After the Biden administration shot down a Chinese spy balloon this week, it was revealed that this was not the first time a surveillance inflatable has drifted across the continental U.S. — according to the Pentagon, it happened at least three times during the Trump administration. And Seth Meyers is pretty sure he knows why Trump missed all three.
During his “Late Night” monologue on Wednesday night, Meyers noted that according to the Pentagon, it was an “awareness gap” that led to at least three Chinese spy balloons floating through undetected during the Trump years. But, the host thinks it might’ve just been because Trump himself physically couldn’t see them, after burning his retinas during the last solar eclipse.
“After the eclipse, Trump wasn’t allowed to look into the sky anymore,” Meyers mocked.
Now, if you need a memory refresher — this was something that happened almost six years ago at this point after all — here’s what happened. Though the single rule when it comes to solar eclipses is “Don’t look at the sun during them,” Trump indeed looked up into the sky without any protective eyewear during the last one.
In fact, he did it not once, but three times during the same eclipse. You might recall this image of him doing so:
Meanwhile, Meyers joked that President Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night was actually more like a “balloon assassination victory lap” after his orders to shoot down the surveillance craft were carried out on Saturday.
“‘You know who would love some inflation?’” Meyers joked, going into his Biden impression. “‘That spy balloon, bitch! But seriously, yeah, eggs are really expensive right now.’”
You can watch Meyers’s full monologue in the video above.
