Several late night talk show hosts and former hosts have shared their thoughts on Donald Trump‘s win of the US Presidential elections – see what they had to say below.
The Republican nominee and former POTUS has earned 279 electoral college votes, beating out Democratic candidate Kamala Harris’ 223 electoral college votes, securing his return to the White House (via BBC News).
Trump’s win will make him the first ex-President to go back to the role in more than 130 years and saw him make history as the oldest man elected to America’s highest office at the age of 78. It also marks the first time a convicted felon has been elected as President.
Following Trump’s win, former The Tonight Show veteran Jay Leno – who has in the past been vocal about his dislike for the incoming President – took a diplomatic approach, saying on The Talk: “The nice thing about this election is, it was fair, it was honest. Okay, I was not a fan, but that’s okay. It’s the President of the United States… There was no cheating. Everybody says it was honest. It’s a great day for democracy.”
Jay Leno weighed in on President-elect Donald Trump’s historic win over Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday, telling “The Talk” that it was “a great day for democracy.”
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Other talk show hosts however, were more direct with their feelings towards Trump’s victory. Stephen Colbert said: “Well, fuck. It happened. Again. After a bizarre and vicious campaign fueled by a desperate need not to go to jail, Donald Trump has won the 2024 election.”
“The deep shock and sense of loss is enormous… All day yesterday, I was walking around, proudly wearing my ‘I voted’ sticker. Today, I wore my ‘I am questioning my fundamental belief in the goodness of humanity’ sticker.”
The comedian added: “As a late-night host, people often say to me, ‘Come on, part of you has gotta want Trump to win, because he gives you so much material to work with.’ No, no. No one tells the guy who cleans the bathroom, ‘Wow, you must love it when someone has explosive diarrhoea. There’s so much material for you to work with.’”
Seth Meyers began his address by sharing that he had voted for Kamala Harris, before later going on to say: “I don’t think Donald Trump is a good person. I’d even go so far as to say he’s a bad person. Now in my defence, I’m only basing that on everything I’ve ever been taught about what makes someone good or bad.”
Jon Stewart made sure to remind his viewers not to take pundits’ and experts’ projected lessons for future elections to heart: “Here’s what we know: we don’t really know anything. And that we’re going to come out of this election and we’re going to make all kinds of pronouncements about what this country is, and what this world is, and the truth is we’re not really going to know shit. And we’re going to make it seem like this is the finality of our civilization and this or that.”
Stewart then played multiple clips of pundits making their predictions for every election since 2008 and their projections, all of which have fallen flat. The host quipped “My point is this: FUUUCK!” before getting serious again:“This isn’t the end. I promise you, this is not the end. And we have to regroup and we have to continue to fight and continue to work day in and day out to create the better society for our children, for this world, for this country that we know is possible. It’s possible.”
Finally, legendary talk show host David Letterman shared a poignant post on social media of Green Day performing ‘American Idiot’ on his show way back in 2004 – the full performance has once again been uploaded onto YouTube since Trump’s win yesterday.
Elsewhere, the entertainment world has been reacting to the news since Trump declared victory yesterday (November 6). Riverdale star Lili Reinhart said: “I cannot fathom the feeling of the women who came forward about their sexual assault at the hands of Trump. Seeing millions of people vote for their abuser. My heart absolutely breaks for these women. I believe you, and I am so sorry.”
Jack White has since shared a blistering social media post, in which he lambasted Trump and made a point to highlight several groups who will be affected by the convicted felon’s presidency: “Americans chose a known, obvious fascist and now America will get whatever this wannabe dictator wants to enact from here on in… Immigrants? He wants you out. Minorities? He doesn’t care about you at ALL. Women? You know exactly what he thinks of you. Dying on the stretcher from a miscarriage of your rapist’s pregnancy?”
Billie Eilish and more have also in the wake of Trump’s win been sharing their concerns and worries about his stance on women’s rights.
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