Seth Meyers Rips Trump for Praising Putin's Ukraine Invasion

Just hours before Russian dictator Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, Seth Meyers called out former President Trump for praising Putin's "savvy" and "genius" move.

"The entire world is aghast and horrified," Meyers said on Wednesday's episode, which was taped shortly before Russian soldiers attacked Ukraine on multiple fronts. "The only people who could possibly think this is a good move are those unemployed fringe weirdos who go on small-time radio shows. You know, like this guy."

With that, Meyers played a clip of Trump's interview with right-wing radio program The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show. "Here's a guy that says, you know, 'I'm gonna declare a big portion of Ukraine independent,'" said Trump. "He used the word 'independent,' and 'We're gonna go out and we're gonna go in and we're gonna help keep peace.' You gotta say, that's pretty savvy."

"No, you don't gotta say that!" replied Meyers. "I mean, well, maybe you gotta say that so someone will pick you up at the Moscow airport when you flee our jurisdiction. It's just insane that Trump is still so desperate to praise a bloodthirsty tyrant like Putin every chance he gets. Trump narrates Putin's every move like he's Tony Romo calling the last drive of a playoff game."

"So, Putin's own advisers look scared," he said, summing things up. "Meanwhile, Trump's watching Russian tanks roll into Ukraine with pom-poms in his hands, calling it, 'genius.'"

Late Night with Seth Meyers airs weeknights at 12:35 AM ET on NBC.

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.