Following Donald Trump‘s win one week ago, Late Night host Seth Meyers suggested the president-elect may turn out “to be a great f*cking president.” He’d been wrong about the New York real estate mogul’s campaign at every step, he joked, so perhaps his and everyone else’s prediction that Trump’s administration would be the absolute worst was wrong, too. Maybe, as practically everyone else in the news media has opined, Trump deserved a “fresh start.” (Much like Breitbart thinks disgraced Today correspondent Billy Bush deserves one.)
“The national news media has been bending over backwards to try to pretend that Trump’s incoming presidency isn’t a threat to our institutions. To give him a chance to undo 18 months of racist, bigoted, unhinged rhetoric,” said Meyers on Monday. “If they’re so eager to see if Donald Trump — a 70-year-old billionaire — can suddenly change for the better, let’s give him this fresh start and see if he can surprise us. Let’s give him a chance.”
Late Night immediately follows Meyers’ emphasis on “chance” with a supercut of broadcast and cable news programs announcing Breitbart News executive turned Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon’s selection as the new White House chief strategist. Considering the man’s affiliation with the alt-right news website, white supremacist groups and other troubling items, it’s no wonder Meyers humorously waves goodbye to “chance” and its brief appearance in President-elect Trump’s transition: “Well we gave him a chance. Bye, chance! Thank you for stopping by. Good to see you, chance!”
The “Closer Look” segment also devoted a chunk of time to the many anti-Trump protests popping up in cities across the United States since the election. That, and the Trump campaign’s countless attempts to decry the protests as un-American and blame the Obama administration for their occurrences.