Vice presidential hopeful JD Vance has a lot of opinions on what Democrats shouldn’t be allowed to say during their campaigns, particularly when it comes to “ridiculous and inflammatory political rhetoric.” But apparently, it’s fine for Donald Trump to use that same rhetoric, as Seth Meyers proved by playing a supercut of him doing exactly that on Tuesday night.
“Look, we can disagree with one another, we can debate one another, but we cannot tell the American people that one candidate is a fascist, and if he’s elected, it is going to be the end of American democracy,” Vance complained this week.
And, to kick off his “A Closer Look” segment, Meyers actually agreed with Vance.
“Donald Trump’s running mate is right. We should all tone down the rhetoric and follow the example of Donald Trump,” Meyers deadpanned. “You can say many things about Donald Trump, but one thing you can’t say about Donald Trump is that this man, whose name, just to remind you, is Donald Trump, has been anything other than a sober, cautious statement, who has steadied the national mood with his tempered rhetoric and calm, even-handed demeanor.”
As the audience cracked up at that idea, Meyers jokingly questioned why they were laughing, reiterating that Trump “has been no less than a beacon of reason and paragon of moderation amidst a sea of division and angst” — before immediately playing a supercut of the convicted felon calling Democrats fascists over and over again.
That said, Meyers offered Trump a mulligan, saying that Vance is still right and politicians need to “stop saying their opponents will destroy democracy.”
At that, another montage of Trump clips played, this time highlighting every time he’s said President Biden “is not the defender of American democracy,” and that if Dems win in November, it’ll be the last election we ever have.
Even still, Meyers offered Trump one more do-over. It went about the same as you’d expect.
“Sure he called Democrats fascists, and sure he called him a threat to democracy, and sure he incited a violent mob to ransack the Capitol,” Meyers rattled off, “and said Mike Pence should be hanged, and promised to pardon January 6 rioters, and mocked a brutal assault on Paul Pelosi, and downplayed a kidnapping plot against the governor of Michigan, and refused to tone down his rhetoric after one of his supporters sent pipe bombs to Trump critic, wait, where was this going?”
You can watch Seth Meyers’ full “A Closer Look” segment in the video above.