“I know our brains have all melted from the constant flagrant lawlessness and overall weirdness of this administration and nothing feels real any more 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, but this is a horrifying moment.”
Seth Meyers pulled no punches in naming the latest White House response to police brutality protests for what it is. As citizens exercise their First Amendment rights en masse in all 50 states, and cities set curfews and sent in heavily armed police and military forces to quell even peaceful protesters with tear gas, rubber bullets, and other violent means, Trump has publicly and privately urged authorities to “dominate” the situation by escalating the violence even further and enacting mass arrests.
“You know how for three-and-half years everyone was warning about the inevitable worst case scenario where our democracy crumbles and our country descends into authoritarianism?” asked Meyers rhetorically in Tuesday night’s “A Closer Look” segment. “That worst case scenario is here. It’s happening. You’re not going to get an invitation in the mail asking you to RSVP to the Democracy Is Over Party.”
Meyers also played archival footage of Trump telling interviewers how “militaristic” he is during his campaign for president, mocked the bizarre and pitiful Bible-brandishing photo op the White House tear gassed peaceful protesters to organise, and found multiple ways to express just how large a dump the administration is taking on the freedoms it claims to want to protect.
“Military police in your country attacked peaceful protesters to stop them exercising their First Amendment rights,” Meyers told viewers. “Trump couldn’t have done more damage to the Constitution last night if he’d pulled a Sinead O’Connor and ripped it up on live television and then ate the pieces.
“You love the military the way you love the Constitution and the Bible: only when it serves you,” Meyers concluded, addressing Trump directly. “And that is not love.”