Late-night hosts discussed the gubernatorial election in Virginia on Tuesday, in which democrat Ralph Northam defeated Trump-endorsed republican Ed Gillespie, and the attempted consolidation of power by the Saudi Arabian royal family.

“It’s election day, just not the one we wish it was,” Stephen Colbert began. “We tape this show early so we don’t know the results yet. Either way, I am planning to uphold the election day tradition I started last year, getting a very close look at my carpet through an empty liquor bottle.”

Late-night hosts: with Trump, Japan again faces 'a monster with tiny hands' Read more

“The election everyone’s watching this year is the race for governor of Virginia,” he continued. “One person weighing in on this race is spare Trump and man-who-reads-Maxim-on-his-Kindle, Donald Trump Jr. Donald Jr woke up this morning to urge people to get the vote out, but maybe he should’ve waited until he had his morning cup of hair gel.”

Colbert then read the president’s son’s tweet aloud, in which he urged Americans, in two different tweets, to vote for Gillespie “tomorrow”.

“Which is a fine thing to tweet, except the election was today, not tomorrow,” Colbert responded. “Hashtag whoopsy daisy, hashtag turns out Eric is the smart one.”

“You have to have a little sympathy for this guy because he has to be under tremendous pressure, because for the next seven days he is the only Donald Trump in the western hemisphere,” the host went on. “His dad continued his Asian tour in South Korea today. It must have been pretty tense because there was a madman with nuclear weapons on one side of the border, and on the other side, North Korea.”



“The big topic of conversation in South Korea is North Norea, and Trump was far more restrained talking about it than he’s been over here,” Colbert said, referring to the president’s speech to the South Korean parliament. “He didn’t once use the term ‘little rocket man’, possibly because the man’s little rocket can reach him over there.”



Trevor Noah of Comedy Central discussed the Saudi Arabian anti-corruption purge, in which at least 38 former, current and deputy ministers have been arrested.

“There has been a lot of news this week out of Saudi Arabia, which is basically America’s kooky rich uncle who occasionally beheads people,” Noah began. “But over the weekend, the kingdom went through some serious turmoil.”

Noah then showed news footage about the Saudi Arabian political purge, which saw an anti-corruption committee arrest many of the kingdom’s political elite.

“The biggest story by far is the heir to the throne, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has been arresting most of the other princes, a Sheikh-ton of them,” Noah quipped. “Saudi Arabia has more princes than a Minneapolis Halloween party.”

“Saudi Arabia is ruled by one big family, the house of Saud,” he continued. “The kingdom is calling this a crackdown on corrupt princes, but I don’t know if I buy it. As it turns out, there might be more going on here than corruption.”

Trevor Noah on Saudia Arabia.

Noah then showed news coverage in which one pundit suggests the anti-corruption initiative is merely a “smokescreen for an abrupt consolidation of power by the crown prince and the elimination of rivals”.

“Wait a minute. Consolidating power and getting rid of his political rivals?” Noah asked. “I wonder how President Trump feels about this whole thing.”



The host then showed Trump’s tweets supporting the crackdown in Saudi Arabia. “Of course, Trump loves this. Locking up political rivals is Trump’s wet dream,” the host said.

“Now, to be fair, the situation in Saudi Arabia is a lot more complicated than that,” he continued. “The crown prince isn’t just trying to grab power. He’s also trying to modernize Saudi Arabia. Sidelining the old guard could let him diversify the economy and expand women’s rights. So the kingdom might become more autocratic, but it also might become more free.”

“It’s like how not being monogamous can actually strengthen the relationship,” Noah joked.



Finally, Seth Meyers of NBC discussed former Trump campaign official Sam Clovis, who withdrew his name from consideration after being nominated to be chief scientist at the Department of Agriculture.

“The amazing thing about the Trump administration is not just all the stories we hear,” Meyers began. “It’s also the number of stories we miss due to the insanity of the stories we hear. For example, President Trump’s nominee for chief scientist at the Department of Agriculture Sam Clovis, withdrew his nomination after reports surfaced that he had alleged ties to the ongoing Russia investigation.”

“Sam Clovis was Trump’s national co-chairman during the presidential campaign,” the host explained. “He’s also been serving as the White House liaison to the Department of Agriculture while awaiting his hearing to be chief scientist at the USDA. But then last week, this happened.”



Meyers then summarized Clovis’s connections in the Russia investigation, including his relationship to George Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the campaign’s contacts with Russia.

“So Clovis withdrew his name from consideration, and that’s a good thing, because while Sam Clovis may be many things, a former air force fighter pilot, a conservative talkshow host, southern sheriff who gets outsmarted by them rascally Duke boys, he is not a scientist,” Meyers said. “Clovis himself confirmed that in a letter obtained by the Washington Post.”



Meyers then detailed the letter, in which Clovis said he had not taken any college courses in the sciences, has no membership or affiliation with any agricultural or scientific organizations, and has received no awards or designations related to agricultural science.

Trump warns North Korea's Kim Jong-un: 'Don't try us' Read more

“Besides being unqualified, Clovis also has some dangerous theories and political beliefs that should have been a red flag even before the Russia revelations came to light,” Meyers said, referencing his doubts about climate science and opposition to Obama-administration measures protecting members of the LGBTQ community from discrimination. “Clovis is just one example of what seems to be a paterrn in the type of people Trump nominates and hires: the only qualification necessary is loyalty to Trump himself.”