President Donald Trump has already made it pretty clear that he’s not a fan of late-night comedy, but in a recent rant, he asserted that making fun of him is “probably illegal.” In several social media rants, Trump has vented about the many late-night comedians that he does not find funny. In particular, he’s bothered by Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, whom he has described as “weak and very insecure.”
After the cancelation of Stephen Colbert’s show, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, was announced in July, Trump took to his social media platform to claim that Colbert lost his gig because of “a pure lack of TALENT.” He threatened that Kimmel and Fallon would be “next.”
Then, in September, Kimmel’s show truly was suspended. Trump celebrated the suspension, writing, “Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible.” Though he has targeted Meyers less compared to the other prominent late-night comedians, he did mention him in this post, referring to both him and Kimmel as “total losers.”
Now, though, after actually tuning in to Meyers’ show, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Trump appears to have added the comedian to his list of late-night enemies. On Saturday, November 1, Trump claimed that he “watched his show the other night for the first time in years.”
After actually watching the show, Trump concluded that Meyers is “the least talented person to ‘perform’ live in the history of television.” Referring to Meyers as a “deranged lunatic,” Trump added that the way Meyers mocked him is “probably illegal.”
On the episode Trump apparently watched, Meyers spoke about a weird speech in which Trump ranted about the elevators and catapults on the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford. Trump said he would sign an executive order to use steam-powered catapults and hydraulic elevators instead of Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) catapults. In response to Trump’s apparent obsession, Meyers said, “Guy spends more time thinking about catapults than Wile E. Coyote.”
Interestingly, from Trump’s perspective, Meyers is the one who “talked endlessly about electric catapults on aircraft carriers.”
On Truth Social, he wrote, “[On his show] he talked endlessly about electric catapults on aircraft carriers which I complain about as not being as good as much less expensive steam catapults. On and on he went, a truly deranged lunatic. Why does NBC waste its time and money on a guy like this??? – NO TALENT, NO RATINGS, 100% ANTI TRUMP, WHICH IS PROBABLY ILLEGAL!!!”
