Seth Meyers and his team have long compared Donald Trump to George W. Bush in various ways, but on Thursday night, the NBC host laid out all the direct parallels, one by one.
To kick off his “A Closer Look” segment, Meyers conceded that he’s compared Trump to Bush a lot and that Trump probably “would not appreciate” it, considering “his less than glowing reviews of Bush’s legacy.” Naturally, the late night host had a clip queued and ready.
“He started the war in Iraq. Am I supposed to be a big fan?” Trump told “Face the Nation” in 2016. “We would have been so much better off if Bush and the rest of them went to the beach and didn’t do anything.”
And yet, both men have acted similarly. First and foremost, Meyers pointed out, supporters of each lauded their voter mandates after their victories. But, months into their respective terms, both had sinking approval ratings on various topics.
“So, much like George W. Bush, Trump claimed a sweeping mandate, and then that mandate immediately fizzled,” Meyers said. “But come on, he must be doing something to differentiate himself from Bush, who was sunk by an unpopular domestic agenda in a disastrous war in the Middle East. And oh no, I’m hearing myself, and I’m realizing, yeah, the way I’m saying it is sounding very sarcastic.”
What came next was, of course, recent news clips indicating that Trump is weighing the idea of taking military action against Iran, potentially plunging the U.S. into another war in the Middle East, despite campaigning on a promise to do the opposite.
Trump won’t publicly say whether he’s going to call for a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. Back in March, though, Trump’s Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified that “the IC continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.”
When asked about that testimony earlier this week, Trump brushed it off, saying, “I don’t care what she said,” and reiterated his belief that Iran is building a nuclear weapon.
“So now Trump doesn’t care what his own intelligence agencies tell him,” Meyers noted. “You know who else manipulated intelligence to lie us into a catastrophic war in the Middle East? Oh, you do? Well, we’re gonna roll it anyway.”
At that, the comedian played a clip of Bush and his officials claiming back in 2002 that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. That claim is, of course, what led to the U.S. going to war with Iraq, and no WMDs were ever found.
“In 20 years, nothing has changed. We’ve still got a Republican president pushing tax cuts for the rich and war in the Middle East who’s obsessed with cylindrical objects,” Meyers said, poking fun at Trump’s recent installation of new flag poles at the White House. “We went from aluminum tubes to tapered flagpoles, and the MAGA true believers who genuinely bought Trump’s shtick and thought he was remaking the party are suddenly shocked.”
You can watch Seth Meyers’ full “A Closer Look” segment in the video above.
