Comedian Seth Meyers roasted President Donald Trump on his NBC show over rumors that more White House staff and officials are set to leave in the coming weeks, walking away from an administration notorious for its high turnover of personnel.
Meyers compared Trump's White House to the hotel in Steven King's horror novel The Shining.
"Damn, is there anyone left?" Meyers said during Late Night on Wednesday. "Trump is slowly turning the White House into the Overlook Hotel. Pretty soon it'll just be Trump in a ratty bathrobe writing all over the walls."
He then showed a mocked-up image of a bloated Trump in a bathrobe with "lock her up" scrawled multiple times on a wall behind the president, a reference to a regular chant by supporters who want to see his 2016 Democratic rival Hillary Clinton imprisoned.
Among those rumored to leave the Trump administration after the 2018 midterms in which the president was badly bruised—either of their own volition or pushed—are Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, his Chief of Staff John Kelly, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.
"Always in an administration after the midterms we make changes," Trump told the Daily Caller on Wednesday. "We're looking at a lot of options. A lot of people want to come in, a lot of politicians who have had very successful careers want to come in."
Trump continued: "I'm looking at things. I haven't made a decision yet. I will be making a decision on homeland shortly. I have not made decisions yet. I will be making changes on various things."
During his show, Meyers said "you can tell the midterm results were way worse for Republicans than they initially let on from the way they're behaving. And the more results we get from last week's midterm elections, the clearer it is that this was, in fact, a massive blue wave."
The Washington, D.C. think tank Brookings Institution is tracking the turnover in the Trump administration. In Trump's so-called "A-team," meaning the senior positions, 38 out of 65 roles have turned over since he took office, or 58 percent.
Of those, 14 resigned under pressure, nine simply resigned, and 15 were promoted to other roles.
The most recent person to leave the administration was Jeff Sessions, who resigned under pressure from Trump as attorney general. Sessions had recused himself from oversight of the Mueller investigation, a move that angered Trump.
Matthew Whitaker, Sessions' former chief of staff, stepped up as acting attorney general.
This story was updated to correct the spelling of Seth Meyers.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Shane Croucher is a Senior Editor based in London, UK. He oversees the My Turn team. He has previously overseen ... Read more
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