Jon Stewart on Donald Trump's Assertion of Not Knowing About His Personal MRI: 'It's Not Physically Possible'.
Comedy show hosts this week trained their comedic fire on ex-President Donald Trump, criticizing his employment of a derogatory term and what they described as unconvincing attempts to alleviate growing questions about his mental fitness.
Jon Stewart's Scathing Critique
Kicking off the week, Jon Stewart focused on a inflammatory Truth Social message in which Trump referred to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz using a widely condemned ableist term. "On Thanksgiving?!" Stewart remarked. "Are you confusing that with Festivus?"
When questioned by reporters if he felt any remorse, Trump reportedly doubled down, stating there was "a genuine problem" with the Democratic governor.
"Something wrong with him? With him?" Stewart responded. "You were sitting with your family at Thanksgiving, stomach full of turkey and pie, enveloped in the love of your extended crime family, but your first thought was to post an insult at Tim Walz? And there’s something wrong with him?"
The comedian then addressed Trump's bizarre explanation of a recently revealed medical scan. In an effort to downplay worries, Trump stated he had "zero knowledge" what part of his body was examined, suggesting it "wasn’t the brain" because he "aced a cognitive test."
"That’s not physically possible," Stewart shot back. "Being completely unaware, 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 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, ‘What a loud tanning bed’?"
Stewart also mocked Trump's assertion of a "perfect score" on the scan. "That’s how they score the MRIs," he joked. "You either get a big stamp, ‘Perfect,’ or you get in red ink, ‘See me.’"
Stephen Colbert's Satirical Take
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 remarked, citing criticism over building a gilded event space over tackling affordability concerns.
"Elsewhere, Trump celebrated Thanksgiving in his traditional way – with racism," Colbert noted, alluding to an inflammatory post from the weekend. "Somewhere in all of that nonsense," he summarized, the president also used the ableist slur against Governor Walz.
After Walz responded to "Make the scan public," Trump said he would release them, despite his stated unawareness of what was scanned.
"Well, here's an idea: maybe the part that’s malfunctioning is the part that’s meant to retain that information," Colbert suggested.
He then mocked the follow-up 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 Direct Criticism
Jimmy Kimmel also blasted 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 subsequent statement 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 said, noting survey data showing significant disapproval. "You can find gas station bathrooms on Yelp with better reviews than Donald Trump right now."
The host finished by criticizing Trump's promise to grant clemency to a convicted former Honduran president. "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 massive quantity of cocaine to this country," said Kimmel. "But those people are just detractors, 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."