Jon Stewart on Donald Trump's Claim of Not Knowing Regarding His Personal MRI: 'That’s Not Physically Possible'.
Late-night television hosts recently directed their focus on former President Donald Trump, lambasting his use of an derogatory term and portrayed as feeble efforts to address public concerns about his cognitive health.
The Daily Show's Scathing Critique
Kicking off the week, Jon Stewart took aim at a controversial post in which Trump described Minnesota Governor Tim Walz with a highly offensive ableist term. "On Thanksgiving?!" Stewart exclaimed. "Are you confusing that with your own personal grievance airing day?"
When asked later if he regretted the remark, Trump reportedly doubled down, stating there was "something seriously wrong" with the governor.
"Something wrong with him? With him?" Stewart responded. "You sat with your family at Thanksgiving, belly full of turkey and pie, enveloped in the love of your extended crime family, but your first thought was to Truth a slur at Tim Walz? And there’s something wrong with him?"
The host then addressed Trump's bizarre explanation of a recently disclosed medical scan. In an attempt to downplay worries, Trump claimed he had "zero knowledge" what part of his body was even scanned, suggesting it "wasn’t the brain" because he "aced a cognitive test."
"That’s not physically possible," Stewart shot back. "Being completely unaware, 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 added, "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 further ridiculed 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, ‘See me.’"
Stephen Colbert's Satirical Take
On his own program, Stephen Colbert highlighted increasing frustration among some one-time allies. "Certain supporters are starting to notice that Trump views them like livestock," he said, referencing criticism over building a luxury ballroom over addressing affordability concerns.
"Elsewhere, Trump celebrated Thanksgiving in his traditional way – with racism," Colbert noted, alluding to an anti-immigrant rant from the weekend. "Amidst all of that nonsense," he summarized, the president employed the offensive term against Governor Walz.
After Walz challenged him to "Make the scan public," 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 suggested.
He then mocked the follow-up official explanation—a medical note stating the MRI was for routine evaluation. "Alright, that's reasonable," Colbert conceded. "Men in his age group also benefit from retiring, so … can we write that prescription next?"
Jimmy Kimmel's Direct Criticism
Jimmy Kimmel also blasted Trump's use of the slur. "See, he can be presidential when he wants to be!" he joked. "It's puzzling 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 blunt: "another bold statement from the president of the middle school."
Kimmel also touched on Trump's insistence 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 promise to grant clemency to a convicted international drug trafficker. "Critics have noted the staggering contradiction of Trump taking a hard line in one instance, while simultaneously pardoning a man who shipped 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 top priorities were a) granting clemency to cartel leaders and b) building a place to ballroom dance," he added. "Promises made, promises kept."