Ben Affleck | Trump Rambles About Iran Nuking LA & San Diego, Allies Plot Martial Law for Midterms: A Closer Look

0:02The convenience store chain Wawa has begun testing grab-and-go sushi at some of its locations in Pennsylvania, and there's no better time to try sushi than when it's being tested.

0:20From 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, please enjoy this podcast edition of Late Night with Seth Meyers. On today's show, Seth chats with actor Ben Affleck. But first, a closer look.

0:38The president caused a slight kerfuffle by suggesting that Iran could take out Los Angeles and San Diego. Meanwhile, his allies are plotting ways to undermine the midterms, and Trump himself is refusing to rule out using the Insurrection Act. For more on this, it's time for a closer look.

0:56Trump loves to brag about how powerful he is, even when he's doing something inconsequential, like announcing changes to federal rules on fishing. I could have banned fishing. I'll tell you what, the power of this office is crazy. I could have banned fishing. I think I'm going to do that, maybe just a quick order, just for a day or two. You know, I do bet he has pretended there was a fishing ban. You know, probably 40 years ago when young Don Jr. was standing in his doorway with a rod. Papa, can we go fishing today? Were that we could, DJ, but I'm afraid there's been a ban. Another ban, Papa? I'm afraid so, dear boy.

1:35Also, it's now punishable by death for fathers to attend Little League games. We can't get to break, you and I. Trump relishes how much power he thinks he has, and it's true that the presidency has grown in power over the years. It wasn't always like this. In fact, after Richard Nixon resigned, Congress made an effort to rein in the presidency. After Watergate, there was an effort to reform the presidency And to put some constraints on it A lot of ethics laws were passed Independent agencies were safeguarded The whole effort was to fight corruption, to fight tyranny To make sure that the president didn't become a tyrant Oh, they wanted to fight corruption and tyranny?

2:16Well, sounds like they nailed it I mean, in fairness, who could have possibly predicted The level of corruption we've seen under Trump Imagine if while they were writing anti-corruption laws Someone said hey guys I think we should maybe just I don't know add in a clause that says something like A president can't put his name on a meme coin And he can't accept a luxury jet from Qatar And he can't do a crypto deal with the UAE And he can't take donations for a ballroom and demolish the East Wing And put his name on the Kennedy Center And start a trade war with Canada or real war with Iran Or put his own personal attorney in charge of the Justice Department Or let Elon Musk wreak havoc on federal programs Or use taxpayer monies for campaign ads And he can't sell his own personal brand of sneakers, Bibles, cologne and trading cards And just in case this comes up somehow He can't ban fishing.

2:59Somebody said that, everyone else in the room would have been like, uh, Jeff, you're being a drama queen. So Congress tried to limit the power of the presidency, but over the next few decades, conservatives fought to roll back those restrictions, culminating in the MAGA Supreme Court basically letting Trump do whatever he wants. The presidential immunity decision was obviously the Supreme Court showing a broad embrace of executive authority, and that was a case where the court said, for lack of a better way of describing it, we need to kind of bubble wrap the president. And if there's ever been a president who needs to be bubble wrapped, it's Donald Trump.

3:36Or better yet, they could just have him travel by Zorb. We're doing amazing things with the ballroom. Somebody roll me over so I can show the fake news the ballroom. I wouldn't be surprised if at some point they actually put Trump in bubble wrap. I mean, we've already seen him come close to wiping out on the stairs. And sure, it wasn't as bad as the time Joe Biden tripped, but at least Biden saved it by saluting when he got to the top. Trump's move is to just pretend it never happened. In fact, at a rally a few days ago, he actually bragged, he bragged about how good he is at walking. Don't forget, when Biden left the stage, he spoke very shortly, like two minutes, one minute, as quickly as possible.

4:20could never find the stairs. I don't have that problem. You know these things, do you know how many stairs they have? Look, I can go ramp, I can go stair, I can go another stair, another stair in the back, I have a stair. He could never find a stair. I mean, it's true Biden's rallies were shorter than Trump's, but one of the reasons is he never did a tight five on where the stairs were. He's so proud of his ability to point at things and name them. It's official. We've elected President Brick from Anchorman. I love carpet. I love desk. I love lamp. We all love lamp, don't we, folks? It's better than sun because you can look at it.

