Seth Meyers sees quite a few similarities between Trump and a Roomba


There's nothing funny about the government shutdown, now the longest in history and affecting 800,000 employees, but there's a lot to laugh at in a new book written by former White House aide Cliff Sims.
On Thursday's Late Night, Seth Meyers recounted some of the anecdotes found in Team of Vipers, out next week, but heavily promoted over the last few days. Sims describes a meeting in the Oval Office between President Trump and former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), where Ryan droned on for so long that Trump finally just got up and walked away. They heard the television turn on in another room, Sims said, and it was up to Vice President Mike Pence to retrieve Trump. "Oh my God, we have a president who just wanders around the house in slow motion no matter what's going on around him," Meyers said. "It's like we elected a Roomba."
In another chapter, Sims said Trump was distracted while preparing for a call to the International Space Station. He asked the NASA administrator about the "plan for Mars," and after being told a rover is going to the planet in 2020 and they will attempt a manned spaceflight in the 2030s, Trump asked if there was a way to speed things up and get there by the end of his first term. "Why?" Meyers said. "Are you trying to escape somewhere that's out of [Special Counsel] Robert Mueller's jurisdiction?" Watch the video below. Catherine Garcia
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.
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.
-
Music reviews: Chance the Rapper, Cass McCombs, and Molly Tuttle
Feature "Star Line," "Interior Live Oak," and "So Long Little Miss Sunshine"
-
Film reviews: Eden and Honey Don't!
Feature Seekers of a new utopia spiral into savagery and a queer private eye prowls a high-desert town
-
Critics' choice: Three chefs fulfilling their ambitions
Feature Kwame Onwuachi's grand second act, Travis Lett makes a comeback, and Jeff Watson's new Korean restaurant
-
DOGE put Social Security data at risk, official says
Speed Read DOGE workers made the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans vulnerable to identity theft
-
Court rejects Trump suit against Maryland US judges
Speed Read Judge Thomas Cullen, a Trump appointee, said the executive branch had no authority to sue the judges
-
Trump expands National Guard role in policing
Speed Read The president wants the Guard to take on a larger role in domestic law enforcement
-
Trump says he's firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Speed Read The move is likely part of Trump's push to get the central bank to cut interest rates
-
Abrego released from jail, faces Uganda deportation
Speed Read The wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego García is expected to be detained at an ICE check-in and deported to Uganda
-
Trump arms National Guard in DC, threatens other cities
speed read His next targets are Chicago, New York and Baltimore
-
Judge: Trump's US attorney in NJ serving unlawfully
Speed Read The appointment of Trump's former personal defense lawyer, Alina Habba, as acting US attorney in New Jersey was ruled 'unlawful'
-
Third judge rejects DOJ's Epstein records request
Speed Read Judge Richard Berman was the third and final federal judge to reject DOJ petitions to unseal Epstein-related grand jury material