Seth Meyers explains the Trump GOP convention's blame-everything-on-Hillary strategy


The theme of the Republican National Convention on Tuesday was "Make America Work Again," but to Seth Meyers, it was more like "Blame Hillary Clinton for Everything."
On Wednesday's Late Night, Meyers was able to get in some zingers about Donald Trump Jr. blasting aristocrats ("It's tough to make a case against elites when you look like a money clip come to life") and the fact that it took until Wednesday morning for an apology regarding Monday's Melania Trump speech ("Late apologies will be a hallmark of the Trump administration — I imagine only 24 hours after a nuclear holocaust will a bunker-bound Trump look to his fellow survivors and say, 'My bad'"). But the bulk of his "Closer Look" on Wednesday was the convention's laser focus on Clinton — and why Trump and his speakers opted for that strategy.
Some of the attacks were "pretty tame," Meyers said, but things got very sinister when Ben Carson brought up Lucifer and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) launched a "Stalin-esque show trial" against Clinton that appointed the crowd judge and jury. After several chants of "Guilty!" and "Lock her up!" it sounded like the "Roman Coliseum, except Christie wouldn't be the emperor, he'd be the guy feeding Trump grapes," Meyers said. Of course, he reasoned, it's entirely possible that Christie — who was passed over for the VP slot in favor of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence — might have been misdirecting his anger: "I bet his feelings were so hurt part of him wanted to yell, 'Donald Trump for leading on your best friend and then pulling the rug out from under him, guilty or not guilty?'" Watch below. Catherine Garcia
The Week
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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