NBC’s Seth Meyers continued his attacks from the left on the Democrats who voted to reopen the government on Wednesday’s edition of Late Night by condemning Sen. Angus King for claiming that the shutdown did not work.
Referring to President Trump’s various White House renovations, Meyers introduced a clip of King by declaring, “So, this is what Trump was focused on while the government was shut down, which is why his party got crushed in last week’s elections and why his poll numbers are abysmal. People are finally seeing the gap between what Trump pretends to care about and what he actually cares about. The Democrats are finally winning the messaging war, or as Maine Senator Angus King put it, Democrats took the L.”
King was then shown on MSNBC’s Morning Joe claiming, “Standing up to Donald Trump didn’t work.”
It should be noted King was talking specifically about the shutdown, but nevertheless, Meyers huffed, “It didn’t? It seemed like it was working to me. Democrats were finally winning elections while Trump was wandering around the White House like a property only child. By the way, even if you think it didn’t work, don’t say that out loud. How are you this bad at politics? Just say Republicans were willing to harm people and we weren’t, so we had to let this one go.”
Of course, Meyers is essentially admitting out loud that it was Democrats who shut down the government and caused so much needless pain for the American people because it was necessary for Democrats to win some state-level elections and that attempts to blame Republicans were just political spin.
Here is a transcript for the November 12-taped show:
NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers
11/13/2025
12:44 PM ET
SETH MEYERS: So, this is what Trump was focused on while the government was shut down, which is why his party got crushed in last week’s elections and why his poll numbers are abysmal. People are finally seeing the gap between what Trump pretends to care about and what he actually cares about. The Democrats are finally winning the messaging war or, as Maine Senator Angus King put it, Democrats took the L.
ANGUS KING: Standing up to Donald Trump didn’t work.
MEYERS: It didn’t? It seemed like it was working to me. Democrats were finally winning elections while Trump was wandering around the White House like a property only child. By the way, even if you think it didn’t work, don’t say that out loud. How are you this bad at politics? Just say Republicans were willing to harm people and we weren’t, so we had to let this one go.
