Seth Meyers has credited President Donald Trump’s obsession with Greenland to a “desperate craving” for trophies in a scathing late-night monologue.
“America’s been through a lot over the years, but the one thing we’ve mercifully never had to deal with was a president who had a boner for winning awards,” Meyers said.
Trump has an ongoing obsession with winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Meyers summed up the absurdity of the situation in his opening to the segment:
“[Trump] threatened to invade Greenland, which is a part of Denmark, because he didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize, which he thinks is decided by Norway, which it’s not,” Meyers said. “For more on this, it’s time for ‘Seth Rubs His Temples and Tries to Dissociate For 15 Minutes.’”
After months of complaining that he should’ve won it in 2025, on Monday Trump used his supposed snub as justification for the U.S. taking control of Greenland.
Late Night with Seth Meyers, Meyers quoting a Boomberg article about Trump’s Greenland threats. NBC
As Meyers shared in his Monday “Closer Look” segment, Trump’s letter to Norway’s Prime Minister asserted that, after losing the Nobel Prize, Trump no longer felt ”an obligation to think purely of peace,” and that he “can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”
Meyers roasted Trump’s “desperate craving for awards,” adding, “‘You didn’t give me the Nobel Peace Prize, so now I have to invade another country’ is an insane thing to say.”
Meyers joked, “That’s like if I said to my kids, ‘You didn’t get me a World’s #1 Dad coffee mug, so I’m moving to Thailand to blow your inheritance, Sam Rockwell and White Lotus style.’”
Meyers also made fun of Trump’s line in the letter, explaining, ”The world is not secure unless we have complete and total control of Greenland.”
Meyers replied, “I love that he’s basically saying, ‘Here’s how important Greenland is. If you’d given me a shiny new medal, I would have let you have it.’”
Meyers has been critical of the Trump administration on numerous issues. Last week, he criticized ICE as “an army of out-of-shape uncles” and labeled Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ suggestion of a $3 meal–one piece of chicken, one piece of broccoli, one corn tortilla– a “meal aliens would bring to your cell after they abduct you.”