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Trump Faces Scrutiny Over Personal Properties, Hurricane Lies: A Closer Look - YouTube
Channel: Late Night with Seth Meyers
[1]
-The President's ongoing
break from reality
[3]
continued this morning
on Twitter,
[5]
as we learned more
about his insistence
[7]
that Hurricane Dorian
was gonna hit Alabama.
[9]
For more on this,
it's time for "A Closer Look."
[11]
[ Cheers and applause ]
[13]
鈾櫔
[16]
Well, it's another Monday
in the Trump era,
[19]
which means we all awoke
to another fever dream
[21]
of cruelty, stupidity,
and corruption.
[23]
Just in the last few days,
the President launched
[26]
a deranged attack on John Legend
and Chrissy Teigen,
[29]
a House panel is investigating
the military's use
[31]
of Trump-owned property
in Scotland,
[33]
the President
ignited bipartisan fury
[36]
when he announced
that he invited the Taliban
[38]
to Camp David
[40]
just days before
the anniversary of 9/11
[43]
while simultaneously
canceling that meeting
[46]
and upending months
of delicate peace talks.
[48]
And he attacked former South
Carolina governor Mark Sanford,
[51]
who announced
a primary challenge against him
[53]
by trying to remind people
that Sanford had an affair
[56]
with a woman in Argentina,
[57]
tweeting that Sanford
was found in Argentina
[60]
with his
"Flaming Dancer friend."
[63]
Now, we think he meant
to type "flamingo" dancer,
[69]
which also would have been wrong
because it's "Flamenco" dancer,
[74]
which also would have been wrong
because there is no evidence
[77]
Sanford's former mistress
had ever been a flamenco dancer.
[81]
It's like a seven-layer dip
of presidential insanity.
[85]
It's stupid stacked
on top of stupid
[87]
stacked on top of stupid
and then I guess guacamole.
[90]
[ Laughter ]
[92]
Also, I'd like to remind
everyone -- everyone --
[95]
this is not the first time
[96]
Trump has gotten details
of this story wrong.
[99]
To explain his disappearance
[101]
when he was having the affair
back in 2009,
[103]
Sanford famously claimed
[104]
he had been hiking
the Appalachian Trail.
[106]
Trump has tried
to mock him for that before,
[108]
but he's gotten that detail
wrong, as well,
[110]
and he did it again today.
[112]
-Mr. Tallahassee Trail.
Or Appalachian Trail.
[115]
He's the Appalachian Trail,
right?
[117]
The Tallahassee Trail
is nice, too,
[119]
but I think he was
the Appalachian Trail.
[121]
Never liked him too much.
[124]
I wasn't a big fan.
[127]
The Tallahassee Trail.
Must be a beautiful place.
[129]
Unfortunately,
he didn't go there.
[131]
He was supposed to be
vacationing
[135]
on the Tallahassee Trail,
[138]
but he was actually
in Argentina.
[141]
I don't know.
[142]
Jim, do they have a
Tallahassee Trail in Argentina?
[145]
-No, they don't. They --
[148]
They don't have one
in Tallahassee.
[150]
It doesn't exist.
[152]
The Tallahassee Trail
sounds like the name
[154]
of a chain restaurant
where they let you throw
[156]
peanut shells on the floor.
[158]
And, by the way, almost
everything I just told you about
[162]
happened before 8:00 a.m.
this morning.
[163]
It's hard enough to process all
this insanity in an entire day,
[167]
but it's worse when you haven't
even had your coffee yet.
[170]
I never thought I'd say this
to a president,
[171]
but, please, sleep in.
[174]
We need to take one of those
dumb novelty T-shirts that says
[177]
"Don't talk to me
until I've had my coffee"
[179]
and pass it into law.
[181]
[ Laughter ]
[183]
And while all...
[184]
[ Cheers and applause ]
[186]
While all of this was happening,
Trump was also continuing
[190]
his use of the presidency
to enrich himself.
[193]
Last week,
Trump reportedly encouraged
[195]
Vice President Mike Pence
to stay at his golf resort
[197]
in Ireland, and, on Friday,
it was reported
[199]
that an Air Force crew made a
stop at Trump's Scottish resort.
