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President-elect Donald Trump rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange after being named Time’s person of the year on Thursday, and NBC’s Late Night host Seth Meyers was not happy about it. Meyers claimed the whole thing proved Trump’s attempts to appeal to working people are fraudulent and claimed it was “frustrating” that voters fell for it.

During his Closer Look segment, Meyers declared, “Trump is Time magazine’s person of the year, and he rang the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange this morning. Look how happy he is. He looks like a Make-a-Wish kid who faked being sick until he got what he wanted. Before he was elected, he toured the country telling grandpas in folding chairs he was just like them, and as soon as he wins, he’s on a [bleep] marble balcony on Wall Street rocking a bell like he just ate a 72-ounce steak in under an hour.”

Meyers then digressed to talk about Time and Trump’s obsession with it, including a clip of CNN This Morning musing that Trump desires to surpass Richard Nixon for most Time covers. Getting back on track, Meyers lamented, “But back to Trump ringing the opening bell at the stock exchange. This guy has pretended for nearly a decade to be a populist champion of the working class. And now he’s on literal Wall Street getting pats on the back from the richest people in the country. I mean, the only way Trump’s hypocrisy could be any more on the nose is if he started doing campaign events with actual fat cats.”

Turning his attention to the voters, Meyers lamented, “Trump’s backslapping trip to Wall Street is not an aberration, and that’s the frustrating thing about voters who both consider the Democrats elites, which is fair, but who then also vote for this guy. It’s like if my dad said he’s cutting down on pretzels because he’s on a low sodium diet but then just started chugging Morton’s straight from the shaker. As we’ve been discussing on the show all week, Trump has assembled the wealthiest cabinet of all time, and the only people profiting from Trump’s election so far are his rich buddies.”

It is not as if voters were unaware of Trump’s financial status when they voted for him. Additionally, Meyers has a hard time understanding what elitism is. Elitism can be about money, but it is also aloofness from problems of crime, illegal immigration, and progressive culture warring. But speaking of wealth, Meyers’ hero, Sen. Bernie Sanders, spent his whole career ranting against millionaires and billionaires until he became a millionaire and then was content to just attack billionaires, but Meyers doesn’t attack him in the same way because he likes Sanders’s policies. Maybe voters felt the same way about Trump.

Here is a transcript for the December 12-taped show:

NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers

12/13/2024

12:42 AM ET

SETH MEYERS: Fast-forward to today, Trump is Time magazine’s person of the year, and he rang the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange this morning. Look how happy he is. He looks like a Make-a-Wish kid who faked being sick until he got what he wanted. Before he was elected, he toured the country telling grandpas in folding chairs he was just like them, and as soon as he wins, he’s on a [bleep] marble balcony on Wall Street rocking a bell like he just ate a 72-ounce steak in under an hour.

My only issue is this glamor shot of Trump at a pose I’ve literally never seen him take before. I mean, I’ve only ever seen him screaming or slumped over. So, apologies if I’m not buying Donny Contemplation over here. By the way, just to put Trump’s Time cover in context, it’s not exactly a mark of greatness. The president who currently holds the record for the most Time magazine covers, it isn’t a universally beloved one, like FDR, JFK or George Washington. Not because Time wasn’t around in the 1700s, but because Washington was more of a People magazine time of guy. Guy’s got — his abs are made of wood. No, the record is actually held by a president that Trump is probably not hoping to immolate.

KASIE HUNT: If you’ve ever been in Donald Trump’s office in Trump Tower, you know that there are framed Time magazines on his wall. He — I mean, for someone — a creature of the ’80s, it’s like the ultimate honor.

ALEX THOMPSON: Absolutely, and I think he’s really gunning for Richard Nixon’s long standing title of having the most Time covers.

[jump cut]

KATE BEDINGFIELD: Perhaps gunning for Nixon’s legacy in other ways as well. We shall see.

MEYERS: We shall. Of course, the difference is Nixon’s said of all of his most incriminating [bleep] on secret tapes whereas Trump says it into a microphone in front of cameras. Trump has literally done things to microphones that should only be done in secret. 

But back to Trump ringing the opening bell at the stock exchange. This guy has pretended for nearly a decade to be a populist champion of the working class. And now he’s on literal Wall Street getting pats on the back from the richest people in the country. I mean, the only way Trump’s hypocrisy could be any more on the nose is if he started doing campaign events with actual fat cats. 

Now, I just want to say I didn’t love that joke, but I did it anyway because I wanted to see what the graphic looked like. And, you know, not bad. Chubby cat, top hat, and a cigar. That’s fun. What’s not to love? People ask me how we’re going to get through the next four years. That’s how, you know. In fact, we’re selling a Late Night fat cat calendar for 2025 and you can buy it at the NBC store.  It’s not technically at the NBC store, but there’s a guy outside the NBC store with a duffel bag whispering, “Hey, hey, you like cats?”

So, if you want the calendar, you know, he’s your guy. Trump’s backslapping trip to Wall Street is not an aberration, and that’s the frustrating thing about voters who both consider the Democrats elites, which is fair, but who then also vote for this guy. It’s like if my dad said he’s cutting down on pretzels because he’s on a low sodium diet but then just started chugging Morton’s straight from the shaker. As we’ve been discussing on the show all week, Trump has assembled the wealthiest cabinet of all time, and the only people profiting from Trump’s election so far are his rich buddies.