When does political theater cross the line into absurdity? This week, late-night comedians didn’t hold back as they dissected Donald Trump’s latest controversies — from a shockingly offensive term used against a political rival to his bizarre claim about not knowing what his own MRI was for. But here’s where it gets wild: his explanation only raised more eyebrows than it calmed.
Jon Stewart’s Fiery Take
As the Thanksgiving leftovers cooled, Jon Stewart lit into Trump for what he saw as a total lapse in judgment. Over the weekend, Trump called Minnesota Governor Tim Walz “seriously retarded” in a post on Truth Social — a comment many condemned as an ableist slur. Stewart’s disbelief was palpable.
“On Thanksgiving?” he asked on The Daily Show, joking if Trump confused the holiday with Festivus. When reporters later asked whether the former president regretted his words, Trump doubled down, insisting there was “something seriously wrong” with Walz.
That’s when Stewart lost it. He mocked Trump’s response, painting the absurd picture of a man surrounded by family and pie yet choosing to hurl insults online. “The media spent the whole holiday weekend trapped at Mar-a-Lago decoding this nonsense,” he quipped. “And then had to fly back with him to clarify it — like babysitters on Air Force One.”
Then came the MRI debacle. Trump tried to ease fears about his mental acuity by saying he didn’t even know which part of his body the MRI scanned. “It wasn’t the brain,” he said. “I aced a cognitive test.”
Stewart’s rebuttal was razor-sharp: “That’s not even physically possible! Were you not curious at all when you were lying in that massive metal tube for nearly an hour? What did you think it was — a noisy tanning bed?” He also skewered Trump’s boast of a ‘perfect MRI score,’ joking that radiologists must hand out stickers reading ‘Perfect!’ or ‘See me after class.’
Stephen Colbert’s Satirical Smackdown
Over on The Late Show, Stephen Colbert went in on Trump’s strange posturing and his loyalist base. Referring to a Daily Beast piece where supporters lamented Trump’s priority to build a ballroom instead of addressing real issues, Colbert deadpanned, “The ballroom is to serve the poor — and they’ll be delicious.”
He followed up with another jab: “Trump celebrated Thanksgiving his traditional way — with racism.” The quip referenced yet another rant on Truth Social, where Trump attacked Minnesota’s immigration policies and again used the ableist slur. When Walz shot back with “Release the MRI results,” Trump oddly claimed he’d release them but didn’t know what they were for.
Colbert mused, “Maybe the part that’s broken is the part that’s supposed to know.” Later, after Trump’s team posted a letter from his doctor saying the scan was for cardiovascular and abdominal health, Colbert rolled his eyes: “Men his age also benefit from retirement — can we prescribe that next?”
Jimmy Kimmel’s Unrelenting Roast
Meanwhile, Jimmy Kimmel tackled the same saga with his trademark sarcasm. “See? He can be presidential when he wants to be!” Kimmel joked about Trump’s insult, pretending to applaud the behavior. “Makes you wonder why he didn’t win a Nobel Peace Prize.” He quipped that Trump sounded “like the president of the eighth grade” when saying Walz had “something wrong with him.”
Kimmel then went after Trump’s boast that his approval ratings were soaring — before pointing out that with nearly 60% disapproval, “some gas station bathrooms on Yelp are getting higher ratings.” His closing punch hit even harder: Trump’s promise to pardon Juan Orlando Hernández, the ex-president of Honduras convicted for running a “cocaine superhighway” to the U.S. “So he sinks random Venezuelan boats over rumored drug runners, but pardons a cartel boss?” Kimmel mocked. “But hey, promises made, promises kept.”
Here’s the question no late-night host could resist: How much longer can Trump’s contradictions go unnoticed? Was Stewart too harsh, or is this exactly the kind of ridicule political figures should face? What do you think — should comedians call out these controversies, or does it just feed the chaos?
