Seth Meyers ripped Donald Trump for his shameful response to the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, and his statement that violence was perpetrated “on many sides.”
Watch the statement in the video above.
Said Meyers:
“On many sides. If that choice of words made you sick to your stomach the good news is you’re a normal and decent person. The jury’s still out on the president as he initially refused to condemn the white supremacist movement in this country. 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.”
Meyers continued:
“Some ignored it or played it down when Donald Trump claimed our first black president wasn’t born in this country. It was racist and insane but he was written off as a clown, a bitter little man who didn’t know an American could have a name like Barack Obama. Then he called Mexicans rapists during a speech announcing his candidacy. He called Elizabeth Warren ‘Pocahontas’. Then he brought Steve Bannon to the White House with him, worked to take away voting rights from black people and hammered away at the idea that Chicago was a wasteland because of the violent black people living there. And now white supremacists and Nazis are visible and energetic and demonstrative in a way we have not seen in our lifetimes.”
“Many of those people see him as leading that movement,” Meyers added, “the leader of our country is called ‘president’ because he is supposed to preside over our society. His job is to lead, to cajole, to scold, to correct our path, to lift up what is good about us, to absolutely and unequivocally, and immediately condemn what is evil in us. And if he does not do that , if he does not preside over our society, then he is not a president. You can stand for a nation, or you can stand for a hateful movement. You can’t do both. And if you don’t make the right choice, then I am confident the American voter will.”
Meyers also focused on Trump’s Charlottesville response in his A Closer Look segment, below.
Watch:
