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.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in 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.
-
Film reviews: The Phoenician Scheme, Bring Her Back, and Jane Austen Wrecked My Life
Feature A despised mogul seeks a fresh triumph, orphaned siblings land with a nightmare foster mother, and a Jane fan finds herself in a love triangle
-
Music reviews: Tune-Yards and PinkPantheress
Feature "Better Dreaming" and "Fancy That"
-
Withdrawing 529 plan funds for college? Here's what to know.
the explainer Maximize the amount you have stashed away for your education
-
Elon Musk slams Trump's 'pork-filled' signature bill
speed read 'Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong,' Musk posted on X
-
Depleted FEMA struggling as hurricane season begins
speed read FEMA has lost a third of its workforce amid DOGE cuts enforced by President Donald Trump
-
White House tackles fake citations in MAHA report
speed read A federal government public health report spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was rife with false citations
-
Judge blocks push to bar Harvard foreign students
speed read Judge Allison Burroughs sided with Harvard against the Trump administration's attempt to block the admittance of international students
-
Trump's trade war whipsawed by court rulings
Speed Read A series of court rulings over Trump's tariffs renders the future of US trade policy uncertain
-
Elon Musk departs Trump administration
speed read The former DOGE head says he is ending his government work to spend more time on his companies
-
Trump taps ex-personal lawyer for appeals court
speed read The president has nominated Emil Bove, his former criminal defense lawyer, to be a federal judge
-
US trade court nullifies Trump's biggest tariffs
speed read The US Court of International Trade says Trump exceeded his authority in imposing global tariffs