There is more to Donald Trump and Bette Midler’s recent Twitter altercation than what first meets the eye, according to Jimmy Kimmel, who showed viewers just how deep this rabbit hole goes during Wednesday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
“This, by the way, is not the first time that Trump has lashed out at Bette Midler. This has been going on for years,” the ABC late-night host said in his opening monologue, referring to POTUS’ Tuesday Twitter jab at “washed up psycho” Midler, after she apologized for sharing a fake quote from him.
“He’s criticized her looks, her singing, her appearance on the Oscars,” Kimmel continued. “He doesn’t like her at all, which made me wonder why, where [does] this animosity came from? And I’ve been doing some research and I think I figured it out. It all starts with a popular movie from 1993: ‘Hocus Pocus.’”
Because of course it does! (We guess?)
“This movie begins in 1693 during the Salem witch trials, which is interesting because Trump is always complaining about witch hunts,” Kimmel continued. “So in the movie, Bette Middler plays Winnie, one of three witches who are sisters, the Sanderson sisters. There’s Winnie Sanderson, Mary Sanderson and Sarah Sanderson. Sarah Sanderson, as in — what’s the name of his press secretary? Sarah Hocupocubee-Sanders is her name. And it goes far deeper than that!”
Yes, far deeper. Here are the additional connections Kimmel found between “Hocus Pocus” and Trump: former U.S. president Richard Nixon, “Saturday Night Live,” the actors Charles Rocket and Wesley Snipes, the number 45, the movie “Murder at 1600,” the name of “Hocus Pocus” character David Dennison and the city of Whittier, California.
We will not attempt to break down Kimmel’s explanations behind his discoveries here and instead direct you to the video above where he lays out how it all (apparently) connects.