On Wednesday, Donald Trump gave an interview to, of all people, his former press secretary Sean Spicer. During that interview, the president discussed the prospect of sending in the National Guard to quell ongoing protests against police brutality and unchecked killing of unarmed black people, saying, "We can do pretty much whatever we want."
"This is what authoritarian regimes do," said Late Night host Seth Meyers plainly, in Thursday's 'A Closer Look' segment. "They defend violent crackdowns on peaceful protesters by spreading lies and disinformation. And yet the Republican Party is in most cases either idly standing by or openly embracing calls for military violence against American citizens."
Trump and his administration have also denied that tear gas was used on the protesters who were cleared from a park near the White House purely for a presidential photo op, despite the fact that gas causing severe eye irritation was most definitely deployed at the peaceful demonstration.
"The president and the police establishment are lashing out at nationwide protests because those protests threaten a racist, unjust system that serves the powerful. They're deeply invested in protecting that system because at the core of it is the belief that the people in charge —" Cue that Trump footage. "— can do pretty much whatever we want."
Watching police violently attack protesters with impunity in cities around the U.S., at demonstrations against the killing of black citizens with impunity, it's kind of hard to argue with that right now.
