Trevor Noah and Seth Meyers puzzle out the GOP's bifurcated response to Roy Moore and sex abuse

Trevor Noah and Seth Meyers on Roy Moore

last updated 14 November 2017

Trevor Noah began his segment on Roy Moore on Monday's Daily Show by giving a confused two cheers to Republican senators who are running away from the Alabama GOP Senate nominee, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. "Ha-ha, look at Mitch McConnell's face," he said. "He looks like a man who made a point that... I agree with... about how we should believe the victims — I'm not used to this feeling, this is weird." He spent the rest of it criticizing Moore's loyal supporters elsewhere on the right, and especially Moore's evangelical Christian base, some of whom "only use religion when it suits them."

Moore, "as a devoted member of the Christian right who's been accused of horrible acts, he knows the one place a person can find forgiveness: You've got to go to a church, and then you take a right and go down two blocks to Sean Hannity's house," Noah said, playing some of Hannity's cringeworthy radio interview with Moore. Still, "Republican politics can basically be divided into two eras: there's BG and AG — before the grab and after the grab," Noah said, referring to President Trump's Access Hollywood confession. "Because once they made sexual assault seem like a partisan issue, it enabled all of their party members to use politics as a shield for their sex crimes."

On Late Night, Seth Meyers also focused on the "grotesque lengths" Moore's supporters are taking to defend him, with some awkward clips. "Not only are the accounts of Moore's accusers credible and supported by more than 30 sources," plus an unfortunate high school yearbook signing, Meyers said. "But people who know Moore have since come forward to corroborate the fact that Moore liked to date teen girls." It's nice that McConnell wants Moore out, Meyers said, "but now the question, what specific actions will the GOP take to stop Moore?" Watch below. 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.