Jimmy Fallon had a fitting response to news of the NRA staring down the barrel of extinction.
On Thursday, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a lawsuit that could completely dissolve the NRA after accusing the gun organization of losing millions of dollars in member donations in a series of questionable transactions that benefitted senior leadership. Via CNN:
James, a Democrat, alleged that current and former NRA leadership “instituted a culture of self-dealing mismanagement” benefiting themselves, family, friends and favored vendors, leading the organization to lose more than $63 million in three years.
“The NRA’s influence has been so powerful that the organization went unchecked for decades while top executives funneled millions into their own pockets,” James said, adding that her office would be forwarding the complaint to the IRS.
While reacting to the reports of the NRA’s predicament on The Tonight Show, Fallon offered a searing reaction with an all-too-tragic meaning behind it.
“Wow, the NRA as we know it could be gone. Aw, thoughts and prayers,” Fallon joked. As for why the quip was such a scorching take, “thoughts and prayers” has become the customary, yet hollow, response to gun violence from both the NRA and political leaders who continue to support the organization even in the face of mass shootings at schools and places of worship. Two such politicians include Mitch McConnell and President Donald Trump, and Fallon took aim at them.
“One of the biggest politicians who received donations from the NRA is Senator Mitch McConnell,” Fallon said during his monologue. “That probably explains why, today, he was seen breathing into his neck like it was a paper bag.”
Fallon then turned his attention to the president, but also found room to take a jab at the NBA’s attempt to quarantine its players in hopes of still having a season. “Trump was like, ‘We have to protect the NRA I want them to go down to Disney World and set up an N.R.A. bubble.'”
