Trevor Noah Reveling in Michael Flynn's Resignation Is All of Us

By David Canfield, Slate

15 February 17

uesday started off with a bombshell in the political world as Michael Flynn resigned amid swirling scandal, becoming the shortest-serving National Security Advisor in modern American history. It was the latest blow to the Trump Administration, which has seemingly turned terrible decision-making into an art form.

Daily Show host Trevor Noah could barely contain his glee at the irony of it all. “Donald Trump [is] finally draining the swamp of the people he brought to the swamp,” he quipped. “President Trump is a genius, people—he hires a cabinet full of terrible people, fires them one-by-one, looks like he’s a man of action. Drain the swamp—down the previous levels!” The story was big enough for Noah to spend two segments on it, later transitioning to Republicans’ laughably evasive responses to Flynn’s lies and subsequent departure. (On Kellyanne Conway’s starkly contradictory Today Show segment, Noah asked, “How does she say that with a straight face?”)

Yet by the time 11:00 p.m. rolled around, late-night comics were already far behind on the shocking information dumps. The New York Times and CNN broke major news well after Noah’s show-taping that it wasn’t just Flynn talking with the Kremlin—several “high-level officials” of the Trump campaign reportedly engaged in “constant” communication with Russian intelligence officials. In the cycle of the Trump Administration, a delay of even a few hours means you’re bound to be working off of old news. Tuesday night’s Daily Show thus provides an illuminating reminder that as these revelations continue to pile up, it’s getting harder and harder—or perhaps a little easier—to make sense of it all.