Seth Meyers wasn't impressed by Donald Trump's debate performance


The first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton has been dissected by pundits, reporters, average citizens, and now Seth Meyers, who believes there was a clear winner and loser at the end of the night.
Going into the debate, there was a double standard, Meyers said on Tuesday's Late Night. After rolling a clip of a conservative talk show host's advice to Clinton (don't laugh, don't smile, don't cough), he declared, "She has to act like a ninja bank robber weaving through a grid of red lasers. Meanwhile, Trump just has to be a C+ Walmart greeter." Based on the expectations his supporters helped set up, "all Trump had to do was be a normal person and he would have been declared the winner," Meyers said. "Yet he still managed to lose."
Trump wasn't prepared for the "most important 90 minutes of his campaign," Meyers continued, so he gave rambling non-answers about cyber warfare and terrorism and made a strange comment about the possibility that "somebody sitting on their bed weighing 400 pounds," not Russia, hacked the Democratic National Committee. "Trump is so superficial he even fat-shamed a dude he just made up," Meyers quipped. If he really wanted to make a splash, he said, Trump should have released his tax returns, rather than interrupt Clinton to say he's "smart" because he doesn't pay any federal income tax, and if he did, that money would be "squandered." "Oh, the government would squander your money?" Meyers asked. "Says the guy who covers his penthouse in gold like an old prospector who just won the lottery." Watch the video below. Catherine Garcia
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
Trump executive order targets homeless
Speed Read It will now be easier for states and cities to remove homeless people from the streets
-
Columbia pays $200M to settle with White House
Speed Read The Trump administration accused the school of failing to protect its Jewish students amid pro-Palestinian protests
-
Florida judge and DOJ make Epstein trouble for Trump
Speed Read The Trump administration's request to release grand jury transcripts from the Epstein investigation was denied
-
Trump attacks Obama as Epstein furor mounts
Speed Read The Trump administration accused the Obama administration of 'treasonous' behavior during the 2016 election
-
Trump administration releases MLK files
Speed Read Newly released documents on the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did not hold any new revelations, King historians said
-
Japan's prime minister feels pressure after election losses
Speed Read Shigeru Ishiba has vowed to remain in office
-
President diagnosed with 'chronic venous insufficiency'
Speed Read The vein disorder has given Trump swollen ankles and visible bruising on his hands
-
'Bawdy' Trump letter supercharges Epstein scandal
Speed Read The Wall Street Journal published details of Trump's alleged birthday letter to Epstein