Donald Trump is once again at war with late-night television — and this time, Seth Meyers is firing back.
The 79-year-old president launched into one of his trademark Truth Social tirades over the weekend, calling Late Night with Seth Meyers host “a truly deranged lunatic,” “the least talented person in television,” and — most bizarrely — claiming that Meyers’ jokes were “probably illegal.”
“NO TALENT, NO RATINGS, 100% ANTI-TRUMP, WHICH IS PROBABLY ILLEGAL!!!” Trump wrote on Nov. 1, after Meyers mocked the president’s recent remarks about “steam catapults” on aircraft carriers during his trip to Asia.
On Friday’s Late Night, Meyers had played a clip of Trump’s speech to U.S. troops in Japan, in which the president promised to issue an executive order to bring back the “superior” steam-powered launch systems on Navy carriers. “I’ll try my best to explain what he’s talking about,” Meyers quipped, introducing a new segment called ‘Seth Translates Trump to English.’
After airing Trump’s comments, the host joked, “Experts say it would cost billions to go back to steam catapults, but Trump thinks he knows more about aviation than anyone else because he dances like one of those guys that holds the signaling sticks on the runway.” The show then cut to a doctored clip of Trump dancing — wearing an air marshal’s vest, complete with flashing lights — as the audience howled.
Apparently, the president didn’t find it funny.
In his Truth Social rant, Trump fumed, “Seth Meyers of NBC may be the least talented person to perform live in the history of television. I watched his show the other night for the first time in years. In it he talked endlessly about electric catapults on aircraft carriers, which I complain about as not being as good as much less expensive steam catapults. On and on he went, a truly deranged lunatic. Why does NBC waste its time and money on a guy like this???”
Then came the signature all-caps punchline: “NO TALENT, NO RATINGS, 100% ANTI TRUMP, WHICH IS PROBABLY ILLEGAL!!!”
It didn’t take long for Meyers to respond — and his comeback was every bit as biting as his monologue.
On Monday night, the comedian opened Late Night with a grin and said, “I’d like to thank the president for finally acknowledging that jokes can be illegal. Because honestly, I’ve been trying to get arrested for this material for years.” The audience roared.
Meyers went on, “You know, it’s a weird day when a sitting president — well, sitting when he’s not golfing — calls you a criminal for a catapult joke. But I’m honored. That’s the kind of reaction I dream about when I write these at 2 a.m. with a bag of pretzels and a broken spirit.”
He then turned serious for a moment, addressing Trump’s fixation on late-night comedy: “Here’s the thing — jokes aren’t crimes. Criticism isn’t censorship. And if you’re so thin-skinned that satire feels illegal, maybe the problem isn’t the comedian.”
The exchange marks just the latest chapter in Trump’s long-running feud with late-night hosts. Earlier this year, he mocked Jimmy Kimmel after Jimmy Kimmel Live! was briefly suspended for controversial remarks about conservative activist Charlie Kirk, and he cheered when The Late Show with Stephen Colbert went off the air. He’s also repeatedly called for NBC to “clean house” over what he’s described as “left-wing propaganda disguised as comedy.”
In August, after NBC renewed Meyers’ contract, Trump lashed out again, saying the comedian “has no Ratings, Talent, or Intelligence, and the Personality of an insecure child.”
But if Trump thought his latest rant would intimidate Meyers, he miscalculated. The host ended his Monday show with a final, deadpan message directly to the camera:
“Mr. President, if mocking you on Late Night is illegal, then lock me up. But please — only if I can bring my writers, because I need the material.”
The audience erupted in applause.
As Meyers waved goodnight, the studio band struck up “Born Free.” The crowd laughed — and for a moment, it felt like the perfect answer to Trump’s fury: a punchline he couldn’t control.
