Seth Meyers trotted out his second new “A Closer Look” segment this week on Wednesday’s episode of “Late Night,” and this time he focused mostly on Trump’s odd speech in the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday.
“Donald Trump is clearly upset that he can’t hold rallies anymore now that attendance is so bad they look like Tuesday afternoon Mets games. So yesterday he lured reporters to the Rose Garden by pretending to hold a press conference, but decided instead to hold a little campaign rally for himself which quickly evolved into yet another one of his trademark psychotic meltdowns,” Meyers said to open the segment.
“Late Night” then played a montage of Trump’s greatest hits from the whole incident, which Meyers followed up with a lengthy Trump impression. But eventually he got back to his own voice.
“And of course the coronavirus pandemic — you know that ongoing crisis that has left the country in ruins — barely came up at all. He basically ignored it. That’s like the fire department showing up to a burning house just to sell you their new calendar,” Meyers joked, before going into an extended bit about firemen trying to sell you a sexy firemen calendar while your house is on fire.
And then Meyers put the whole situation in perspective with one extremely long sentence.
“It is impossible to watch what is unfolding right now under this administration and avoid the conclusion that America is in free fall at this very moment, as a mostly preventable second coronavirus outbreak spirals further out of control, more than five million Americans have lost their health insurance, a third have missed housing payments, as many as 28 million face eviction, expanded unemployment benefits are about to expire, people are about to get their tax bills, schools might not be able to reopen, and even the postal service is being gutted by soulless corporate raiders installed by our cretinous business husk of a president,” he said.
“Think about that. We might not even be able to get our mail on time anymore. That’s how bad things are. And for most of us, getting our mail is the only entertainment we have left. The only thing we have to keep us preoccupied is excitedly rushing in the mailbox to see what’s 30% off in this month’s Pottery Barn catalog.”
Eventually, the “Late Night” segment returned to a topic it covered Monday night: Trump’s insistence that schools open next month.
“Trump wants schools to reopen, and I get it, because we all want schools to reopen. No parent in America come Labor Day will be thinking, ‘You know what I can use? Some more quality time with the kids,’” Meyers quipped.
“The other day my son said, ‘I want to go outside,’ and I said, ‘There’s a lightning storm,’ and he said, ‘But I want to,’ then I said, ‘It’s not safe,’ and he said, ‘I don’t care about safety. I want to!’ and I said, ‘Oh my god, this is like talking to the president about reopening schools.’
“This is of course the central feature of Trumpism: the proud lack of empathy, the intentional cruelty, inflicting misery on your opponents and disfavored groups just to prove your dominance.”
Later, he started to hone in on what it is he thinks Trump does care about.
“The basic truth here is that Donald Trump just could not care any less about racist police violence, or the coronavirus pandemic or the financial misery tens of millions Americans are currently going through,” Meyers said. “And not only that, he’s doing everything he can to make the situation worse. His rally in Tulsa more than likely caused a spike in cases there, according to the local health director. And he’s still planning, as of now, on holding an in-person Republican convention next month in Florida, which just shattered the national record for new daily cases.”
Finally, Meyers suggested a theory about how Trump could continue to be so blasé about the pandemic with so many Americans dead from it.
“Trump does not care what happens to you because the system is working perfectly for the people he actually represents. Namely, himself and his fellow rich ghouls. Billionaires have gotten $583 billion dollars richer since the pandemic began. The system is working perfectly for them.”
You can watch the “A Closer Look” segment from Wednesday’s episode of “Late Night With Seth Meyers” in the video embedded up at the top of this post, or on YouTube right here.