4:59If you look at lamp, no one makes fun of you, but if you look at sun, everyone says, no, Mr. President, don't look at sun. You'll burn your eye. But eye and eye are good. That's why I'm so fine at reading off teleprompter. I never make mistake with teleprompter because word too long. Saudi Arabia and Russia will be...

5:22The point is, Trump thinks his power is virtually unlimited, and polls have shown people hate that. A majority of voters say Trump is dangerous and corrupt, and yet Trump is doubling down. In an interview published last week, Time magazine asked him, would you rule out declaring a state of emergency in the lead-up to the midterms unless there's widespread violence in the streets? To which Trump responded, I don't rule anything out or in, we'll see. You mean the Insurrection Act? No, I've never used it I could use it A lot of people think I should use it sometimes I mean, that's a classic Trump answer He goes from I've never done it To I could do it To a lot of people think I should do it It's a matter of seconds I mean, imagine talking like that In any other situation If your spouse asks you Are you having an affair And you say Never I could Many people say I should You can guarantee They're about to go have one Also, I know it's hard To cover the president But, like, don't ask him Questions like that You're just going to give them ideas It's like, hey, Mr.

6:17President You ever thought about letting out the pandas At the National Zoo? Just like leaving the cages open and seeing what happens Well, I haven't, but I could But the one part of Trump's answer that's true Is that there are people around him urging him To take control of elections before the midterms A slew of outside advisors to President Trump Are urging him to take control of federal elections this November A key player in the scheme, according to The Atlantic, is an attorney named Peter Tickton. Tickton told The Atlantic magazine that Trump could decide to declare martial law on or around Election Day.

6:55Tickton is also the attorney for convicted election denier Tina Peters. She met with President Trump at the White House. This is what Peter said about that meeting. There is a plan. Yesterday when I was with the president, he basically said to his lead counsel, to do what I was asking. As a general rule, you never want to hear a bunch of crazy people say the word, there's a plan. You know, if you're on the subway and someone comes up to you and says, hey, good news, there's a plan. That's when you put your earbuds in and you move to the other end of the car. I've known a lot of crazy people in my life, and the last thing you want them to do is plan something.

7:33I mean, that's like 50 % of Seinfeld episodes. Like, Kramer bursts into Jerry's apartment and says, I got a plan, Jerry. And then Jerry says, so what's the plan? And Kravitz says, no more forks, Jerry From now on, I'm eating everything with my hands Then George decides to eat with his hands at work But he grosses out as his boss and he gets fired And he's like, I got fired, Jerry And Jerry's like, why? And he's like, I went no forks And then Jerry says, you went no forks And now you forked yourself

8:01Now, who knows? Who knows? Who knows if Trump will actually follow through with this plan And even if he does, it's not a foregone conclusion that he'll succeed. But at a speech on Tuesday, he gave an ominous shout-out to one of his aides, a guy named Russ Vogt, who Trump himself has called Darth Vader. Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vogt, who is fantastic. He's done a job. We have some big surprises coming up in another few weeks, right, Russ? Well, if your big surprise is to try to steal the election, I'll bet Russ wasn't too psyched about the call-out. Trump's like a bank robber who freaks out and immediately starts calling the other robbers out by their real names.

8:42Oh, man, he pressed the alarm. What do we do, Kevin Johnson? Kevin Johnson of Jamaica, Queens, middle initial Q. What do we do? Now, again, who the hell knows what this guy is talking about. He could be describing an illegal scheme to seize voting machines and declare martial law, or he could be teasing another dumb renovation that he's really excited about. We're adding two giant disco balls to the base of the Washington Monument. Oh, real quick, can we zoom in on the background of that picture? Oh, he did it. He did it. Those reporters asked him and he got the idea and he did it.

9:26Trump is surrounded by people who tell him he can do whatever he wants, and he also thinks he's all-knowing, as he explained at a rally in Ohio. I know more about inflation. I know more about everything than anybody in this room, anybody anywhere in the world. Well, there's a woman sitting right over there. She's a housewife, but she's very good. She's got a natural instinct for business. She perhaps knows more than I do, but I actually don't think so.

9:55For someone who knows more about anything than anyone in the world, it sure seems like you forgot that woman's name. I'm all-powerful and all-knowing. If you don't believe me, just ask. Woman over there. Housewife, she good. She know where stare is. She no look at sun. Also, no one believes that you know more about everything than anybody anywhere in the world. Until recently, you didn't even know the word dumb ended with the letter B. Democrats, dumb. You take the B out. Most people don't know that dumb has a B, okay? All you do is take the E, you replace it with a U, and nobody knows that there's a B.

