Trevor Noah and Seth Meyers recap Election 2017's big winners: hope, karma, and Democrats
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The 2017 elections on Tuesday ushered in big wins for Democrats, with the biggest story being Virginia, where Democrat Ralph Northam trounced Ed Gillespie, a Republican running a campaign echoing President Trump's talking points. And Trump dumped Gillespie 20 minutes after his loss, Trevor Noah noted on Wednesday's Daily Show. "Trump does not play games with how fast he will abandon you," he said. "I bet you one day when the U.S. economy crashes, Trump's gonna be like, 'What a loser economy, I've never even heard of America. I'm from Sweden, guten tag."
"When you look at the bigger picture, you know who really won big in last night's election? Karma," Noah said. On Tuesday night across America, "incumbents were defeated by the very thing they were being dicks about." He illustrated this with three races. "And when you put it all together — the Democratic landslides, the victories for refugees, trans people, people of color — it was a horrible night for people like Sean Hannity, which you can tell by how much time he spent covering all of the results on his hour-long show." (Spoiler: 5 seconds.)
On Late Night, Seth Meyers noted the Democratic victories, but poked fun at the party, too. "Even before the results came in last night, Democrats were certain they didn't have a chance — which, of course, is how you know they actually had a chance," he said. "They won, but at least the Democrats were wrong again." He ran through several races, but ended with Gillespie's loss, focusing on his promise to save Confederate monuments. "The good news is in Virginia, when you lose, 150 years later you get a statue," Meyers said. "Of course, this is just one election night, and there's still a long way to go, but last night's results were promising for a Democratic Party in desperate need of something to give them hope." Peter Weber
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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.
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