Seth Meyers covered Trump’s claim that he’ll “only” be a dictator on Day One, his cognitive decline, his praise for Al Capone as “one of the greatest of all time,” Sean Hannity’s sycophancy and more. It was funny, too.
I dipped in and out of the town hall last week, and found it the usual Trump whining and boasting. My big takeaway was that Trump had some work done on his face since the last time I saw him, yet he’s still repulsive to look at.
Obviously, I missed some things. But before I got a chance to write anything up, Seth Meyers said everything I would have liked to have said, except he's funnier.
Here are some excerpts:
Trump’s cognitive decline (and Fox News’, too)
MEYERS: It's become a frequent talking point among Republicans and Fox News pundits that Joe Biden is in "cognitive decline." Although, personally, I'm not sure you should trust the medical opinions of the network that repeatedly downplayed COVID and lied about vaccines, promoted a candidate who said both that windmills cause cancer and that we should inject bleach into our lungs, and once aired what was essentially an advertisement to increase testosterone levels.
Meyers followed that with a clip of Tucker Carlson promoting the testicle tanning.
Meyers continued:
MEYERS: Nonetheless, Fox and Trump continue to insist that Biden is in cognitize decline. And they did so again during a so-called town hall with Trump and Hannity last night. Although, it's hard for Trump to make that claim convincingly, sine he himself is clearly, let's say, not well.
Watch as he struggles to find the words to say that Biden is the one who's in cognitive decline:
(VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He is, number one, from your standpoint, cognitively - you like to use that word - cognitively, he's not good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
…
MEYERS: Even Frankenstein's monster would come up with something better than "cognitively not good."
Hannity admitted he does Trump’s bidding
MEYERS: Trump added that he called Hannity and told him ... not to joke about Biden's supposed cognitive decline, and then they both laughed about how Hannity listens to Trump but Trump never listens to Hannity.
(VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We shouldn't be joking about it. I actually told Sean, "Sean, you shouldn't joke about it. It's serious. We're dealing with nuclear - we're dealing with..."
HANNITY: By the way, that is a true story. You actually called me and said, "It's not funny.," because I was joking about it. And I said, I said - I thought about, and I said, "You're right."
And I said, "How come you never listen to my advice?"
Trump: But it's true. That's true. It's actually true, unfortunately.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
...
MEYERS: It's not enough to say Fox is pro-GOP anymore. They are the GOP. It's the same entity.
Meyers continued highlighting Trump’s cognitive decline
Meyers noted that Trump slurs his words, forgets which city he’s in, “gets basic facts confused, like the time he mixed up the leaders of Hungary and Turkey.” We also saw a clip of Trump saying you need voter ID to buy a loaf of bread and forgetting that he’s running against President Joe Biden, not former President Barack Obama.
"Watching Trump try to get to the end of a sentence is like watching a dog walk across a balance beam," Meyers added.
Hannity repeatedly tries – and fails – to get Trump to say he will not be a dictator
One thing Trump has been “extremely clear,” “laser focused and very consistent” on is the dictatorship he wants to turn the U.S. presidency into, should he get a second term, Meyers noted:
MEYERS: His allies are already working on plans to fill his administration with loyalists and sycophants who will carry out his most extreme orders. In fact, the plan has already been given a name: Project 2025, which already sounds menacing. Secret projects with numbers in the name are generally - what's the word?
(CLIP OF TRUMP): Not good.
MEYERS: And sure enough when he was given multiple chances to disavow those plans by Hannity last night, Trump completely ignored him. Here's Hannity's first attempt to get Trump to say he won't be a dictator, which somehow ended with Trump praising Al Capone.
(VIDEO CLIP{
HANNITY: I want to be very, very clear on this. To be clear, do you in any way have any plans whatsoever if reelected president, to abuse power, to break the law, to use the government to go after people?
TRUMP: You mean like they're using right now? So, in the history of our country, what's happened to us, again, has never happened before - over nonsense, over nothing, made-up charges. I often say Al Capone, he was one of the greatest of all time, if you like criminals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MEYERS: So that was Trump's first opportunity to say he won't be a dictator, which he passed on. Then Hannity asked him again, and this time Trump answered that he actually would be a dictator, but only for one day.
(VIDEO CLIPP)
HANNITY: I want to go back to this one issue, though, because the media has been focused on this and attacking you.
TRUMP: Yeah.
HANNITY: Under no circumstances - you are promising America tonight you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?
TRUMP: Except for Day One.
HANNITY: Except for?
TRUMP: Look, he's going crazy. Except for Day One.
HANNITY: Meaning?
TRUMP: I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill.
HANNITY: That's not retribution. I got it.
TRUMP: I'm going to be - you know, he keeps [Hannity laughs] We love this guy. He says, "You're not going to be a dictator, are you?" I said, "No, no, no. Other than Day One." We're closing the border and we're drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I'm not a dictator, okay?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MEYERS: Oh, well, if it's just for one day, sure, by all means. What could possibly go wrong?
...
At this point, the nicest thing you can say about him is that he's an aspiring dictator, he's in cognitive decline and he's - the greatest of all time, if you like criminals.
So well done, sir.
You can watch it below, from the December 6, 2023 Late Night with Seth Meyers.