Following the attempted attack on the White House Correspondents' Dinner over the weekend, much has been made about political rhetoric and the need to turn down the temperature. President Donald Trump is also using the moment to ramp up efforts to finish building his White House ballroom. But after taking a closer look, Seth Meyers isn't buying what the president's selling.
President Trump has argued that a “large, safe, and secure ballroom” on White House grounds could help prevent similar incidents to what happened at the WHCD in the future. It comes amid court rulings that have temporarily halted construction.
“Now the question is, what do we do about the rising tide of political violence in America?” Meyers asked at the top of the "Closer Look" segment on Monday night, framing the issue seriously before immediately cutting to Trump’s proposed solution.
“This is the first I’m hearing that it’s a safe ballroom,” Meyers joked. “All I’ve ever heard is how it’s gonna be big and beautiful. But now we’re shifting to safe?”
From there, Meyers leaned into one of his trademark analogies, comparing Trump’s framing of the ballroom to a marital dispute at home. “It’s like when I told my wife I was building a panic room,” he said, before revealing it was actually just a man cave. “Why did you tell me it was a panic room?” she asks in the bit. “Because I was panicked you were gonna find out," Meyers quipped.
Meyers also took aim at Trump’s description of the proposed ballroom as “militarily top secret." It's a claim he found especially absurd, given how often the former president has publicly discussed it and shown off blueprints of the design.
The Late Night host also highlighted the legality of the ballroom proposal itself. Meyers clarified that the legal challenge actually comes from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which argues that proper congressional approval was never obtained.
“In all the hubbub about whether we need a ballroom or don’t need a ballroom,” Meyers said, “let’s not forget that if he just followed the law, he might get the f***ing thing.” The comedian also reminded his audience that as a former New York City real estate developer, President Trump should have known that permits were required before going ahead with construction.
Throughout the segment, Meyers used the ballroom proposal as a way to question both the seriousness of Trump’s response and the logic behind it. Just like Kimmel doubted the sincerity of the outrage surrounding his jokes, Meyers wondered if the WHCD dinner was being used as an excuse for Trump's vanity project.
If the president was hoping to reframe the conversation around security, Meyers used "A Closer Look" to make sure viewers saw it another way. For the Late Night host, it's just the latest example of a long-running obsession dressed up in more urgent language.
Add us as a preferred source on Google