Remember when Tuesday’s bombshell story broke about former FBI Director James Comey’s detailed notes alleging the president asked him to shut down the investigation into Mike Flynn? About a million years ago? Seth Meyers remembers, and in Wednesday night’s “A Closer Look,” he examined the fallout from the latest evidence that President Trump miiiiiiight not be the sharpest knife in the drawer. Or at least that’s where Meyers starts. To even begin to respond to the last 24 hours, he has to rapidly cover an astonishing amount of territory. Topics discussed include:
- The Comey memo
- The president’s allies turning on him in the press
- Trump’s self-pitying commencement address
- People beginning to use the word impeachment
- Republicans unwillingness to defend their president on the news
- Paul Ryan’s press conference calling the allegations politically motivated
- Rep. Mark Walker’s duck ramp tweet
- The immediately recognizable “dun dun” sound effect composer Mike Post created for Law & Order
- The appointment of a Robert S. Mueller as special counsel to oversee the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties with Russia
As someone who has criticized Meyers’ “Closer Look” segments in the past for a tendency to feel like laundry lists because of how fast the news is moving, I’m duty-bound to say that the same breakneck pace feels much different when all the news is terrible for the Trump administration. It’s a relief to hear someone run down a list of new developments that get applause instead of the horrified gasps that have come to define 2017. And Meyers’ evident glee at being able to end the segment with a late-breaking report on Mueller’s appointment as special counsel is contagious. It’s not like things have necessarily turned a corner—there’s probably no coming back from this—but a day of good news is a day worth celebrating, or at least laughing at.
