Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Late-night reactions on Wednesday to the news that Donald Trump is the president-elect of the United States were everywhere. On Late Night, Seth Meyers delivered a monologue from his desk where he alternated between somber tones and rueful humor. He began with an anecdote about his young son: “Last night, my wife and I went to watch the election returns at a friend’s house. And before we left, we put our 8-month-old son to bed and I said to him, ‘When you wake up tomorrow morning we might have our first female president.’ And then when we came home, around midnight, I went into his room, shook his crib until he woke up and screamed, ‘We have to get out of here!’”
Meyers has been a particularly loud voice of opposition to Trump, particularly in the last several weeks before the election. While his late-night counterparts on the networks — Fallon, Kimmel, Corden, even Colbert — struggled to find a consistent and effective tone to react to the Trump phenomenon, Meyers doubled down on his strengths, sat down at his desk, and let fly with both barrels. In the final weeks of the campaign, only Samantha Bee was doing stronger work. On Wednesday, in the face of Trump’s victory in the Electoral College, Meyers vacillated between humility and galvanization. But the monologue’s biggest impact came when Meyers talked about the deferred dream of the United States’ first woman president.
“But that does mean that someone’s daughter is out there, right now, who will one day have that title. Maybe you’re a woman who’s currently a senator. Maybe you’re still in college. Hopefully you’re not a toddler, but who knows, with the way things went last night, who knows. The fact is we don’t know who you are, but I imagine this moment today will be a defining one for you. One that will make you work harder and strive farther and whoever you are, I hope I live to see your inauguration. And I hope my mom does too. She was really excited yesterday, and I was really sad for her. My mom’s name happens to be Hillary. It hasn’t always been that, she just changes it to whatever Democrat is running that year. It’s really weird. We’ve had to call her Barack for eight years. And, good news to our first woman president, whoever you are, wherever you are; you may have been rooting for Hillary, but now you can still be the first female president. And first is so much better than second. That is the difference between George Washington and John Adams. You either end up on money or Paul Giamatti plays you in a movie.”
Meyers’ voice began to choke up at the mention of his mother, but he rebounded. You can watch the full monologue here.
