🔗 Share this article

Late-night television hosts this week trained their comedic fire on former President Donald Trump, lambasting his use of an ableist slur and what they described as feeble efforts to alleviate public concerns about his mental fitness.

Jon Stewart's Scathing Critique

Kicking off the week, Jon Stewart took aim at a controversial post in which Trump described Minnesota Governor Tim Walz using a widely condemned slur. "On Thanksgiving?!" Stewart exclaimed. "Did you mix it up with Festivus?"

When questioned by reporters if he felt any remorse, Trump is said to have 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, 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 comedian then addressed Trump's peculiar account of a recently disclosed MRI. In an effort to dismiss concerns, Trump stated he had "zero knowledge" what part of his body was examined, suggesting it "couldn't have been his brain" because he "aced a cognitive test."

"That’s not physically possible," Stewart countered. "Being completely unaware, it’s not possible. What could you possibly 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 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 further ridiculed Trump's assertion of a "perfect score" on the scan. "That’s how they score the MRIs," he quipped. "You either get a big stamp, ‘Perfect,’ or you get in red ink, ‘We need to talk.’"

Stephen Colbert's Satirical Take

On his own program, Stephen Colbert pointed out growing discontent among some one-time allies. "Maga folks are starting to notice that Trump treats them like meat animals," he said, citing anger about building a luxury ballroom over tackling affordability concerns.

"Elsewhere, Trump celebrated Thanksgiving in his customary fashion – with racism," Colbert quipped, referring to an anti-immigrant rant from the weekend. "Amidst all of that nonsense," he recapped, the president also used the ableist slur against Governor Walz.

After Walz responded to "Release the MRI results," Trump promised do so, despite his stated unawareness 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 official explanation—a doctor's letter stating the MRI was for preventative screening. "OK, fair enough," Colbert said. "People his age also benefit from retiring, so … can we write that prescription next?"

Jimmy Kimmel's Blunt Assessment

Jimmy Kimmel likewise condemned Trump's choice of words. "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 defies all logic."

Regarding Trump's follow-up comment that he thinks "there’s something wrong" with Walz, Kimmel was direct: "another bold statement from the president of the eighth grade."

Kimmel also touched on Trump's insistence of unprecedented approval ratings. "Which means it’s not just books he can’t read," Kimmel remarked, pointing to polling showing high negative ratings. "There are 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 imprisoned international drug trafficker. "Critics have noted the unbelievable hypocrisy of Trump taking a hard line elsewhere, while simultaneously pardoning a man who sent a massive quantity 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 key goals were a) pardoning drug kingpins and b) constructing a venue to ballroom dance," he added. "Promises made, promises kept."