10:38Nobody knows there's a B in dumb. They think it's D-U-M. The word dumb doesn't think of it. Most people don't know. Dumb. They all think that dumb doesn't have a B. This is the iron law of Trump. It's always been true. Whenever he says, most people don't know something, it means he didn't know something. Dumb is spelled with B. I'm so shocked my hands are numb. What? Another one? So we have a president who's enamored with his own power and thinks he knows all, which is kind of a bad combination, especially since half the time we have no idea what the hell he's talking about, as he illustrated on Monday with an offhand comment in which he tried to argue that high gas prices caused by the war in Iran were a small price to pay to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon.

11:28But, as usual, he was incoherent. And again, remember, with the war, it's just artificial. It's a little bit high. It's a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe. They can take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay. I think what Trump was trying to say is that Iran had a nuclear weapon. They could take out Los Angeles or San Diego, which is why the war and the high prices caused by the war are a small price to pay in comparison. But, real quick, why is it on us to translate the president's words into plain f***ing English?

12:05Thank God there wasn't a sign language interpreter up there. They would have signed the words, I quit. He's a singularly powerful person in a singularly powerful office, so it's bad that he speaks in mangled, incoherent half sentences that no one can understand and works out premises on the fly like a comedian at open mic night. Like, all right, let's see, let's see what else. Oh, yeah, hey, if Iran bombed anywhere, I'd love it to be San Diego's Zewoo. Just so we can see how high a nuke would make Shamu jump. Okay, not that. Even if it's true that Trump was saying Iran shouldn't be able to nuke L.A.

12:41and San Diego, it's bad that people can't understand what the hell the president is saying on a daily basis. This has happened many times before, like when a reporter asked Trump if he would attend his son Don Jr.'s wedding. And again, he gave an answer that confused a lot of people. Are you attending your son's wedding this weekend, by the way? Uh, he'd like me to go But it's gonna be just a small little private affair And I'm gonna try and make it I'm in the midst I said, you know, this is not good timing for me But he's, uh, got a very, uh, person who I've known for a long time And hopefully they're gonna have a great marriage Now Now Many people thought he was describing his own son As a person I've known for a long time because he speaks in slurred, mangled, broken English like he just drank a wine cooler mixed with NyQuil.

13:31He was actually trying to say his son was marrying a person he's known for a long time, and the confusion overshadowed the much funnier aspect of this story, which was Trump saying he's too busy to go to his own son's wedding. Trump didn't even say, I'd like to go. He said, he'd like me to go, which is hilarious. You're going to go to your son's wedding? Oh, yeah, he'd love that. He can't even pretend to be bummed about it. He's like a guy who gets an invite to a destination wedding and instead of making up an excuse, just writes back too far. If the president cannot speak in clear, coherent sentences that everyone can understand, that's bad, especially when he's enamored with his own power and surrounded by people who tell him he can do whatever he wants, which is why voters are furious.

14:16They think Trump is dangerous, corrupt, and... Dumb. This has been A Closer Look.

14:44We'll be right back.

14:54Hello! Hello! How are you? Hello! Hello, guys. Hello.

15:03It's been a minute. Thank you very much. It has. It has been a minute. I was reflecting back on it. We had a very special event. We performed at together in Boston. We did. In 2004. This was before the beginning of the championship season. Yeah, it was near the time that writing was developed. Yes. And fire. It was a long time ago. And in my head, it wasn't that long ago. And then I saw a picture of us, and I'm like, oh, no. Look at those. A couple of babies and Johnny Damon. Look at Johnny Damon. A couple of babies and, like, what's going on with this guy? This is like, do you call that half in the bag?

15:42Or what's the, like... Yeah, and it was early. It was 9 in the morning. It was very early in the morning. Really sweaty. I was not suited to... I remember learning to appreciate what it takes to host an event and tell jokes. I heard one joke on some late night. I stole it from a comic and tried to tell it. And it was the most stone-cold silence. And I remember it was like, this is what the flop sweat is. Take it away, sis! That's basically what I remember as panic. That, I think as Red Sox fans, that year was an incredible relief and release for me. Like, after the Red Sox finally won, like, again, I'm still a Red Sox fan, but it all felt like less fraught.

