NBC’s Seth Meyers and Comedy Central’s Desi Lydic both attacked President-elect Donald Trump on their respective Thursday editions of Late Night and The Daily Show for politicizing the Los Angeles wildfires with his attacks on President Joe Biden and Gov. Gavin Newsom. Both argued such attacks were not only unseemly but factually wrong; however, both blamed climate change for the fires, which is itself incorrect.
Meyers introduced his Closer Look segment by lamenting, “I think it's also important to say, again, in this moment, that climate change is real. It is an imminent and existential threat to the lives and safety of Americans, and we must treat it like the crisis it is. Unfortunately, there are politicians who would rather spread lies about the emergency response. And I'm not going to name names, but Donald Trump. His name is Donald Trump.”
In Science an octet of authors wrote in 2021:
Autumn and winter Santa Ana wind (SAW)–driven wildfires play a substantial role in area burned and societal losses in southern California. Temperature during the event and antecedent precipitation in the week or month prior play a minor role in determining area burned. Burning is dependent on wind intensity and number of human-ignited fires … One hundred percent of SAW fires were human caused, and in the past decade, powerline failures have been the dominant cause. Future fire losses can be reduced by greater emphasis on maintenance of utility lines and attention to planning urban growth in ways that reduce the potential for powerline ignitions.
In other words, not climate change. Still, later on in the segment, an exasperated Meyers turned to Trump and his attacks on President Joe Biden, “I don't even know what to say anymore. I'm so over this guy. I'm running out of clever retorts, which brings us to a segment called ‘Shut up.’ Dude, you're so annoying. Just do us all a favor and shut up!”
Meyers also added, “And by the way, I'm very aware that some on the right will accuse me of having Trump Derangement Syndrome. But he's the deranged one, not me, you see? I'm just reacting to his derangement. That's like saying Rick on The Walking Dead has a zombie derangement syndrome. Does he? Or is there just a zombie problem? And look, I realize I'm sounding a little deranged right now, but he's not even in office yet, and it's already starting again. The constant beat of his terrible behavior, and it's never going to stop.”
Over at The Daily Show, Lydic introduced a clip of Trump by declaring, “There's been so many challenges as LA workers try to control these fires, like water shortages and manpower shortages. But there's one thing that we have an endless supply of: good old-fashioned, made in America blame. And of course one of the country’s leading blame producers is Donald Trump.”
After a video of Trump attacking Gov. Gavin Newsom’s delta smelt policy, where water is diverted to the ocean in order to save a tiny fish, Lydic proclaimed, “For the record, no, the LA fires have nothing to do with smelt. But in Trump's defense, words are hard, and smelt only has one syllable, while ‘climate change’ has three.”
While Meyers may have admitted to having Trump Derangement Syndrome, he, Lydic, and the rest of the left also have Climate Change Derangement Syndrome, where any horrible weather event is spun as a justification for progressive social and economic engineering.
Here are transcripts for the January 9-taped shows:
NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers
1/10/2025
12:42 AM ET
SETH MEYERS: I think it's also important to say, again, in this moment, that climate change is real. It is an imminent and existential threat to the lives and safety of Americans, and we must treat it like the crisis it is. Unfortunately, there are politicians who would rather spread lies about the emergency response. And I'm not going to name names, but Donald Trump. His name is Donald Trump.
…
I don't even know what to say anymore. I'm so over this guy. I'm running out of clever retorts, which brings us to a segment called "Shut up." Dude, you're so annoying. Just do us all a favor and shut up!
ANNOUNCER: This has been "Shut up."
MEYERS: And by the way, I'm very aware that some on the right will accuse me of having Trump Derangement Syndrome. But he's the deranged one, not me, you see? I'm just reacting to his derangement. That's like saying Rick on The Walking Dead has a zombie derangement syndrome. Does he? Or is there just a zombie problem? And look, I realize I'm sounding a little deranged right now, but he's not even in office yet, and it's already starting again. The constant beat of his terrible behavior, and it's never going to stop. It's just like –
DONALD TRUMP: Drip, drip, drip.
***
Comedy Central The Daily Show
1/9/2025
11:04 PM ET
DESI LYDIC: But of course the story dominating the news right now is the Los Angeles wildfires. There's been so many challenges as LA workers try to control these fires, like water shortages and manpower shortages. But there's one thing that we have an endless supply of: good old-fashioned, made in America blame. And of course one of the country’s leading blame producers is Donald Trump.
DONALD TRUMP: I've been trying to get Gavin Newsom to allow water to come. You'd have tremendous water out there, they send it out to the Pacific because they are trying to protect a tiny little fish, which is in other areas, by the way, called the smelt, and for the sake of the smelt, they have no water.
LYDIC: Okay, we will come back to the smelt, but can we just talk about how weird it is that this senator is staring so hard at Trump the entire time he's talking? That's the kind of behavior that makes me change subway cars. And for the record, no, the LA fires have nothing to do with smelt. But in Trump's defense, words are hard, and smelt only has one syllable, while "Climate change" has three.
