President Trump has touted a lot of negotiating tactics over the years, but one he seems to come back to is the idea of hugging and kissing everyone in the room. And, if the president had used that tactic ahead of the government shutdown, Seth Meyers is pretty sure Democrats would’ve agreed to “anything.”
During his “A Closer Look” segment on Wednesday night, Meyers largely mocked Trump and his allies for blaming the shutdown on Democrats, considering the House, Senate and presidency are all Republican-controlled. But the NBC host took particular delight in highlighting how many times over more than a decade Trump publicly said the blame for any government shutdown should go to whomever is president when it happens.
During the 2016 Republican presidential debate, Trump argued a president needs to get Congress to agree, and said, “You have to get people in, grab them, hug them, kiss them and get the deal done.”
“If Trump started grabbing, hugging and kissing Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, I think they’d agree to anything just to get the hell out of there,” Meyers joked. “I mean, if Donald Trump tried to hug me, I’d f–king run to Joe Biden’s house to let him tell me a story about the John Wayne movie he watched last night.”
The late night host then pointed out that Trump’s idea of hugging and kissing people during negotiations isn’t a new one. In fact, it’s one that the president talks about nearly as often as he says a president should be blamed for government shutdowns.
Even as recently as the end of September, Trump said that a meeting in his office with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan ended with “hugging each other and holding hands.”
“I’m assuming, every time Don Jr. and Eric hear him talk like this, they say ‘Where the f–k was my hug?’” Meyers joked. “Why were you hugging and holding hands?! Were you world leaders negotiating a peace treaty, or bridesmaids at a wedding? ‘I love you besties, you’re gonna get married next.’ ‘No, you’re gonna get married next!’”
You can watch Seth Meyers’ full “A Closer Look” segment in the video above.
