Jon Stewart on Trump's Assertion of Not Knowing About His Personal MRI: 'It's Not Physically Possible'.
Late-night television hosts this week trained their comedic fire on former President Donald Trump, lambasting his employment of a ableist slur and portrayed as unconvincing attempts to address growing questions about his cognitive health.
The Daily Show's Pointed Commentary
Kicking off the week, Jon Stewart focused on a controversial post in which Trump described Minnesota Governor Tim Walz using a highly offensive ableist term. "On Thanksgiving?!" Stewart exclaimed. "Did you mix it up with Festivus?"
When questioned by reporters if he regretted the remark, Trump reportedly intensified his attack, stating there was "something seriously wrong" with the governor.
"The issue is with him? With him?" Stewart responded. "You were sitting with your family at Thanksgiving, stomach full of turkey and pie, enveloped in the love of your extended crime family, but your initial instinct was to post an insult at Tim Walz? And there’s something wrong with him?"
The comedian then turned to Trump's peculiar account of a recently disclosed MRI. In an attempt to downplay worries, Trump stated he had "no idea" what part of his body was even scanned, suggesting it "wasn’t the brain" because he "aced a cognitive test."
"That is an impossibility," Stewart shot back. "To have no idea, it’s not possible. What would you say to the doctor? ‘Wait, stop, don’t tell me. I want to find out at my scan unveiling celebration.’"
He continued, "Good grief, man, were you not curious at all? When they laid you down in a tube for 30 to 45 minutes, 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 further ridiculed Trump's assertion of a "flawless result" 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, ‘See me.’"
Stephen Colbert's Witty Observations
On his own program, Stephen Colbert highlighted increasing frustration among some one-time allies. "Maga folks are starting to notice that Trump views them like meat animals," he remarked, citing criticism over building a gilded event space over tackling affordability concerns.
"Elsewhere, Trump celebrated Thanksgiving in his customary fashion – with racism," Colbert noted, referring to an inflammatory post from the weekend. "Amidst all of that nonsense," he recapped, the president also used the offensive term against Governor Walz.
After Walz challenged him to "Release the MRI results," Trump said he would release them, despite his claimed ignorance of what was scanned.
"Well, here's an idea: maybe the part that’s malfunctioning is the part that’s supposed to know," Colbert noted.
He then poked fun at the follow-up White House justification—a medical note stating the MRI was for routine evaluation. "OK, fair enough," Colbert said. "Men in his age group also benefit from retiring, so … can we write that prescription next?"
Jimmy Kimmel's Direct Criticism
Jimmy Kimmel likewise blasted Trump's use of the slur. "See, he can be presidential when he wants to be!" he remarked sarcastically. "I wonder why he didn’t get that Nobel peace prize. It makes no sense."
Regarding Trump's follow-up comment 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 addressed Trump's claims of record-high approval ratings. "This indicates it’s not just books he can’t read," Kimmel remarked, pointing to survey data showing significant disapproval. "There are gas station bathrooms on Yelp with higher approval ratings than Donald Trump right now."
The host concluded by criticizing Trump's pledge to pardon a convicted former Honduran president. "Now some have pointed out the staggering contradiction of Trump tough on drugs elsewhere, while simultaneously pardoning a man who sent a million pounds of cocaine to this country," said Kimmel. "Such individuals 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."