Seth Meyers couldn’t bring himself to deliver monologue jokes after the “heartbreaking weekend of unspeakable tragedy.” Speaking slowly, the Late Night host told viewers that the deadly shooting in El Paso was “not just about guns” but specifically an act of “white supremacist domestic terrorism” and laid blame squarely at the feet of right-wing media outlets and President Trump himself.
“Our political leaders should have to answer for where they stand on these issues,” Meyers said, speaking about both the gun violence epidemic and the rise of white nationalism, before noting that many senior Republicans have been hesitant to speak publicly in the days following the two shootings. “As a general rule, when you’re spending all of your time dodging questions from journalists and reporters, that usually means you’re on the wrong side of history.”
“These guys have to pretend this is some sort of unsolvable problem because they’re beholden to powerful lobbies like gun manufacturers and the NRA,” Meyers said. Of course, things didn’t get much better once GOP lawmakers began to appear on Fox News starting Monday morning and started blaming violent video games.
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“You’re blaming video games?!” Meyers asked. “You do know that other countries have video games too, right? Japan has a huge gaming culture and very few gun deaths. If video games were so influential, they should make one about Congress called ‘Fucking Do Something.’”
The host went on to blame Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for blocking popular gun control legislation but actually gave Trump a shred of credit for calling out the NRA’s stranglehold on the Republican Party last year. “There are a few times I’m glad he’s a moron, because he just accidentally tells the truth,” Meyers said, comparing the president to “the racist uncle at the family gathering” who has no filter.
But in the next breath, he was attacking Trump once again for being “incapable” of consoling the nation due to “the racist vitriol he’s spewed since he launched his campaign” four years ago. “It’s hard to take anything he reads off a teleprompter seriously after all his previous comments,” Meyers said.
“All decent people, everywhere, should set themselves to the task of stopping this and expressing solidarity with and support for the oppressed and marginalized communities targeted by this hatred and violence,” he concluded. “And as for our political leaders, the ones who are supposed to be protecting us, all we say is they need to”—in the words of Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH)—“get their shit together.”