[202]
Democrats are investigating
whether these obviously corrupt
[205]
practices violate
the Constitution,
[207]
so Trump lashed out again
this morning on Twitter,
[209]
distancing himself
from both incidents.
[211]
-"I had nothing to do
with the decision
[213]
of our great vice president,
Mike Pence, to stay overnight
[215]
at one of the Trump-owned
resorts in Doonbeg, Ireland."
[218]
-"I know nothing
about an Air Force plane
[221]
landing in an airport,
which I don't own
[223]
and have nothing to do with it,
near Turnberry Resort,
[226]
which I do own, in Scotland,
and filling up with fuel,
[229]
with the crew staying overnight
at Turnberry.
[231]
They have good taste.
NOTHING TO DO WITH ME."
[235]
-Wow. He is tap dancing faster
than a flaming dancer.
[239]
Also, you can't
just tweet in all caps
[244]
"NOTHING TO DO WITH ME"
[245]
right after you admit
they stayed at your hotel
[247]
and you put in parentheses
"they have good taste."
[250]
He's like a guy who gets caught
on camera robbing a liquor store
[253]
and says, "That's not me,
[254]
but whoever it is
is very handsome."
[257]
[ Laughter ]
[258]
And it's not just the Air Force
and the Vice President
[261]
who are helping line
Trump's pockets.
[262]
It was also reported last week
that Attorney General Bill Barr
[265]
had booked Trump's hotel
for a $30,000 holiday party.
[268]
Trump was asked about all
the money flowing from taxpayers
[271]
to his private businesses
last week
[272]
and once again claimed
he had nothing to do with it
[275]
while also taking
the opportunity
[276]
to advertise his resorts.
[278]
-Can you speak to,
um, your involvement
[280]
in the Vice President's plans
[282]
to stay at a Trump property
in Ireland?
[283]
-Well, I had no involvement,
other than it's a great place.
[286]
It's Doonbeg. I own it.
It's in Ireland.
[288]
It's beautiful. It's wonderful.
I don't suggest anything.
[291]
I don't suggest it, nor did I
with the Attorney General.
[294]
I never spoke to the Attorney
General about using my hotel.
[297]
I have a lot of hotels
all over the place,
[299]
and people use them
because they're the best.
[301]
I mean, you know,
they're the best.
[303]
But, uh, he's using the hotel.
[306]
And, uh...
[308]
People like my product.
What can I tell you?
[310]
Can't help it.
[312]
But, uh, you know,
and I guess they say,
[314]
"We want to stay at a place
[316]
that's better
than someplace else."
[318]
-Well, that is really
quite the endorsement.
[321]
Sandals should steal
that slogan.
[323]
Sandals -- a place that's better
than someplace else.
[327]
[ Cheers and applause ]
[329]
Of course, all of this --
[332]
All of this comes after
Trump spent the entire week
[335]
lying about a hurricane
and insisting
[337]
that it was gonna hit Alabama,
going even so far
[339]
as to alter an official forecast
with a Sharpie.
[341]
Now, we -- we don't want
to keep talking about this.
[345]
We would have been happy
to just let this go
[347]
as another one of the million
dumb things Trump has done.
[350]
We talked about it on Thursday,
had a few days off,
[352]
and figured we'd wake up
to a new day
[354]
of fresh crimes
and flaming dancers,
[356]
but Trump
keeps talking about it,
[359]
and, as we all know, once Trump
gets called out for a lie,
[361]
he will not stop
until he gets the last word.
[363]
Everything else
has to grind to a halt
[365]
while we watch this
sweaty weirdo bark at reporters
[367]
and insist that he's correct
by tweeting nonstop
[370]
or doing that thing
where he points at his own brain
[372]
to show us all how smart he is.
[375]
"They did a CAT scan of my brain
and said it was huge.
[378]
Here. Let me show you a photo."
[380]
[ Laughter ]
[382]
I mean, look at him.
[384]
[ Cheers and applause ]
[388]
This looks like the start
of a kids' video called
[391]
"Head, Shoulders, Knees,
and I Can't Reach My Toes."
