Appearing on NBC’s Late Night With Seth Meyers on Wednesday, aired early Thursday morning, MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell described how much “easier” it was to find material for his left-wing show under the Trump administration compared to the supposed challenge of finding anything newsworthy during Barack Obama’s presidency.
Meyers commented on how much “the schedule’s changed in the Trump administration” when it comes to breaking news, asking: “How is life for you, because you’re actually doing real news, as opposed to us, which is just making fun of it?” Even O’Donnell seemed to laugh at the idea that he was doing “real news” on MSNBC: “It’s a – well – I’m not sure what the difference is there.”
He then explained how much “easier” producing his show had become:
It’s easier and harder at the same time. The easier part is, you know, we know what we’re doing tonight. We don’t know exactly what the pieces are, but we know it’s the world of Trump. That’s what we’re doing every night. And you could go a couple years ago, and you know, by 4:00 in the afternoon, you’re sitting there, going, “Okay, we’ve got two. We need three more stories.” Like any – did anything happen that we can – you know? And so that’s the simplified part.
It’s not surprising that O’Donnell had a hard time covering scandals and controversies during the Obama administration since he once declared the former president to be “the most noble man who has ever lived in the White House.” Perhaps the liberal sycophant wasn’t really looking for anything to report.
The only complaint O’Donnell had when it came to covering Trump was that there was too much news to attack him with:
The hard part is all the panic stuff, which is to say, you know, I’m on live at 10:00. And so there’s a tweet at 8:15 that completely changes what we were going to do at the beginning of the show or – or there’s also the big New York Times news break or The Washington Post news break that changes everything we were planning. So those are the three big factors that hit us as we’re approaching the hour. And then sometimes, within the hour, there is of course the tweet. That changes where we’re going.
Here’s a transcript of the January 10 exchange, aired early on January 11:
1:07 AM ET
(...)
SETH MEYERS: I want to ask you about – well, so you’re in the building. Your show tonight, 10:00.
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: 10:00, yeah.
MEYERS: So – and thank you so much for making the time. We’re taping at 6:30 here. And, how has your life been? Ours has changed, the schedule’s changed in the Trump administration. How is life for you, because you’re actually doing real news, as opposed to us, which is just making fun of it?
O’DONNELL: It’s a – well –
MEYERS: They’re getting closer, they’re getting closer.
O’DONNELL: I’m not sure what the difference is there. No, but it’s – It’s easier and harder at the same time. The easier part is, you know, we know what we’re doing tonight. We don’t know exactly what the pieces are, but we know it’s the world of Trump. That’s what we’re doing every night. And you could go a couple years ago, and you know, by 4:00 in the afternoon, you’re sitting there, going, “Okay, we’ve got two. We need three more stories.” Like any – did anything happen that we can – you know?
And so that’s the simplified part. The hard part is all the panic stuff, which is to say, you know, I’m on live at 10:00. And so there’s a tweet at 8:15 that completely changes what we were going to do at the beginning of the show or – or there’s also the big New York Times news break or The Washington Post news break that changes everything we were planning. So those are the three big factors that hit us as we’re approaching the hour. And then sometimes, within the hour, there is of course the tweet.
MEYERS: Yeah.
O’DONNELL: That changes where we’re going.
(...)