16:22Did you have that same feeling? Yeah, it sort of like didn't even feel like the same world. You know, like, you just grow up so accustomed to losing and heartbreak and disappointment and failure. And then it was, like, weird. You know what I mean? It was sort of like, you know, I had a dream the Red Sox won the World Series. It has never been the same since. I'm not sure how to find my way in a world where, like, New England and the Patriots became, like, the best team in football. Yeah. Nothing's been the same It was I thought an interesting Thing happened Which is like Everybody was sort of Like rooting for New Englanders Because of like They felt so bad for them And once the Red Sox won They were like Oh no We don't care for you guys Yes That's when they started To look at the actual Character of us These people are kind of Sour and unpleasant Yeah A little discourteous If you park in front Of their house Yeah Like yeah What are you talking I was trying to make a rash These were the charming Underdogs we thought they were Yeah You had a victory of your own recently Not on the field of athletics But a contest of sorts No, I haven't had many of those No, but you won Who Wants to Be a Millionaire For charity, it should be noted Yes, it was for charity And I had some help It should also be noted Thank you You did have help Who was your partner?

17:37This amazing guy, Jamie He's an incredible genius So it was really It was sort of like It was very clear that you had maybe picked him as opposed to the other way around. I tell you, it was, well, the real truth is, it was like, you want to come on? Who wants to be? No, no, what do you think? I want to go make a fool out of myself. He's like, I'm going to put you with the smartest man in the world. Yeah. That sounds like a plan. But even with that, you were taken aback by how surprised people were at your success on the show. Yeah, I mean, but this has been consistent with my life. I don't know what it is that sets such a low bar of expectations that had something of a colorful history.

18:13But people don't necessarily anticipate great success So I get the sense, especially people from home They're like, unbelievable I get texts that are like, still got the horseshoe up your ass, I see Thanks, nice to hear from you, Sully Just dumb luck They assume that you dumb lucked your way through 15 questions Well, I did have some help on that show Sort of what people thought was the story behind Good Will Hunting We know that's not true 50 % You've always brought 50 if not more But this is full credit to you Well not full credit I know you work with a great many people But you put the money towards the Eastern Congo Initiative This is an organization that you helped Found what 16 years ago Yeah 16 years ago basically The idea was sort of to like Approach philanthropy from a model of the people That live in the country understand their community Know what they're doing and often just don't have access to the large sort of donor community, and I don't have a 501c3 and all that stuff, but it was a place that was really ravaged by a lot of war and disruption, and I traveled there and thought, like, rather than sort of taking the approach of, like, we know what to do, and we'll come in and tell you, and also we'll just pay a bunch of Americans or Europeans to go down and, like, do their summer down there and leave, to try to create some sort of lasting value, work with, like, you know, women who are victims of, like, gender-based violence and, you know, health and maternal health, water, clean water, although Matt kind of stole that one from me.

19:43Yeah. That's the problem. He's a thief. He really is. Yeah. People don't know that about him, but he's... You were like, I have an idea called Good Will Hunt. He was like, yin! Came up with it at the same time. He put up the end, and he was like, let's shoot it. I want to ask about your new movie. Will you stick around? You guys, this is Ben Affleck with you right now.

20:07Welcome back, everybody. We're here with Ben Affleck from Animals, the sixth directorial. I remember being so excited when you directed your first film. And another thing that I think... Right around that time. Right around that time. When you were directing your first, did you have a sense of like, oh, I want to keep doing this? I had a sense of like abject terror. Yeah. You know, and insecurity. I thought like, oh my God, you know, and if I don't do this, it doesn't go well. I'll never work again. So it was, like, mostly fear and terror-based. And I got migraines and sort of... And it was, like, just sort of successful enough that I got to do another movie.

20:45I remember the reviews were like, it's not the worst movie I've ever seen. So I was like, okay, I made it. And got to keep going. But it's really something that I have grown to really, really love. I really like this movie. We have a great cast. Now you saw Kerry Washington, Jillian Anderson, Stephen Young. There's an enormously probably been really... You play a politician who gets a phone call claiming your son's been kidnapped. It's about your efforts to get your son back. And there is, as you would imagine, there's some running. You know, you're taking this very seriously. There is running.

