Seth Meyers has words for Donald Trump‘s new right-hand man.
After condemning the “horrifying” assassination attempt made against Trump on Saturday and elaborating that “political violence must be condemned in all its forms,” the “Late Night” host also took a moment to condemn how certain right-wing political voices have responded to attack.
He first called for “an inclusive politics of compassion, empathy and community” and encouraged viewers to have conversations about “the real work of democracy,” saying, “That’s what we need.”
“What we don’t need are the opportunistic purveyors of paranoia, suspicion and fear who have already rushed to fill the void with incendiary conspiracy theories and lies,” he continued, before cutting to coverage of the assassination on various news programs.
J. D. Vance, the Ohio senator who Trump announced as his vice presidential pick earlier on Monday, was among the reactors Meyers was calling out.
“The premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” Vance wrote on X on Saturday. “That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”
Also included in the supercut were Georgia congresspeople Marjorie Taylor Greene, who wrote on X that “the Democrat party is flat out evil,” and Mike Collins, who wrote that “Joe Biden sent the orders.”
“At a time when things are bad, you are choosing to make things worse,” Meyers said. “You are choosing to inflame the national mood at a dangerous moment, rather than show the leadership and basic decency it would take to calm things down. You should be ashamed. Please stop.”
“You’re also wrong,” he continued. “Engaging in the work of democracy and peaceful persuasion is the opposite of inciting violence. It’s what we need more of, not less. Accurately describing the dangers of autocracy and warning against attempts to dismantle our democracy have nothing to do with political violence. Speaking plainly about the specter of authoritarianism is not only our democratic right; it’s our civic duty. We must all continue to do it.”
Meyers offered his own explanation for the violence on Saturday.
“I think it’s important to say that the easy availability of dangerous weapons has made tragedies like this all too common,” he said. “Schools, shopping malls, grocery stores, movie theaters, houses of worship and now political rallies have all been infected by this scourge of everyday violence. We cannot accept that. There are too many guns. They’re too easy to get. We must work to change that.”
See the full “A Closer Look” segment from Monday’s episode of “Late Night” below.
