“Trump’s gonna sic them on the government like a bunch of ferrets on ketamine,” said the comedian
As President-elect Donald Trump continues to announce his picks for his Cabinet — a roster of loyalists from sex crime-investigated Matt Gaetz for U.S. attorney general to puppy-killing South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to head Homeland Security — late-night hosts have been weighing in on what’s shaping up to be a vengeance-fueled Trump administration.
On Wednesday’s segment of “Closer Look,” Seth Meyers commented on Wednesday’s brief display of cordiality after President Joe Biden invited his predecessor to the White House, a ceremonial tradition Trump shunned in 2020. After rolling a clip of Biden telling Trump he was “looking forward to having… a smooth transition” and ensuring the president-elect his team would “do everything we can to make sure you’re accommodated,” Meyers joked that the tension in the room was “palpable.”
“While Biden’s looking for ways to accommodate Trump, Trump’s looking for ways to tear down everything Biden did. For example, Trump’s been actively putting together his Pandora’s cabinet of goblins and weirdos,” Meyers continued. “Trump’s gonna sic them on the government like a bunch of ferrets on ketamine.”
The late-night host also slammed Trump’s announcement that billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE). In his statement released Tuesday, Trump declared that the two entrepreneurs will be tasked with paving the way for his administration “to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.”
“Elon Musk is the richest man in the world with Defense Department contracts and connections to foreign governments. These businesses regulated by the federal government,” Meyers said. “Now he’s basically co-president. It’s ludicrously corrupt.”
To emphasize the president-elect’s preference for MAGA die-hard loyalty over experience, Meyers mocked Trump’s decision to choose Fox News personality Pete Hegseth as his secretary of defense.
“That’s right, a Fox News host will be in charge of the Defense Department. I know it sounds bad, but reportedly it was either going to be him or the General,” the late-night host quipped, referencing the mustachioed mascot behind The General Insurance.