Seth Meyers cringes at Trump's GOP health-care meltdown

Over the past couple of weeks, it's become clear that "lying is such a central feature of the Trump administration that many in D.C. just take it for granted," Seth Meyers said on Monday's Late Night. "But there's one issue where Trump's lies could have very real consequences for millions of people, and that's health care." Trump's bizarre claim that former President Barack Obama ordered his phones wiretapped has caused hilarious contortions from White House aides, Meyers said, but Republicans can't camera-in-a-microwave their way out of this health-care conundrum.

"As a candidate, Trump claimed repeatedly that he had a great health-care plan that would be easy to implement, but as president he discovered that things aren't quite so simple," Meyers said, playing some clips. "'You know what the plan is — this is the plan'? Basically, Trump's take on health care is an Abbott and Costello routine." Trump's vision for an ObamaCare replacement isn't the same as House Speaker Paul Ryan's, but since he doesn't appear to understand the basics of insurance, he farmed out the legislation to Ryan — and then went all-in to back it, including inviting rebelling conservatives to the White House for pizza and bowling. "That's right, Trump is trying to sway members of Congress with an 8-year-old's birthday party," Meyers said, breaking out his Trump voice: "'Also, good news! Steve Bannon has agreed to be a terrifying clown.'"

The bill faces stiff resistance, but it has already passed through two of three committees — before the brutal CBO score on Monday showed the plan reducing the number of insured by 24 million people. Meyers showed some of the wackier moments of the overnight committee hearings, including the discussion of taxing the sun. "Yeah, why don't they tax the sun?" Meyers asked. "Is it because we already know that an orange ball of gas would never pay its taxes?"

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"Even Donald Trump won't put his name on this thing, and one reason for that might be that he's worried people won't like it as much as ObamaCare," Meyers said. "In fact, today, Trump blamed the media for ObamaCare's rise in popularity in the polls," and for Obama's rise in popularity, too. "I love how Donald Trump can't figure out why Obama is suddenly so popular," he concluded. "It's you, dude. It's you." Watch below. Peter Weber