Comedy show hosts this week trained their comedic fire on former President Donald Trump, criticizing his use of an ableist slur and what they described as feeble efforts to address public concerns about his mental fitness.
Jon Stewart's Scathing Critique
Kicking off the week, Jon Stewart took aim at a inflammatory Truth Social message in which Trump described Minnesota Governor Tim Walz using a widely condemned ableist term. "On Thanksgiving?!" Stewart remarked. "Did you mix it up with your own personal grievance airing day?"
When asked later if he felt any remorse, Trump reportedly intensified his attack, insisting there was "a genuine problem" with the Democratic governor.
"Something wrong with him? With him?" Stewart retorted. "You sat with your family at Thanksgiving, belly full of turkey and pie, surrounded by the love of your notorious associates, but your initial instinct was to Truth a slur at Tim Walz? And there’s something wrong with him?"
The host then turned to Trump's peculiar account of a recently revealed MRI. In an attempt to dismiss concerns, Trump claimed he had "zero knowledge" what part of his body was even scanned, remarking it "couldn't have been his brain" because he "took a cognitive test."
"That is an impossibility," Stewart countered. "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 MRI reveal party.’"
He added, "For God’s sakes, 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 assertion of a "perfect score" on the scan. "Apparently, that's the way they score the MRIs," he joked. "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 growing discontent among some former supporters. "Maga folks are starting to notice that Trump views them like livestock," he said, referencing anger about building a gilded event space over tackling affordability concerns.
"Elsewhere, Trump celebrated Thanksgiving in his traditional way – with racism," Colbert quipped, referring to an anti-immigrant rant from the weekend. "Amidst all of that nonsense," he summarized, the president also used the offensive term against Governor Walz.
After Walz responded to "Make the scan public," Trump said he would release them, despite his claimed ignorance of what was scanned.
"Uh, here’s a theory: maybe the part that’s malfunctioning is the part that’s meant to retain that information," Colbert suggested.
He then poked fun at the subsequent White House justification—a doctor's letter stating the MRI was for preventative screening. "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 condemned Trump's choice of words. "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 follow-up comment that he thinks "there is a problem" with Walz, Kimmel was blunt: "another bold statement from the president of the eighth grade."
Kimmel also addressed Trump's claims of record-high approval ratings. "Which means it’s not just books he can’t read," Kimmel remarked, pointing to survey data showing high negative ratings. "You can find gas station bathrooms on Yelp with better reviews than Donald Trump right now."
The host concluded by criticizing Trump's promise to grant clemency to a convicted former Honduran president. "Critics have noted the unbelievable hypocrisy of Trump tough on drugs elsewhere, while at the same time freeing a man who shipped a million pounds of cocaine to this country," said Kimmel. "Such individuals are just haters and losers, 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 summarized. "Commitments stated, promises kept."
