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Late-night hosts Seth Meyers and Stephen Colbert opened their shows Monday night with somber monologues following the attempted assassination Saturday of Donald Trump, while Jimmy Fallon avoided the topic.
Meyers began his monologue saying he would get to the jokes shortly, but first wanted to reflect “for a bit on the horrifying scenes we witnessed in Pennsylvania on Saturday and on this fraught moment in American history. I want to echo what so many have already said, political violence must be rejected in all its forms. It is both morally wrong and a poison to democracy. We must all condemn it and repudiate it and do everything in our power to stop it.”
Meyers went on to call out Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, Trump’s VP pick, for “choosing to make things worse” at a very difficult time.
“Often after a tragedy like this, there are calls to forego politics,” Meyers began. “But to me, politics — the nonviolent exchange of ideas, and the peaceful resolution of disputes — feels more important than ever. An inclusive politics of compassion, empathy and community… is what we must recommit to now.”
On Saturday night, less than three hours after Trump nearly lost his life at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., Vance blamed President Biden in a post on X (formerlyTwitter).
“Today is not just some isolated incident,” Vance wrote. “The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”
Meyers accused the now GOP VP nominee of “choosing to enflame the national mood at a dangerous moment, rather than show the leadership and basic decency it would take to calm things down.
“Engaging in the work of democracy and peaceful persuasion is the opposite of inciting violence,” he continued. It’s what we need more of, not less.”
“Accurately describing the dangers of autocracy, and warning against attempts to dismantle our democracy, have nothing to do with political violence,” Meyers noted. “Speaking plainly about the specter of authoritarianism is not only our democratic right; it’s our civic duty. We must all continue to do it. That’s what we will continue to do here on this show.”
Colbert opened his show with a pre-recorded cold open, without a studio audience present.
“My immediate reaction when I saw this on Saturday were horror at what was unfolding, relief that Donald Trump had lived — and, frankly, grief for my beautiful country,” he said. “And then fresh horror, as we learned that attendees had also been shot, one of whom died at the rally.
“How many times do we need to learn the lesson that violence has no role in our politics?,” he asked, that the entire objective of democracy is to fight out our differences with, as the saying goes, ‘ballot not a bullet’.
“Not only is violence evil, it is useless,” Colbert continued. “As I quoted, when Rep. Steve Scalise was shot, ‘Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.’ Violence, or even calls for violence, invalidate any ideas.”
On ABC, Anthony Anderson, filling in as guest host for Jimmy Kimmel on Live!, began with a joke, “All weekend, I kept thinking, ‘I wonder what Jimmy Kimmel’s gonna say about this on Monday. And then I was like, ‘Oh shit! I am Jimmy Kimmel on Monday.’”
He continued, “In all seriousness, I do wanna say that our thoughts are with the families of the victims, and that hopefully, this will be a moment that we can all take a step back from the hatred and vitriol in our politics and maybe chill the f**k out.”
On NBC, Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon did not address the shooting in his monologue and stayed away from politics other than noting Trump’s VP pick J.D. Vance.
