The Daily Show host on Donald Trump's Assertion of Being Unaware About His Own MRI: 'It's An Impossibility'.
Comedy show hosts this week trained their comedic fire on ex-President Donald Trump, lambasting his employment of a ableist slur and portrayed as unconvincing attempts to alleviate growing questions about his cognitive health.
Jon Stewart's Scathing Critique
Kicking off the week, Jon Stewart took aim at a controversial post in which Trump referred to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz with a widely condemned slur. "On the holiday?!" Stewart remarked. "Did you mix it up with Festivus?"
When asked later if he regretted the remark, Trump reportedly intensified his attack, stating there was "something seriously wrong" with the governor.
"Something wrong with him? With him?" Stewart responded. "You sat with your family at Thanksgiving, stomach full of turkey and pie, surrounded by the love of your notorious associates, but your initial instinct was to post an insult at Tim Walz? And there’s something wrong with him?"
The host then turned to Trump's peculiar account of a recently disclosed MRI. In an effort to downplay worries, Trump stated he had "no idea" what part of his body was examined, remarking it "couldn't have been his brain" because he "took a cognitive test."
"That’s not physically possible," Stewart countered. "To have no idea, it’s not possible. What would you say to the doctor? ‘No no no, don’t tell me. I want to find out at my scan unveiling celebration.’"
He continued, "Good grief, man, were you not the least bit interested? When they laid you down in a tube for a half an hour, you didn’t want to know what they might be doing? Or did you just think to yourself, ‘This is a noisy tanning bed’?"
Stewart also mocked Trump's boast of a "perfect score" on the scan. "Apparently, that's the way they score the MRIs," he quipped. "You either get a big stamp, ‘Perfect,’ or you get in red ink, ‘We need to talk.’"
Stephen Colbert's Satirical Take
On his own program, Stephen Colbert highlighted increasing frustration among some one-time allies. "Maga folks are starting to notice that Trump treats them like livestock," he said, citing criticism over funding a gilded event space over addressing affordability concerns.
"Elsewhere, Trump celebrated Thanksgiving in his customary fashion – with racism," Colbert noted, referring to an inflammatory post from the weekend. "Somewhere in all of that nonsense," he summarized, the president also used the ableist slur against Governor Walz.
After Walz challenged him to "Make the scan public," Trump said he would do so, despite his claimed ignorance of what was scanned.
"Uh, here’s a theory: maybe the part that’s broken is the part that’s supposed to know," Colbert noted.
He then poked fun at the subsequent official explanation—a medical note stating the MRI was for routine evaluation. "OK, fair enough," Colbert conceded. "Men in his age group also benefit from retiring, so … can we write that prescription next?"
Jimmy Kimmel's Blunt Assessment
Jimmy Kimmel likewise condemned Trump's use of the slur. "See, he can be presidential when he wants to be!" he joked. "I wonder why he didn’t get that Nobel peace prize. It defies all logic."
Regarding Trump's subsequent statement that he thinks "there’s something wrong" with Walz, Kimmel was direct: "yet another profound insight from the president of the eighth grade."
Kimmel also touched on Trump's claims of record-high approval ratings. "This indicates it’s not just books he can’t read," Kimmel remarked, noting polling showing high negative ratings. "You can find gas station bathrooms on Yelp with higher approval ratings than Donald Trump right now."
The host concluded by criticizing Trump's promise to grant clemency to a imprisoned international drug trafficker. "Now some have pointed out the staggering contradiction of Trump taking a hard line in one instance, while simultaneously pardoning a man who sent a massive quantity of cocaine to this country," said Kimmel. "But those people are just detractors, you know? Lighten up!"
"When he was running, Trump made it perfectly obvious: his key goals were a) pardoning drug kingpins and b) constructing a venue to ballroom dance," he added. "Promises made, promises kept."