[395]
But Trump initially pretended
[397]
he had no idea
who defaced his hurricane map.
[400]
Well, it won't surprise you
to learn
[401]
that after the "Washington Post"
did some digging,
[403]
they found out
who the culprit was.
[406]
It was Trump
who used the black Sharpie
[408]
to mark up an official
[409]
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration map,
[411]
which he displayed
during an Oval Office briefing
[413]
on Wednesday according
to a White House official
[415]
who spoke on the condition
of anonymity.
[416]
No one else writes like that
on a map with a black Sharpie.
[420]
It's amazing to me
[422]
that reporters actually
had to spend time on this.
[424]
They actually had to call up
anonymous sources
[426]
and get them to reveal
who the Sharpie culprit was.
[428]
It's like Watergate, except
Trump is his own Deep Throat.
[431]
He's Cheap Throat.
[433]
"Don't worry. We don't need
to pay for a new map.
[435]
I'll just draw on it
with a Sharpie. Everyone
will think it's real."
[438]
It's probably what he did
for each of Eric's birthdays.
[444]
Now, Trump has tried to muddy
the waters and confuse everyone
[448]
by making this
as complicated as possible,
[450]
so let's keep it very simple --
[451]
last Sunday, September 1st,
[453]
Trump tweeted that Alabama
will most likely be hit
[455]
much harder than anticipated
and then 20 minutes later,
[458]
the National Weather Service
in Birmingham, Alabama, tweeted,
[460]
"Alabama will not see
any impacts from Dorian,"
[463]
and as we learned this weekend,
[464]
that correction wasn't the
National Weather Service
[467]
going out of their way
to embarrass Trump.
[468]
They had to issue that
correction specifically
[470]
in response to Alabama residents
[472]
who were freaked out
by the President's tweet.
[474]
The Washington Post reported
[475]
that the Birmingham office sent
the tweet
[477]
after receiving
a flurry of phone calls
[479]
from concerned residents
following Trump's message.
[481]
We're now at the point
[482]
where the President
is scaring people for no reason.
[484]
He is basically
the WebMD of presidents.
[489]
He said no matter --
[491]
No matter what symptom...
[493]
[ Applause ]
[496]
No matter what symptom
you type in, the response says,
[498]
"Sounds bad.
You're probably gonna die."
[503]
Seriously, think about that.
[504]
People were calling
[505]
because the President said
they might be in danger,
[507]
and instead of reassuring them
after he was corrected,
[509]
he doubled down.
[511]
It's like if you stood up
in a crowded theater
[512]
and yelled "fire,"
[513]
and then
a theater employee said,
[514]
"Everyone calm down.
There's no fire."
[516]
And instead of apologizing,
[517]
you took out a can of gasoline
and a match and said,
[519]
"Well, there's one now."
[522]
But the craziest and most
dangerous part of all of this
[525]
is that Trump has now involved
other parts of the government
[527]
in his war on reality.
[528]
Just today we learned that
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross
[531]
threatened firings at NOAA
after Trump Dorian tweets.
[533]
That comes after NOAA staff were
instructed not to contradict
[536]
the President's Sharpie
hurricane forcast,
[538]
and on top of that,
Trump has entire party
[540]
in lockstep with him.
[541]
Just yesterday,
Republican Senator Roy Blount
[543]
dismissed Trump's
compulsive lying,
[545]
although he seemed to pause
[547]
when asked if Americans
could trust the President.
[549]
-Should the American public
take the President
[550]
at his word when he speaks?
[552]
-Well, the President
communicates differently than
[554]
anybody else has ever before --
-You've said that before.
[556]
-As a candidate, he -- the --
the American public --
[559]
-He's President
of the United States,
[560]
and when he issues a --
politicizing the weather.
[563]
I mean, is there anything left?
[565]
-Well, I-I-I actually --
[566]
I've spent most of this month
at home in Missouri,
[569]
uh, and I don't --
I think this --
[573]
this whole Sharpie thing
is way being over-played.
[576]
-Are you worried
that the credibility
[578]
of the words of the
President of the United States
[580]
has been eroded?
[582]
-No.
[583]
[ Laughter ]
[585]
-It should not take you
that long to answer
[587]
when someone asks you if the
President you support is a liar.
