was a little surprised,” said the man on the street, without hesitation. “I think it’s a good pick. ... She’s a smart businesswoman. She’s educated. Really good institutions. And I think she’s gonna be good for the economy — or excuse me, not the economy — good for the country.”

Others were not as impressed with the fake news, which became more and more twisted as the segment went on. At one point, the interviewer claimed that Trump made the so-called announcement while his 38-year-old daughter sat on his lap and “said that Ivanka promises to overturn Row Row v. Your Boat” — a play on the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe vs. Wade, which ruled that a woman has the right to an abortion in the U.S.

(In reality, abortion rights activists have expressed concern that the Roe vs. Wade decision will come under attack should the Senate confirm a conservative justice nominated by Trump ahead of the election.)

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“That image of Ivanka on his lap was completely and totally inappropriate,” one gullible man remarked. “It’s the president of the United States, the biggest and the greatest country on Earth. That absolutely should not happen.”

President Trump and the GOP are fashioning a court that for decades will be viewed by most Americans with anxiety and derision rather than as a bulwark against government oppression.

Sept. 24, 2020

Finally, after Kimmel’s team pretended that “Trump stood on the White House lawn and said that Ivanka is just like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but f— tons hotter,” adding that “it’s time to add some sex appeal to the court,” one suspicious woman caught on to the elaborate ruse.

“It’s a very sexist thing to say — definitely not something that the president should say about other women,” the woman remarked before questioning if the details were “something you guys make up for the program.”

When informed that the interview was, in fact, a prank, she gasped.

“So that’s not true?” she said. “Oh my God, I look like an idiot now because I’d never heard of that ... but I can imagine him doing this stuff. That’s the crazy part.”

Jimmy Fallon, Trevor Noah and Seth Meyers dedicated parts of their late-night shows to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and encouraged Americans to vote.

Sept. 22, 2020

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