Seth Meyers, host of NBC’s “Late Night,” had a peculiar response to President Trump’s speech Tuesday evening: attempted Special Victims Unit humor about sexual assault victims and killings linked to illegal immigration.
“Is this Oval Office: SVU?” Mr. Meyers asked his 433,000 Twitter followers.
The remark came while the commander in chief addressed the government shutdown and the need for increased border security funding.
“In the last two years, ICE officers made 266,000 arrests of aliens with criminal records including those charged or convicted of 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes and 4,000 violent killings,” Mr. Trump said. “Over the years, thousands of Americans have been brutally killed by those who illegally entered our country and thousands more lives will be lost if we don’t act right now. This is a humanitarian crisis, a crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul.”
“Last month, 20,000 migrant children were illegally brought into the United States, a dramatic increase,” he added. “These children are used as human pawns by vicious coyotes and ruthless gangs. One in three women are sexually assaulted on the dangerous trek up through Mexico. Women and children are the biggest victims by far of our broken system. This is the tragic reality of illegal immigration on our southern border. This is the cycle of human suffering that I am determined to end.”
Mr. Trump also made reference to California police officer Ronil Singh, who was recently killed by an illegal immigrant.
“America’s heart broke the day after Christmas when a young police officer in California was savagely murdered in cold blood by an illegal alien who just came across the border,” Mr. Trump said. “The life of an American hero was stolen by someone who had no right to be in our country.”
Feedback to Mr. Meyers’ joke was decidedly negative.
“Why are you mocking the victims and their families?” asked Mark Dice, a popular pundit with more than 1.4 million YouTube subscribers. “Illegal aliens murdering Americans isn’t funny, scum.”
“Just wondering if there was anything less funny than Seth Meyers — turns out, it’s his twitter feed,” added Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld.
“These are real people who have lost loved ones,” added Logan Leasure. “It doesn’t matter what side of this issue you’re on. This is disgusting.”
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer told reporters on Wednesday that Mr. Trump failed to make his case to the American people.
“I don’t think he persuaded a soul with his talk last night,” the New York Democrat said. “It was same old, same old — mistruths, divisiveness.”
Is this Oval Office: SVU?
— Late Night with Seth Meyers (@LateNightSeth) January 9, 2019
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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