Seth Meyers sees too many parallels between the Trump and George W. Bush administrations


It has been less than two weeks since Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani was killed in an airstrike authorized by President Trump, and Trump still can't get his story straight about why he approved the operation, Seth Meyers said on Monday's Late Night.
Trump has finally settled on claiming that Soleimani was going to target U.S. embassies, but he keeps changing the number. "In the span of two days, he went from not talking about embassies at all to saying it was one embassy to saying it was multiple embassies to saying it was four embassies," Meyers said. "I know Trump is a bad liar, but even for him it's obvious he's making stuff up off the top of his head." Putting on his best Trump voice, he added: "What if it was four embassies? Is that a number where you would all leave me alone? What if they were Embassy Suites, that would be bad, right?"
Even Trump's team is having a hard time keeping up with his lies, Meyers said, and that reminds him of the George W. Bush administration. They did the same thing before the Iraq War, with Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice all lying "repeatedly" about the intelligence they used to justify invading Iraq, he said. That's "eerily similar" to what's going on today.
Subscribe to 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.
"They claimed definitively that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and had ties to the terrorists who carried out 9/11," Meyers said. "They manipulated intelligence and concocted all kinds of lies about that intelligence to justify an immoral and catastrophic war that destabilized the region and the world." Watch Meyers explain more parallels between Trump and Bush in the video below. Catherine Garcia
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.
-
Real-life couples creating real-deal sparks in the best movies to star IRL partners
The Week Recommends The chemistry between off-screen items can work wonders
-
Is China's giant new hydropower dam a 'water bomb' aimed at India?
Today's Big Question River is a 'lifeline for millions' across Asia
-
Aysegul Savas' 6 favorite books for readers who love immersive settings
Feature The Paris-based Turkish author recommends works by Hiromi Kawakami, Virginia Woolf, and more
-
Judge halts GOP defunding of Planned Parenthood
Speed Read The Trump administration can't withhold Medicaid funds from Planned Parenthood, said the ruling
-
Trump contradicts Israel, says 'starvation' in Gaza
Speed Read The president suggests Israel could be doing more to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians
-
Trump executive order targets homeless
Speed Read It will now be easier for states and cities to remove homeless people from the streets
-
Columbia pays $200M to settle with White House
Speed Read The Trump administration accused the school of failing to protect its Jewish students amid pro-Palestinian protests
-
Florida judge and DOJ make Epstein trouble for Trump
Speed Read The Trump administration's request to release grand jury transcripts from the Epstein investigation was denied
-
Trump attacks Obama as Epstein furor mounts
Speed Read The Trump administration accused the Obama administration of 'treasonous' behavior during the 2016 election
-
Is Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show' cancellation an omen of something worse?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION CBS said its decision to end the talk show was strictly business. But the timing and nature of the announcement has some observers wondering if there's more at play behind the scenes.
-
Trump administration releases MLK files
Speed Read Newly released documents on the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did not hold any new revelations, King historians said