Donald Trump attempted to defend his mix-ups of Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi this week, saying he actually “interposes” them on purpose. Of course, that’s not actually the definition of “interpose,” which gave Seth Meyers a chuckle on Thursday night.
During a Valentine’s Day rally, Trump once again complained about virtually everyone who doesn’t like him, and mocked journalists again as well, saying that he intentionally interchanges the women’s names because “they both stink.”
“When I interpose — ’cause I’m not a Nikki fan, and I’m not a Pelosi fan — and when I purposely interpose names, they said ‘He didn’t know Pelosi from Nikki. From Tricky Nikki. Tricky Nikki. He didn’t know,’” Trump rambled. “I interpose and they make a big deal out of it.”
Playing the clip during his “A Closer Look” segment, Meyers had just one takeaway.
“Can I guess what the word of the day on your word of the day calendar was yesterday?” Meyers joked. “And can I follow-up guess that you saw the word and didn’t read the definition? Because you are definitely using it wrong.”
Indeed, the actual definition of “interpose” is “intrude” or “to place in an intervening position.” It’s unclear if Trump was actually trying to use the word “interchange” or “transpose,” as it seems he combined the two.
But, the “Late Night” host took bigger issue with Trump seemingly trying out a new nickname for Haley in real time.
“It doesn’t make me feel a whole lot better about your cognitive functioning when you abruptly start rhyming words in the middle of your rant, like a malfunctioning robot,” he said.
You can watch Seth Meyers’ full “A Closer Look” segment in the video above.