The President of the United States does not like the late-night television hosts of the current era. (Unless you count a certain 10pm host on Fox News.)
He uses words like “untalented,” “unfunny,” and even “unpopular.” (Well, he says they “get no ratings,” but he means “unpopular.”)
OK—if all that’s true, why was Jon Stewart’s return to The Daily Show Monday night, after more than a month of no original episodes, greeted with loud, wild enthusiasm from his audience? Why the big, rolling laughs? Perhaps because the show stitched together all the recent rumors about Donald Trump’s deteriorating health with the unrestrained sycophancy of his besotted underlings—and somehow ended up with an episode of The Twilight Zone from 1961.
That certainly sounds like it might have had something to do with talent.
And it definitely had a lot to do with being funny.
Like all the late-night hosts returning from summer break to a riot-fest of Trumpania in the headlines, Stewart had a buffet of material to choose from: the ongoing Epstein hoax-a-thon, the military invasion of NFL cities, a crackpot leading the nation’s health decisions before Congress, even the looming threat of war with Venezuela.
But Stewart side-swiped most of that—including a momentous Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska “to force Ukraine to accept Cracker Barrel’s new logo”—and instead went all in on recent speculation that Trump was battling a life-threatening case of excess bodily fluid. Along the way, he managed a sophisticated link between swollen ankles and a swollen ego.
“It’s not just the ankles—the whole meatbag is having some kind of drainage issue,” Stewart cracked, before twisting the knife: “And what’s with the makeup? It’s not like you can trick leprosy in Sephora.”
Yikes. The jokes about Trump’s swelling, bruising, and neck wattle—complete with an unmentionable Betty White comparison that momentarily halted the audience’s laughter—were potent, but easy. Stewart was after a bigger target: the smearing of all things Trump across the national consciousness.
“It does say something about the ubiquity of Donald Trump in our lives,” Stewart said, “that we don’t hear from him for 20 minutes and we’re like: ‘He’s dead?’”
Of course, no such calamity occurred—though Stewart noted he wouldn’t put it past a president who so often tries “to take credit for something Biden had already accomplished.”
Stewart’s larger point was that whatever the state of Trump’s physical health, his fragile psychological state is clearly sick. Exhibit A: the florid encomiums and unctuous tributes from his staff and cabinet.
“The whole vibe around this president is very make-a-wish-kid,” Stewart said. Wishes have included everything from an honorary U.S. Marshal’s badge to touching the World Cup trophy. Stewart suggested more:
“I have in this bag Thor’s hammer! And only the bravest boy can pick it up! My God, you did it!”
The real illness, Stewart argued, is the endless, insatiable neediness of Trump himself. Clips rolled of aides lobbying for him to win the Nobel Peace Prize, the Nobel Prize for Medicine, even the Nobel Prize for Economics.
“Donald Trump, the first recipient of the Nobel Prize Variety Pack!” Stewart exclaimed.
The bowing and scraping has become so obsessive, he added, that maybe it’s less Make-A-Wish and more Twilight Zone.
Specifically, the 1960 classic episode “It’s a Good Life,” where a six-year-old boy terrifies his town by sending anyone who angers him “to the cornfield.”
Most viewers probably didn’t recognize the 65-year-old reference, but Stewart had the clips to drive it home. Black-and-white villagers living under forced happiness; color footage of Trump staffers in abject obsequiousness. The parallels were chilling.
“It’s f*cking weird,” Stewart said. “And it never ends.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson provided the latest example, calling Trump “the most consequential president of the modern era, if not all of American history.” The audience groaned.
“This is where we’re at, America,” Stewart sighed. “This is where we’re at.”
Where Jon Stewart was at—back in the ongoing late-night hostilities—was exactly where his audience wanted him: giving laughs, and giving pause.
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