Late night hosts explain the Trump GOP's Liz Cheney purge, mock Caitlyn Jenner's hangar pains

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Daily Show)

published 7 May 2021

"The CDC just announced that they expect to see a sharp decline in COVID cases in the U.S. by July," Jimmy Fallon said on Thursday's Tonight Show. "So get ready for Etsy's newest item, bikinis made from recycled masks."

Meanwhile in Washington, "House Republicans want to kick Liz Cheney off of their leadership team because she refuses to side with Trump and say the election was stolen," Fallon said. "You could tell Republicans also upset Dick Cheney, because they were like, 'We should totally ditch Liz, she's such a....'" — and here he made a Darth Vader joke.

"I've got to give props to Liz Cheney for risking her political career to stand up for what she believes in," Trevor Noah said at The Daily Show. But "loyalty to Trump is a defining principle of the GOP right now, and if she doesn't agree with that, it doesn't make much sense for her to be one of the party's leaders." Most Republicans say they believe President Biden did steal the election, "and even now, there are still efforts going on to overturn the results in close states, including a big one in Arizona," he said. "And if you're wondering how a bunch of conspiracy nuts are going to turn a Biden win into a Trump win, the answer is, in the craziest way possible."

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"The GOP is now so committed to the deranged lie that Trump actually won the election," they're punishing Liz Cheney "simply for living in reality," Late Night's Seth Meyers sighed Wednesday night. "You think I want to side with Liz Cheney? For one thing, she's never met a war she didn't support, and I'm afraid that if I'm too nice to her, her dad will invite me hunting and shoot me in the face. But this isn't about Liz Cheney.... it's about why she's being punished."

Jimmy Kimmel skipped Liz Cheney for Caitlyn Jenner, who sat down with Sean Hannity to discuss her gubernatorial bid. "This is how well Caitlyn Jenner understands the plight of everyday Californians here in L.A.," he said on Kimmel Live. "She mentions this airplane she flies, multiple times. They had this town hall in her own airplane hangar," the setting for an anecdote about rich friends fleeing in private jets to avoid seeing homeless people. "Is it transphobic to call a trans person an ignorant a-hole?" he pondered. 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.