Of the many superlatives that Donald Trump could legitimately lay claim to—most impeached president, biggest liar, and most hated president among the contenders—most persecuted person in the history of America isn’t one of them… unless you ask the former president directly. Over the past few days, Trump has told the same story about “a friend” (which arises suspicion) pointing out that he’s been so busy fighting off all that persecution that he hasn’t even stopped to think about just how persecuted he has been—and Seth Meyers, for one, isn’t buying it.
On Monday night, Meyers recapped some of the most bizarre moments from this weekend’s Turning Point USA Student Action Summit, a conservative conference held in Tampa where Ted Cruz appeared on the stage like a goddamn rockstar, complete with smoke machines, and Trump trotted out his latest “woe is me” claim.
conservative conferences are beyond parody pic.twitter.com/zNkcYHtJV1
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 22, 2022
“Trump repeated a line he had also used at one of his rallies last week, that he is the most persecuted person in American history,” Meyers said, before cutting to a clip of the former POTUS in which recalled being told this very thing by “a friend” and at first dismissing the idea as a bit too strong. But when he had time to think about it, he realized that it very well may be true. Trump just “didn’t have time to think about being persecuted because I was fighting persecution.” Which might make sense, if “fighting persecution” meant doing whatever it takes to defend the outright lies you’ve told to the American people. The whole narrative was almost too comical for Meyers to even take:
I like the idea that this didn’t occur to Trump until “a friend” suggested it. Is this where he gets all his ideas? ‘You know, Donald, I was thinking, your situation kind of reminds me of, well, the Salem Witch Trials. It’s almost like it’s a hunt… for witches, Donald. You know, like a Witch Hunt…
I love that he never names the friend… I also love the idea that Trump sat back and thought about it after he finished conjugating ‘persecuted.’ He just sat back and came to the conclusion that yes, his friend was right. I’m sure he was just sitting in his study with a pipe and smoking jacket, surrounded by walls of books, comparing himself to other historical examples. ‘Famous persecuted Americans, let’s see: there’s me, there’s Rosa Parks, there’s Ruben ‘Hurricane’ Carter. I guess out of those three it’s gotta be me if it’s those three.’
Meyers’ opinion is that Trump is desperately embarrassed by the outtakes aired by the January 6th committee last week of the former president trying—and failing—to give a speech on January 7, 2021, in which he attempted to condemn the violent acts of the previous day… but kept getting hung up on the word “yesterday” (which, let’s face it, is always a tricky one—what with its three syllables).
Meyers was even more amused by the physical gestures Trump made while attempting to deliver his speech and being tripped up by words like, well, yesterday. “He looks like he’s surrounded by a swarm of invisible bees. Does he literally think he can fight off the word with his bare hands?”
You can watch the full clip above.