A Closer Look: Seth Meyers on John Bolton cashing in with new book

In A Closer Look, Seth Meyers questioned John Bolton’s priorities

For President Donald Trump’s entire time in office, reports, leaks, and anonymous sources have all helped paint an unflattering picture of his administration. Now former National Security Adviser John Bolton is throwing his new book, The Room Where It Happened, into the mix. Bolton’s motivation was the subject of Thursday’s “A Closer Look” on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

The White House has been doing everything it can to prevent the publication of Bolton’s book. But media outlets have already obtained copies and excerpts made the rounds earlier this week. There are examples both big and small that suggest President Trump is unfit for office but others close to the president claim Bolton’s book is inaccurate.

Why Bolton waited until now to share these stories has been a common question among the public, pundits, and now late night television hosts. Stephen Colbert reacted to The Room Where It Happened by saying it was worse than he imagined while also questioning Bolton’s character.

Seth Meyers picked up on this during “A Closer Look” on Thursday. The Late Night host called it a cash grab and had plenty more to say about Bolton and President Trump:

A Closer Look argues that tell-all books about President Donald Trump are pointless

When Stephen Colbert said that The Room Where It Happened was worse than he imagined, he prefaced that by acknowledging he couldn’t believe he was saying it. That’s because if you pay attention to the Trump administration as much as Colbert or Seth Meyers, then nothing sounds too far-fetched.

So for Meyers, Bolton’s book is pointless. He argues that any tell-all book about President Trump is useless because there are no new revelations to be had about the president. “A Closer Look” has been making the case that he is corrupt, immoral, and incompetent for years. Bolton’s book is in no way a shocking expose in Meyers’ eyes.

Instead, Late Night uses this edition of “A Closer Look” to keep the spotlight on John Bolton. If Bolton wanted to portray himself as a hero and patriot while embarrassing President Trump, he would be wise not to listen to Meyers’ assessment:

"Now rather than answer the call when his country needed him, he’s cashing in with a $2 million book deal. And in that way he’s exactly like Trump and all the other ghouls in the modern Republican Party: he burned everything down, stuffed in his hands in the till, grabbed as much cash as he could, and left everyone else to clean up the mess."

Meyers concludes with an explanation of how the pandemic exposed far more about government failures than Bolton’s book could hope to do. It is a rare instance where President Trump is put on the backburner in favor of more pressing social issues that Meyers wants to address. Once again, we see “A Closer Look” acting as a public service announcement as well as a piece of entertainment.

What did you think of “A Closer Look” on Thursday night? Do you agree with Seth Meyers? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.