Jon Stewart on Trump's Assertion of Not Knowing Regarding His Personal MRI: 'It's An Impossibility'.
Late-night television hosts recently trained their comedic fire on ex-President Donald Trump, lambasting his use of an ableist slur and portrayed as feeble efforts to address growing questions about his mental fitness.
Jon Stewart's Pointed Commentary
Kicking off the week, Jon Stewart took aim at a inflammatory Truth Social message in which Trump described Minnesota Governor Tim Walz with a highly offensive ableist term. "On the holiday?!" Stewart exclaimed. "Are you confusing that with your own personal grievance airing day?"
When questioned by reporters if he regretted the remark, Trump reportedly intensified his attack, insisting there was "a genuine problem" with the governor.
"The issue is with him? With him?" Stewart retorted. "You were sitting with your family at Thanksgiving, stomach full of turkey and pie, surrounded by 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 bizarre explanation of a recently disclosed medical scan. In an effort to dismiss concerns, Trump claimed he had "zero knowledge" what part of his body was even scanned, suggesting it "wasn’t the brain" because he "took a cognitive test."
"That’s not physically possible," 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 MRI reveal party.’"
He added, "Good grief, man, were you not curious at all? When they placed you 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 also mocked Trump's boast 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, ‘We need to talk.’"
The Late Show's Satirical Take
On his own program, Stephen Colbert pointed out growing discontent among some former supporters. "Certain supporters are starting to notice that Trump views them like livestock," he said, referencing anger about building a luxury ballroom over addressing economic issues.
"Elsewhere, Trump celebrated Thanksgiving in his traditional way – with racism," Colbert quipped, referring to an inflammatory post from the weekend. "Somewhere in all of that nonsense," he recapped, the president employed the ableist slur against Governor Walz.
After Walz responded to "Release the MRI results," Trump promised do so, despite his claimed ignorance of what was scanned.
"Well, here's an idea: maybe the part that’s broken is the part that’s meant to retain that information," Colbert noted.
He then mocked the subsequent White House justification—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. "Look, he is capable of being 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 is a problem" with Walz, Kimmel was blunt: "another bold statement from the president of the eighth grade."
Kimmel also touched on Trump's insistence of record-high approval ratings. "Which means it’s not just books he can’t read," Kimmel remarked, noting survey data showing high negative ratings. "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 imprisoned international drug trafficker. "Now some have pointed out the unbelievable hypocrisy of Trump taking a hard line elsewhere, while at the same time freeing a man who sent a million pounds of cocaine to this country," said Kimmel. "But those people are just detractors, you know? Relax!"
"During his campaign, Trump made it very clear: his key goals were a) pardoning drug kingpins and b) constructing a venue to host formal dances," he summarized. "Promises made, promises kept."