Donald Trump Corrected Over Seth Meyers Statement

Social media users are correcting Donald Trump's viral response to Seth Meyers, following the comedian's recent interview with President Joe Biden.

The president made a surprise appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers Monday, where he referenced Trump's speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

"Well, look, my wife, our great first lady, she was great ... people love her," Trump said at CPAC Saturday as the crowd applauded. "Oh, look at that, wow. Mercedes, that's pretty good!"

Rumors soon spread that the 77-year-old forgot his wife's name, mistakenly calling Melania Trump Mercedes.

Responding to Meyers' question of how he would address concerns about his age leading up to the 2024 election, Biden said: "You got to take a look at the other guy. He's about as old as I am, but he can't remember his wife's name."

When addressing Biden's statement in a video on Truth Social, Trump said he had a "sold-out speech" at CPAC, "the biggest audience they've had in years, I think maybe ever."

However, some social media users took issue with the claim that his CPAC speech was sold out.

"Sold out CPAC? It was empty," wrote @ArtCandee on X, formerly Twitter. She shared a photo of the half-empty Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, where the CPAC conference was held.

"He is lying," user @IslandG41370138 agreed, posting a similar photo. "It was not the largest CPAC conference. It was a severely downsized conference. Haven't we seen the images? Every word uttered is a lie. Pathetic."

Trump, 2023. Biden and Meyers, 2024
Main: Donald Trump during a rally on March 25, 2023, in Waco, Texas. Inset: President Joe Biden speaking with Seth Meyers during "Late Night With Seth Meyers" in New York on February 26, 2024. Trump... Brandon Bell/Jim WATSON/Getty Images News/AFP

At the time of writing, Trump's retort had received 12,700 likes and over 4,000 reposts.

Describing the 81-year-old Democrat as a "mental and physical basket case," Trump accused his rival of going on a "poorly rated show" to criticize him.

"He's also the worst president in the history of our country," Trump said, before calling out Biden for his joke about the rumored Melania-Mercedes mix-up.

Trump critics viewed the speech as evidence of his "cognitive decline." However, Trump responded to Biden's appearance on Late Night, saying: "The radical left are at it again."

He also said he was referring to Mercedes Schlapp, his former White House director of strategic communications. Mercedes is married to Matt Schlapp, the organizer of CPAC.

"At CPAC, where I had a sold-out speech—the biggest audience they've had in years, I think maybe ever—I made the statement that Melania was very popular, because when I mentioned her name, the audience went wild," Trump said Wednesday.

"I then looked at the two people, man and wife, Matt and Mercedes Schlapp, and I said, 'Wow, they really like the first lady.'"

Newsweek has reached out to Donald Trump via email for comment.

Joe Biden (left), Seth Meyers, February 2024
Biden, left, speaking with Meyers during the taping of "Late Night With Seth Meyers." Biden, 81, addressed concerns about his age on the show while mocking Trump's recent CPAC appearance. Jim WATSON/AFP

Biden, who was a guest on the first episode of Late Night With Seth Meyers, asked the comedian: "Why didn't you invite me back earlier?"

Meyers questioned Biden about the conspiracy theories surrounding his presidency—such as whether he fixed the Super Bowl and whether Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are scheming to help him win the 2024 general election. He also addressed the criticism around the Democrat's age and mental faculties.

In a recent poll conducted by Reuters, 78 percent of those surveyed said Biden is too old to run the country, including 71 percent of Democrats.

Newsweek has contacted Joe Biden and Seth Meyers for comment via email.

Trump is the favorite to land the Republican nomination. The polling analysis site FiveThirtyEight shows the business mogul polling at 77 percent, more than 60 points ahead of Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and Trump's only remaining competitor.

Biden is also likely to be the Democratic nominee. Polling at 74 percent, he is 67 points ahead of Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips.

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About the writer


Sophie is a Newsweek Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter based in Lincoln, UK. Her focus is reporting on film and ... Read more

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