It took Seth Meyers slightly longer than a minute on his Wednesday night show to take down Donald Trump after the president hit pause on most tariffs that had sparked a markets meltdown this week.
The Late Night with Seth Meyers host opened his show by taking a deep breath and then launching into a scathing summary of Trump’s week so far.
“You know those tariffs Donald Trump announced last week that sent stock markets crashing and caused a global financial tailspin and sparked intense backlash from his own supporters on Wall Street and in the Republican Party and shattered American alliances and used made-up numbers and put tariffs on penguins,” Meyers asked the audience rhetorically before continuing.
“…And caused his own advisers to engage in a public war of words in which one of them called the other a moron and forced Trump to issue a statement telling everyone to be cool and hang tough, except he accidentally wrote the words, ‘Hank tough’—which sounds like the name of a fake adviser he would invent to blame for his stupid tariff plan,” he said.
“‘Don’t blame me. Blame senior White House adviser Hank Tough and his buddy, the lemonade kingpin Mike Hard’”—well, this might shock you, but today Trump paused most of those tariffs for 90 days, one day after his White House said he would not pause tariffs, and about two months after he announced then paused and announced then pause and announced tariffs on Canada and Mexico, then left them out of the tariff announcement, then said he wouldn’t pause them, then paused them?”
“Well, I mean, at least we’re two years into the Trump presidency, right? WHAT?! It’s only been 80 days?” he said. “All right, don’t freak out. Just be cool, everybody. Hank Tough. I mean, hang tough, damn it. Now, I’m doing it.”
On Wednesday, Trump issued a 90-day “pause” on most of the tariffs except for China which got hit with a 104 percent reciprocal tariff. Trump’s tariffs chaos has sent markets into a tailspin, even after the president hit the pause button.
Right after Meyer’s rant, social media users took to X to show their support for the comedian.
“Trump’s tariff plan is now officially a late-night punchline. When Seth Meyers roasts your economic strategy harder than your opponents do, maybe it’s time to stop taking policy cues from Monopoly,” an X user, AnatolijUkraine posted.
Trump’s tariff plan is now officially a late-night punchline. When Seth Meyers roasts your economic strategy harder than your opponents do, maybe it’s time to stop taking policy cues from Monopoly.
— AnatolijUkraine (@AnatoliUkraine) April 10, 2025
“Seth Meyers’s opening tonight about Trump’s chaotic tariffs is epic. Holy hell,” an X account, CALL TO ACTIVISM, with over one million followers posted.
Another X user, Bijan’s post translates as “American comedian and presenter Seth Meyers is spot on! His explanation of Trump’s chaotic tariff policy is epic.”
The post Seth Meyers’ ‘Epic’ Take Down of Trump Only Took a Minute appeared first on The Daily Beast.
