Late night hosts applaud the narrative perfection of Steve Bannon being arrested for a border wall scam

Late night hosts on Bannon's arrest
(Image credit: Screenshots/YouTube/Late Night, The Daily Show, The Tonight Show)

Other than the Democratic National Convention wrapping up, "here's the big story today: Another one of President Trump's close associates got indicted," Jimmy Fallon said at The Tonight Show. "Yep, Steve Bannon was arrested and placed in the 'Trump's well-wishes' section of the prison. ... At this point, the White House softball team and the prison softball team have the exact same lineup."

"After the Aryan Brotherhood and Latin Kings, the largest prison gang in America might be the former Trump campaign officials," Trevor Noah joked at The Daily Show. "Everything about this story's insane," starting with Bannon being "arrested on a 150-foot yacht," by "investigators from the post office."

"But the best part of the story is why Bannon was arrested," Noah said. "He's accused of stealing money from people who thought they were donating to build Donald Trump's wall — because, you know, you wouldn't want any criminals sneaking into the country. And I'm honestly curious to see how this plays out. Because the people who got ripped off now hate Steve Bannon, right? But they obviously really love Donald Trump. But Trump loves Steve Bannon. So I feel like this whole thing's going to end with Trump getting those people to donate for Bannon's defense fund, but then Trump steals the money and moves to Mexico — which he can get to easily, because there's no wall."

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"It's a Russian nesting doll of fraud — I can't wait until Bannon raises money for his legal defense fund and we find out he lost it all at the racetrack," Seth Meyers agreed at Late Night. "From the beginning, the wall was a nonstop scam. Trump scammed his supporters by telling them Mexico would pay for it, then we ended up paying for it," and now this.

"Seriously, think about how perfect this is," Meyers said: "The same public agency Trump is currently trying to destroy — one of the most cherished public institutions in America — arrested his former campaign manager for allegedly skimming money from a fundraiser for their scam border wall, two days after we found out Trump's previous campaign manager colluded with Russian intelligence. It's like the end of the summer TV season and they're wrapping up all the story arcs at once." And Meyers is here for it: "You know what, baby? It's been a brutal six months, so I'm gonna mainline some schadenfreude." Watch his final out-of-studio "closer look" below. Peter Weber

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Peter Weber, The Week US

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.