Late night hosts wonder if Pelosi wrote Trump's election threat, explain Fox News' vaccine mandate war on Christmas

published 15 October 2021

New research shows that the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are more effective than Johnson & Jonhson's and that "during the pandemic, Americans drank and smoked more, and exercised less," Jimmy Fallon said on Thursday's Tonight Show, joking that both stories can be found in "Things You Don't Need to Be a Scientist to Know" magazine.

In Washington, "the White House hosted 30 countries to talk about cybercrime, but Russia wasn't invited — I mean, I'm sure they were there, they just weren't invited," Fallon said. And "in a new statement, former President Trump is suggesting that unless the issue of election fraud is addressed, Republicans should not vote in 2024. Democrats heard and were like, 'Let's get this guy back on Twitter.'"

Yes, "the angry orange baby is throwing another fit over the election he can't admit he lost," Jimmy Kimmel said on Kimmel Live, reading Trump's entire threat. "I don't know, I'm confused also. It's like, did Nancy Pelosi write this for him? It seems like he's telling the Republicans not to vote. And of course this brings up the age old question, which is: How do you 'solve' a problem you made up?"

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"That's not the only nutty message Trump's sending around," Kimmel said, showing a fundraising email portraying Dr. Fauci as the Grinch. "This is their new theme, though, is the Grinch-y Democrats want to take your Christmas away," but "despite Fox's best effort, Joe Biden stealing Christmas is not what most Americans are worried about right now. Not even in the Top 5." (Failure and blood are up there, though.)

Republicans have also "spent the last few days spreading the baseless claim that mass cancelations and delays by Southwest Airlines were due to President Biden's vaccine and testing requirements," Seth Meyers said at Late Night. He ruminated on air travel, did a long impression of Tucker Carlson explaining a specific flight delay, and noted that when it comes to vaccine mandates, "another show on Fox found a way to tie it to all the way back to — what else? — the 'War on Christmas.'" Seriously, he said, "it's especially rich for Fox hosts to applaud employees standing up against vaccine or testing requirements when their own company has much stricter requirements."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.