Seth Meyers surveys Trump's growing national insecurity situation

Seth Meyers surveys Trump's national insecurity
(Image credit: Late Night)

President Trump dealt with his first national security emergency at the dinner table in the middle of a crowded terrace at his Mar-a-Lago club amid a flurry of aides, waiters, and papers being illuminated by the flashes (and thus cameras) of cellphones — not exactly as secure as the White House Situation Room, Seth Meyers noted on Monday's Late Night. The details of the open-air, candle-lit emergency meeting were provided to CNN by members of the club, who also shared photos on social media. Meyers showed one of the photos. "Even in a crisis, Trump knows where the camera is," he noted. "Look at him, he's making a face like a sitcom dad saying 'North Korea, you've done it again.'"

Meyers taped the segment before National Security Adviser Michael Flynn resigned late Monday, but he gave a summary of the events that led to the firing. He also noted that after Trump's rocky phone calls with foreign leaders, only 29 percent of Americans think other world leaders respect Trump, fewer than the 49 percent who said the same thing of George W. Bush at this stage of his presidency — then Meyers showed Trump and Bush struggling to open doors to prove... well, something.

Trump is not helping his standing with lawmakers and the public by obsessively repeating his widely dismissed claims of massive voter fraud, most recently his contention that Hillary Clinton only won New Hampshire because of illegal voters from Massachusetts. "So the president of the United States thinks thousands of people were bused in from Massachusetts to illegally vote in New Hampshire?" Meyers asked, incredulously. "I'm from New Hampshire and I can tell you, we'd notice if thousands of people from Massachusetts showed up on buses — that's the invasion we're most afraid of: 'We're here for your tax-free liquor and your foliage — lay down your arms!'"

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Meyers ended by welcoming White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller to the national stage, after he made the rounds on Sunday talk shows — and issued some chillingly authoritarian statements about executive power. "The only way that statement could be more terrifying is if he yelled it in German," Meyers said. "By the way, in case you're wondering what being sinister does to you, that guy is 31 years old and he already looks like he's two-thirds of the way to Montgomery Burns." Watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter Weber, The Week US

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.