Seth Meyers says the Chelsea bombing shows Donald Trump isn't a real New Yorker

Police in New Jersey caught suspected bomber Ahmad Khan Rahami on Monday, just two days after he allegedly detonated an explosive device in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. Nobody was killed, "so that's the good news," Seth Meyers said on Tuesday's Late Night. "Now here's the bad news: the news." After mocking cable news for its attention to insignificant detail, Meyers took a look at how New Yorkers reacted — two of them reportedly "picked up a bomb and accidentally disabled it," he noted. "I think that's literally the plot of a Road Runner cartoon" — including the two New York residents running for president.

Hillary Clinton waited until she knew what was going on before offering a public opinion. "Waiting for the facts?" Meyers said. "Seems like a reasonable, measured response from an experienced public official. But I bet Donald Trump went a different way with it!" Of course he did, and "despite jumping out ahead early without any facts, fair is fair," Meyers conceded: "Trump did get it right this time — which of course means he totally wants credit."

Trump won't always be so lucky, Meyers continued, and "as he's done before, Trump exploited this whole ordeal to call for draconian policies like profiling and a ban on refugees, but I think Trump could have learned a thing or two from actual New Yorkers, who showed the world just how calm they can be in the face of crisis." (It should be noted that Trump was born and raised in New York, while Meyers grew up in New Hampshire and went to college in Illinois.) People all around the city worked, played, and rode trains with Muslims the day after the attack, Meyers said, "because New Yorkers know that 'Muslim' and 'terrorist' are not synonyms — kind of like 'Trump' and 'presidential.'" Watch below. Peter Weber

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up