## Seth Meyers Critiques Trump's Actions: DC Police Takeover and Kennedy Center Speech This report from **The Guardian**, published on **August 14, 2025**, details comedian Seth Meyers' critique of recent actions by Donald Trump, focusing on his administration's deployment of the National Guard in Washington D.C. and his speech at the Kennedy Center. ### Key Criticisms and Observations: * **Focus on Self-Aggrandizement:** Meyers sarcastically notes Trump's alleged focus on "giving himself an award" rather than pressing national issues like inflation, healthcare, or jobs. * **Kennedy Center Honors:** * Trump delivered a speech at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which he had previously taken over by purging the board and replacing members with loyalists. * Trump expressed a desire for a Kennedy Center honor and stated he would "give myself an honor" and "next year we'll honor Trump." * Meyers expressed disbelief at Trump's claim, referencing a past instance where Trump created a "fake Time magazine cover for himself" and humorously suggested Trump might invent an award like the "Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Nobel Prize EGOT Award for Most Everything." * Trump also announced he would host the annual Kennedy Center Honors, claiming he was reluctant due to having "better things to do as president." Meyers countered this by calling it a "fake conversation that did not happen" and awarding Trump "best original screenplay." * **National Guard Deployment in D.C. as a "Playbook":** * Meyers addressed Trump's takeover of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan police and the deployment of the National Guard, characterizing it as a response to a "made-up crime wave." * He highlighted that Republicans view this action as a **playbook for other cities**, despite evidence suggesting violent crime rates are down in most major cities. * Meyers asserted that states with the highest crime rates, such as **Louisiana and Mississippi**, are largely controlled by Republicans. * He characterized the Republican narrative on urban crime as a **"myth"** that has been used for decades, with Trump repeating it in 2024. * Meyers pointed to Trump's threat to only send the National Guard to cities controlled by Democrats as evidence that the D.C. action was **"all just theater."** Trump's statement that the D.C. action was a "beacon for New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and other places all over the country" is presented as further proof of this political strategy. * The "myth of urban crime" is identified as a central element of the right's worldview, fostering a general "fear of cities." * Meyers cited Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's complaints about crime and cleanliness on the New York City subway as an example of this narrative. * **Trump's Motivation:** Meyers concluded that Trump "doesn’t want to fix problems in big cities, because he loves problems in big cities." He believes Trump thrives on these problems as they serve as distractions from his own issues, including poor polling numbers, questions about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, and a growing perception among voters that his administration is a "crime pot." **Report Provider:** The Guardian **Author:** Guardian staff reporter **Date of Publication:** August 14, 2025
Seth Meyers on Donald Trump’s DC police takeover: ‘This is all just theater’
Read original at The Guardian →With several late-night hosts on holiday, Seth Meyers takes a closer look at the Trump administration’s deployment of the national guard in Washington DC as a playbook for other cities.Seth Meyers“Donald Trump is always laser-focused on the important stuff – no, not inflation, not healthcare, not jobs,” said Seth Meyers on Wednesday evening.
“He’s focused on giving himself an award.”On Wednesday, Trump gave a typically rambling speech at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the formerly prestigious performance hall that he took over early in his term, purging the board and replacing it with loyalists. Presenting the center’s annual honorees, Trump said: “I always wanted one, I was never able to get one … I would’ve taken it, if they would’ve called me.
I waited, and waited, and waited, and then said, ‘To hell with it, I’ll become chairman and I’ll give myself an honor.’ Next year we’ll honor Trump, OK?”“I like how everyone laughs at him, and then he says, ‘No, it’s true, actually,’” the Late Night host responded. “Second, he’s definitely not joking about giving himself an award.
This is the guy who made a fake Time magazine cover for himself to hang on his wall.”“I have no trouble believing that he’d give himself a made-up award called the ‘Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Nobel Prize EGOT Award for Most Everything’,” Meyers added.Trump also announced that he would host the annual Kennedy Center Honors, and claimed he had to be talked into it by his team because he has better things to do as president.
“Well, I think you deserve the award for best original screenplay, because that’s definitely a fake conversation that did not happen,” Meyers laughed.Meyers then turned to the other major political story this week: Trump taking over the Washington DC Metropolitan police and deploying the national guard to combat a made-up crime wave in the city.
Meyers noted that Republicans see this action as a playbook for other cities, despite the fact that, in truth, violent crime rates are down in most major cities. The states with the highest crime rates, such as Louisiana and Mississippi, are largely controlled by Republicans.“The right has created this myth about crime in big cities that isn’t true,” Meyers said.
“It’s a playbook that Republicans have used for decades, and Trump repeated it in 2024.”“In a clear sign that this is all just theater, Trump is threatening to only send the national guard to cities controlled by Democrats,” calling the DC action a “beacon for New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and other places all over the country”.
“The myth of urban crime is central to the right’s worldview,” Meyers noted. “For years, they basically made it their whole thing to be afraid of cities.” He pointed to the example of the US transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, on Fox News, complaining about crime rates on the New York City subway and also taking a shot at its cleanliness.
Meyers got defensive. “Only New Yorkers are allowed to shit on the New York City subway. I mean that figuratively and sadly sometimes literally,” he said.“Trump doesn’t want to fix problems in big cities, because he loves problems in big cities,” he concluded. “He loves problems anywhere that can distract from his problems.
And he definitely has problems – his polling numbers are not great, his Maga base is questioning his ties to Jeffrey Epstein and voters are starting to suspect that the Trump administration might be” to quote Trump himself, “a crime pot.”
