It took more than two days for the President of the United States to condemn a white nationalist rally that resulted in the murder of one counter-protester. Two days.
Though President Trump sought to correct the narrative on Monday by issuing a stern condemnation of “the KKK, Neo-Nazis, and White Nationalists,” his deafening silence preceding that belated statement is still being heard and felt nationwide.
On Monday evening, NBC late-night host Seth Meyers commented on that silence with a stern statement – not good enough.
It still stuns me that a late-night host is making statements like this about the President of the United States pic.twitter.com/lUsdAPQy8X
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) August 15, 2017
Meyers began his statement by irrefutably stating that the death of an activist on Saturday was “yet another terrorist attack on American soil.” Meyers continued:
“But on Saturday, you didn’t hear [the victim’s] name, or the terrorist’s name, or even the word ‘terrorist’ from our president.”
Meyers played a clip of what the President did say on that day, noting that being made nauseous from our leader’s word choice means you are a “decent person.”
“Now he did read a statement at the White House today that finally struck the right tone, but I’m sorry, ‘pencils down’ on this subject was Saturday evening. He only gets very partial credit.”
That a late night host of all people would feel strongly enough about something that he would feel justified openly criticizing and shaming the president is a sign of just how bad things have gotten. And no one who heard Meyer’s monologue on Monday would consider his statement out of line.
Possibly more startling than Meyers’ statement (because of his political leanings on Saturday Night Live), was a similar statement from fellow late night host Jimmy Fallon who grew visibly emotional as he commented on the weekend’s events.
Of all the things President Trump has done during his short term, this is stunningly the worst.