Last Night on Late Night

Is Melania Trump Late Night’s New Champion?

For a second time, the First Lady seemed to reject her husband’s attempt to hold her hand—and for a second time, late-night hosts reacted with glee.

Who would have thought that Donald Trump’s trip abroad would provide such an amusing look into his marriage? Melania Trump’s repeated apparent rejection of the president’s attempts to hold her hand—yes, she’s apparently done it twice now!—has been fodder for plenty of Twitter jokes on the part of liberals who like to read into these things more than perhaps is wise. Either way, Melania has been a source of entertainment during a time when we could all use a laugh—which might be why late-night hosts have reveled in her snubs.

When the Trumps were in Israel, Melania appeared to swat her husband’s hand away. And on Tuesday, in Rome, she seemed to see him reaching for her hand—then quickly raise it out of reach, strategically brushing her hair instead.

“President Trump landed in Rome earlier today,” James Corden noted on Tuesday’s Late Late Show, “and for the second day in a row, he tried to take his wife Melania’s hand. And for the second time, she was having none of it. I mean, yesterday she slapped his hand away in Israel; today it was different, though. Today she went for the classic ‘down low, too slow.’“ (On Monday night, Corden had quipped, “Looks like someone’s sleeping on the Air Force One couch tonight. When they saw that, even the Israelis and the Palestinians were like, ‘Wow, those two do not get along.’“)

On Tuesday’s Late Night, Seth Meyers—who joked on Monday that he wished the video came with audio, “so we could hear [Melania] say, ‘Get that weak shit outta here,’“—went for the political angle: “Former C.I.A. director John Brennan testified today that there was contact between President Trump’s campaign and Russian officials. However, still no contact between Donald and Melania.”

And then there was Jimmy Kimmel, who also noted the pattern—but took things a step further by putting his conspiracy hat on: “There’s something going on there, and I demand a special investigator to find out what!”