Jon Stewart has decreed we have “officially entered into the fever dream portion of the election,” and he doesn’t quite know how to handle it. Grappling with the topsy-turvy world of current politics occupied the Comedy Central host’s opening monologue on the latest episode of “The Daily Show.”
After 15 minutes of ranting about everything from Trump talking about Arnold Palmer’s genitals for 10 minutes to Kamala Harris “hosting some sort of book club” with Liz Cheney, Stewart was already on edge. But it was an interview Trump gave while he was working at McDonald’s that eventually broke the late night host. While he was standing at the drive-thru window, Trump was asked if he would accept the 2024 election results “either way.”
“Yeah, sure, if it’s a fair election. Always. I would always accept it, it’s got to be a fair election,” Trump responded.
“First of all, how dare this reporter brazenly violate the no walking through a drive thru rule?” Stewart joked. “And second, how the f–k is Donald Trump in a McDonald’s apron in the window of the fast food restaurant talking about whether or not he’ll overturn the popular vote real life?”
“How is this real?” Stewart started before stopping himself and solemnly looking around for several seconds. He then leaned in to be closer to the camera. “Did we all die during COVID? And is this some strange, surreal purgatory?”
That wasn’t the only explanation Stewart had up his sleeve. “Maybe AI has already sucked up the sum total of human achievement and endeavors and what we’re all experiencing are merely the crumbs and detritus of human existence that AI just thought was too f–ked up and weird to vacuum up?” He also questioned whether our current reality is a dream. “Maybe I’m in your dream or you’re in my dream,” Stewart speculated.
He then “woke” himself up. But when Stewart came to, he was in bed with Donald Trump, who immediately started spouting off the conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants are eating dogs and cats in Springfield.
There were several moments that made Stewart freak out on Monday night. But the one that made him repeatedly slam his papers on the desk had to do with Republicans’ reaction to Trump. Throughout his monologue, Stewart played several clips of Trump saying that there’s “an enemy from within” that is more dangerous than Russia or China. The former President also said that the “radical left” should be “very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard.” Despite Trump clearly threatening to take military action against his political rivals, “The Daily Show” played several clips of Republicans denying that’s what Trump meant.
“For my own f–king sanity, can I get at least one Republican to acknowledge that Trump said the thing that he is repeatedly saying?” Stewart asked
The late night host then asked if anything that Trump says is “real.” “We’re left with this absurd idea that somehow Trump’s absurdity renders him benign,” Stewart said. Watch the full monologue above.
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