21:20And I'm fascinated. I never stop looking at the way people run in movies. And I will say, Ben, I think you're a really believable runner. A believable jogger. Jogger, Derek. You know who knows how to run in movies? It's Tom Cruise. The best. That's f***ing run. He can run. You see him going, he's just, he's back! Woo! He's like... But I think, I will say, the only way he runs, he runs one way. Like, he's never had a character who's like, I'm going to run, I'm going to, like, 80 % run. He's going to run as Usain Bolt's running. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? This is a guy who's like a jogger.

21:51Yeah. You know, and trying to be... But you're directing this film, and I would imagine, I think every director who's also in their film has the challenge of, like, watching themselves and, you know, but, like, do you give a little extra on the running scenes? Are you, like, running and looking at playback and being like, all right, I'm okay with that one. No, it's actually, these are the ones that I don't look at because I'm like, I know it's gonna be if we stay here until I think I look good running that's all we'll do. The whole movie is me trying to jog cool like Tom Cruise and it's never gonna happen I heard you say recently that you worked with the director who gave you great insight as far as the freedom you want to give your actors, your cast, with the dialogue on the page and how they can sort of play with it and play with the language.

22:29Yeah, it was a long time ago. It was a director named Richard Linklater, who's gone on to make many great movies. One of the greats. Boyhood and everything else. He's a fabulous director. And it was his second movie. It was this movie called Dazing and Fused. It was like 1992 or something. I think we're familiar, yeah. And yeah, he wrote a letter to everybody that said, like, if this film is produced as written, it'll be a massive underachievement. Which is, I thought, was the worst thing you could say to like 30 19-year-old actors starting out who were like, I have a monologue for just this occasion.

23:00But it actually worked out great. And I really like, it made a big impression on me that if you kind of ask people to participate and give them a voice, they come in and do amazing stuff. And in this sense, like, you know, this really, yes, there's kidnapping and there's tension and there's all that stuff, but really it's movies kind of about like the sort of version of ourselves that we want to show and what happens when the masks sort of come off. And a big part of that is in the marriage, in the relationship. And I feel like movies in the last, I don't know, 10 or 15 years, something, have started to have this sort of self-imposed, rules.

23:33You know, you can't say this. You can't do that. And I felt like, you know what, I want to do something the opposite of that, where people, where it's real. And we show the uncomfortable truth about the characters. In order to do that, I had to have everybody kind of be willing to contribute. Carrie was amazing. Luis and Adriano basically wrote all of their scenes, not just because they were in Spanish, but because they were amazing writers and Steven Young. So everybody kind of collaborated. And I did a lot of that on air. There wasn't anybody in air that didn't contribute. And I guess it's from, honestly, my experience with Madden Just feeling like, yeah, actor's right Like, you're inhabiting the character Make it real and do it in your voice And so far, it's paid off I don't know, maybe next one will be a total disaster And I'll get one to you By the way, I felt old when I saw this picture of us But not as old when you said you did a movie And the director sent you all a letter I know, yeah Also sent us cassette tapes With the music on It was like, hey, this is the music I mean, by the way, like, whatever he did worked And I'm wondering, like, we were talking backstage like your kids, you know, teenagers and older, have they found those movies that were so, like, seminal to, like, a certain age of people, like Dazed and Confused?

24:38Is that like... What was it like when that crossed? I mean, you know, I had such a thing. I remember when my daughter was born, right around the time I directed my first movie, and I had a bunch of movies that didn't work and was very uncool and felt kind of despised and thought, like, God, I really want to make my kids proud with my career. And as I've gotten older and my kids have gotten older, what I realize is they don't give a s***. They really don't care. They don't really want to see the movie. The most cool thing I've ever done in my kids' eyes is, like, become a meme. Like, why is that cool?

25:11Like, because I'm spilling a coffee? Like, is that... They're like, you're irrelevant. I'm like, I'm relevant for being this, like, beleaguered, depressed man. But that's apparently... Oh, my God, so that, I got to aim for meme? That's what you're telling me? Frankly, that's the high, yeah, that's the high mark. It's good to be redirected towards that Exactly, go for it, I mean you can try I think I can get there, I think I can get there Hey, it's so great to see you It's always such a pleasure It's really good I don't like anyone, animals will be in flight theaters And available to stream on Netflix This Friday, October 9th

25:49Late Night with Seth Meyers Hears weeknights on NBC at 1235 1135 Central Original music on the Late Night Podcast Is by the HE Band Don't forget to follow the handle Late Night Seth on social media and tell your friends to subscribe to the Late Night Podcast wherever they get their podcasts.