Seth Meyers on Thursday mocked President Donald Trump’s recent suggestion that restaurants in Washington, D.C., were “dying” and that “nobody wanted to go out,” using clips from the president’s own remarks to puncture the claim.
Meyers, host of NBC’s Late Night, played a segment from a Wednesday Oval Office appearance in which Trump said, “Friends of mine that haven’t gone to a restaurant in four years, one of them went out five times in the last two weeks.” Meyers immediately questioned the anecdote, asking, “Who’s your friend, Guy Fieri?” and followed with an exaggerated impression of the president, quipping, “Thanks to me, all the restaurants are safe! The diners, the drive‑ins, the dives!”
The comic’s critique came amid a broader monologue that shifted between lampooning the president’s comments on unrelated topics and taking aim at Republican-backed moves on public health policy. Meyers singled out GOP efforts to scrutinize vaccine policy, and he addressed coverage surrounding Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s advisory committee, which critics have described as populated by vaccine skeptics and which has discussed reconsidering access to routine childhood immunizations such as measles, mumps and rubella.
Meyers also included a clip of Mehmet Oz during the segment. The Late Night host used the montage of clips to underscore what he described as a pattern of juxtaposing heavy policy actions with seemingly trivial or tangential remarks about everyday life.
The routine followed a familiar late-night format: using direct excerpts from public appearances to highlight contradictions, exaggerations or incongruities in political messaging. Meyers has frequently used the technique in recent years to ridicule high-profile officials and to thread together disparate news items into a coherent comedic critique.
Trump’s comment about dining in the capital came as the president discussed federal actions in Washington, D.C.; his administration’s use of federal forces and other security responses in the city have been widely reported and debated. Meyers’ segment drew on that wider context as he juxtaposed the president’s focus on restaurants with the more consequential decisions his administration has taken regarding law enforcement deployments.
Late-night monologues often aim to distill complex or unfolding political stories into brief, pointed observations. Meyers’ routine on Thursday combined humor and critique as he targeted both the president’s specific claim about restaurant patronage and a broader debate over vaccine policy and advisory appointments that has attracted partisan attention.