Seth Meyers
Late-night hosts recapped a concerning town hall with Donald Trump on Fox News, in which he tried to argue that Joe Biden was cognitively unfit to be president.
“It’s hard for Trump to make that claim convincingly since he himself is clearly … let’s say … not well,” said Seth Meyers on Late Night.
Speaking to Sean Hannity, Trump stumbled over the phrase “cognitive decline” and settled on “cognitively not good”.
“Even Frankenstein’s monster would come up with something better than ‘cognitively not good’,’” Meyers said.
Meyers saw the town hall as further evidence that the channel is synonymous with Trump. “It’s not enough to say that Fox is pro-GOP any more. They are the GOP. It’s the same entity,” he said.
And Trump himself has seemed to be struggling with words. On the campaign trail, Trump got basic facts confused, forgot which city he’s in, and at one stop, said that photo ID is needed to buy a loaf of bread. “Clearly this man has never bought a loaf of bread in his life,” said Meyers. “He’s probably only ever said the words ‘loaf of bread’ when his tailor asked ‘what would you like to look like in your suit?’
“Watching Trump try to get to the end of a sentence is like watching a dog try to walk across a balance beam,” Meyers said.
“Trump is obviously deeply addled and untethered from reality, but there is one thing he’s nevertheless been extremely clear about: his desire to install himself as a dictator if he wins another term. When it comes to that, he’s been laser-focused and very consistent.”
To that end, Hannity asked if he would promise not to abuse power as president, to which Trump responded, “except for day one … I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill. After that I’m not a dictator.”
“That’s like Jason saying he’ll only go on a murderous rampage the first day of summer camp, and, on day two, canoeing,” Meyers said. “I’m not sure what else Trump could do that would make it more obvious.”
Jimmy Kimmel
Taylor Swift beat out Vladimir Putin, King Charles and the president of China as Time’s person of the year, “which makes sense”, said Jimmy Kimmel. “Those guys are terrible singers.”
The editor-in-chief of Time said “Taylor Swift is the rare person who is both the writer and hero of her own story”. And “also said, ‘We really wanted to sell some magazines this year,’” Kimmel added.
“On the other end of the human popularity scale,” Kimmel pivoted, was the fourth Republican presidential debate, held at the University of Alabama. As with prior debates, Donald Trump was not in attendance.
“Every one of these debates feels like an ‘NSync reunion without Justin Timberlake,” Kimmel joked.
Kimmel also responded to Trump’s non-promise to not be a dictator. “Right, right, he’ll only be a dictator on day one, as opposed to the rest of the time where there’s no tator – just dic.
“All kidding aside, how about Sean Hannity having to squeeze him to say he won’t be a dictator? I mean, how clear does Trump have make it? I’m tired of these fake questions like, ‘Will you become a dictator?’ Of course he’s going to become a dictator. He said he’s going to become a dictator!
“Basically, in November, we’re going to be voting on whether we will ever vote again.”
The Daily Show
"Are you going to be a dictator?" is NOT a normal question to have to ask a presidential candidate. pic.twitter.com/On492M00tD
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) December 7, 2023
And on The Daily Show, guest host Charlamagne Tha God also responded to Trump’s dictator answer. “Once again, Trump is telling us exactly what he’s going to do and no one’s believing him,” he said. “You Trump supporters are all in our mentions with your clown emojis saying, ‘You Democratic shill! You’re overreacting! Trump’s not a dictator!’ He’s telling you, OK?
“And no, it doesn’t make it any better that he says he’s just going to be a dictator for one day,” he continued. “Saying you’re going to be a dictator for one day is like having sex with your partner and telling her you’re only going to pump once. Ladies, would you all believe that?” The answer was a resounding no. “No one has ever only pumped once on purpose.”
But Charlamagne had a more pointed critique for Fox News. “I can’t believe I have to say this, but ‘Are you going to be a dictator?’ is not a normal question you should have to ask a presidential candidate. If you have to ask your babysitter, ‘Are you going to eat my kids?’ it doesn’t matter what their answer is. The fact that you needed to ask them means you should get another babysitter!”
