Seth Meyers Says Our ‘Worst-Case Scenario’ With Trump is Here: ‘This Is a Horrifying Moment’ (Video)
It would have seemed impossible a few weeks ago for any breaking news topic to supersede the global pandemic that has killed more than 100,000 Americans, but the nationwide protests against racist police violence in the wake of George Floyd’s death has done it. And on Tuesday, Seth Meyers focused the newest “A Closer Look” segment on Donald Trump’s threat to send American military forces against American citizens.
“Donald Trump’s speech last night was one of the most menacing moments in his three-and-a-half years as President. And that’s saying a lot given that he is always menacing,” Meyers said to open the segment on Tuesday’s episode of “Late Night.” After mocking Trump’s sleepy tone during the opening portion of his Monday speech, Meyers went hard on how during the back half of the speech Trump “was adopting a much darker and more sinister tone threatening to sick the military on American citizens and violently crack down the nationwide protests over the murder of yet another unarmed black man at the hands of police.”
“Late Night” had a specific clip from the speech queued up, in which Trump made this declaration: “Today, I have strongly recommended to every governor to deploy the National Guard in sufficient numbers that we dominate the streets. Mayors and governors must establish an overwhelming law enforcement presence until the violence has been quelled. If a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.”
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“I know our brains have all melted from the constant flagrant lawlessness and overall weirdness of this administration, and nothing feels real anymore and we’re all just programmed to move on to the next thing because Trump will inevitably do something bizarre the next day like throw a tantrum in the Rose Garden or rub up against the flag like a horny 16 year old at prom,” Meyers began after the clip.
“But this is a horrifying moment. You know how for three-and-a-half years everyone was warning about the inevitable worst-case scenario where our democracy crumbles and our country descends into authoritarianism? That worst case scenario is here. It’s happening. You’re not going to get an invitation in the mail asking you RSVP to the ‘democracy is over’ party. There’s no on/off switch. Democracy it turns out is on a dimmer. This is what it looks like.”
Meyers ended this edition of “A Closer Look” with a plea for all Americans.
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“We can’t just wait until November and hope to vote Trump out,” he said. “We need to stand up to him now to stop the country’s descent into authoritarianism before it’s too late.”
You can catch all of the “A Closer Look” segment from Tuesday’s episode of “Late Night With Seth Meyers” in the video embedded up at the top of this article.
