“A weird dynamic has developed with Trump where he routinely says some of the most depraved, authoritarian things a president has ever uttered and as a nation we mostly just let them pass by without comment,” said Late Night host Seth Meyers on Wednesday. “We treat him like a guy handing out leaflets on the subway.”
As the U.S. coronavirus death toll exceeded 200,000 this week, President Donald Trump stood in front of an Ohio crowd and said with a straight face that COVID-19 affects “virtually nobody.” Though, as Meyers pointed out, Trump boldly telling wild lies is just a regular, unsurprising routine now.
“Trump often tells two kinds of fake stories: Stories about going home to his wife Melania after rallies, and stories about generals and other people who come up to him and call him ‘sir,'” said Meyers, pointing out that the president seemed to mix up these narratives at his Tuesday rally in Pennsylvania. Speaking about going home (which he apparently does “all the time”), Trump said Melania called him “sir” — not exactly an affectionate name to call your husband.
“The truth is Melania doesn’t call you anything. Not ‘sir,’ not ‘Mr. President,'” said Meyers. “Maybe a ‘you again?'”