Seth Meyers was off last week, which meant Monday night was his first chance to weigh in on President Donald Trump’s utterly unnecessary fight over what was supposed to be a condolence call to the widow of a fallen soldier.
The Late Night host spent the bulk of his latest “A Closer Look” segment on Trump’s recent interview with Fox Business host and “babysitter with no backbone” Maria Bartiromo. But while the president can “comfortably go on Fox News and breeze by questions without answering them because he knows he won’t be challenged,” Meyers said Trump shows his true colors when he “viciously attacks anyone who does challenge him,” like Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson.
As Meyers explained to those who haven’t been paying attention, Wilson was in the car with Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sgt. La David T. Johnson, one of four U.S. Special Forces soldiers killed in Niger, when the president called her. According to Wilson’s account, later backed up by Johnson, Trump not only couldn’t remember the soldier’s name, but also said, “he knew what he signed up for.”
A defiant Trump was still tweeting about the incident on Monday morning, disputing their version of the call. “Look, just stop,” Meyers said. “Stop tweeting, stop responding. Do what a normal, decent human being would do: apologize and then be quiet.”
The host also criticized White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who suggested that it is inappropriate to question the account of a four-star general like John Kelly, who was also on the call. In response, Meyers pulled out a clip of Trump attacking General John Allen, who dared to criticize him at the Democratic National Convention last summer.
“That’s right, he’s a ‘failed general,’” Meyers said, quoting the president, “as opposed to Donald Trump who’s a general failure.”