[589]
That's like a husband
who just got back
[591]
from a guys trip to Vegas.
[592]
"Did you have fun, honey?"
"Yeah."
[593]
"Did you get a lap dance?"
[596]
"No."
[597]
[ Laughter ]
[600]
And then there's Fox News,
and entire propaganda network
[603]
that, with few exceptions,
reinforces the President's
[606]
deranged alternate reality
on a daily basis
[608]
then denies obvious facts
that are plain to our eyes.
[611]
In fact, just last month
an anchor on Fox Business
[613]
actually insisted
during an interview
[615]
with one of Trump's Republican
primary challengers
[617]
that the President
has never told a lie.
[619]
-I'm running
against this President
[621]
because I believe he lies
[623]
virtually every time
he opens his mouth.
[626]
You know that, too.
[627]
-No, I do not.
-I believe he's morally unfit.
[629]
-I do not know that.
Don't impute --
[631]
Do not impute that
to me, Joe Walsh.
[633]
-And I believe it is a danger
to this country.
[635]
Stuart, do you believe
this President lies?
[638]
-No.
[639]
-You don't believe
he's ever lied?
[641]
-He exaggerates and spins.
[642]
-Yeah, those are other ways
of saying he lies.
[646]
Do Fox News anchors keep a
thesaurus with them at all times
[649]
for moments like this?
[650]
"Does the President lie?"
"No, he...
[653]
beguiles, obfuscates,
prevaricates, and dissembles."
[658]
Also, it's very hard
to come off as a moron
[659]
when you're a guy with a British
accent using the word "impute,"
[662]
but, somehow,
this guy managed to do it.
[663]
Although, if Brexit
has taught us anything,
[666]
it's that British people
are just as prone
[668]
to putting dummies
in charge as we are,
[670]
like this dummy.
[672]
-Do you know the caution?
[674]
Do you know what you have to say
when you -- when you --
[675]
when you --
when you call on someone?
[678]
You do not have to say anything.
[681]
Is that right?
[683]
Anything you --
[685]
No, but if you fail
to mention something...
[689]
which you later...
[691]
rely on --
[693]
Hang on, let's get this right.
[696]
You remember it?
[697]
They all know it.
[700]
Which you late-- Which you later
rely on in court...
[705]
may be...
[708]
taken into account...
[711]
Anyway, you get the gist.
[712]
[ Laughter ]
[715]
-I don't know.
[717]
I don't know if we did
get the gist.
[719]
I mean, that's their --
[721]
Their Prime Minister is like
[723]
if Donald Trump had
one of those GPS settings
[725]
where you could just switch him
to a British accent.
[727]
[ Laughter ]
[729]
[ British accent ]
"I think the best way, uh,
[730]
for Britain out
of the European Union
[732]
is, uh, through
the Tallahassee Trail."
[736]
[ Normal voice ]
Although my favorite,
[739]
favorite Boris Johnson clip
from this last week, hands down,
[742]
has to be this one.
[744]
-Please leave my town.
-I will very soon.
[746]
[ Laughter ]
[752]
-That might be the most British
thing I've ever seen.
[755]
"Good day, sir.
[756]
Now, please do [bleep] off.
Cheerio."
[761]
Americans, of course,
we are slightly less polite.
[765]
-Mr. President, [bleep] you!
[768]
[ Laughter ]
[769]
The British one --
[771]
The British one was good...
[774]
but I do like
the American remake.
[777]
The President of the
United States isn't just lying.
[779]
He's concocting elaborate
fantasies to defend those lies,
[782]
strong arming the rest of his
government to justify those lies
[785]
and relying on the support
of an entire political party
[787]
and right-wing media apparatus
to spread those lies.
[790]
It might seem trivial
[791]
when it's just about
Sharpies or flaming dancers,
[794]
but Trump's war on reality
[796]
also has real consequences
for real people.
[799]
At this point, we'd be much
better off if,
[801]
instead of being President,
[802]
Trump just spent
his time hiking...
[803]
-The Tallahassee Trail.
[805]
-This has been A Closer Look.
[807]
[ Cheers and applause ]
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