🔗 Share this article

Late-night television hosts this week trained their comedic fire on ex-President Donald Trump, lambasting his employment of a ableist slur and portrayed as unconvincing attempts to address growing questions about his cognitive health.

The Daily Show's Scathing Critique

Kicking off the week, Jon Stewart focused on a controversial post in which Trump described Minnesota Governor Tim Walz with a widely condemned ableist term. "On Thanksgiving?!" Stewart exclaimed. "Did you mix it up with your own personal grievance airing day?"

When questioned by reporters if he regretted the remark, Trump reportedly doubled down, stating there was "a genuine problem" with the Democratic governor.

"The issue is with him? With him?" Stewart responded. "You sat with your family at Thanksgiving, belly full of turkey and pie, enveloped in the love of your notorious associates, but your initial instinct was to post an insult at Tim Walz? And there’s something wrong with him?"

The host then addressed Trump's peculiar account of a recently disclosed MRI. In an effort to downplay worries, Trump claimed he had "no idea" what part of his body was even scanned, remarking it "wasn’t the brain" because he "took a cognitive test."

"That is an impossibility," Stewart shot back. "Being completely unaware, it’s not possible. What would you say to the doctor? ‘No no no, don’t tell me. I want to find out at my MRI reveal party.’"

He added, "For God’s sakes, 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, ‘This is a noisy tanning bed’?"

Stewart also mocked Trump's boast of a "flawless result" 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 Witty Observations

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 remarked, citing anger about building a luxury ballroom over tackling affordability concerns.

"In other news, Trump celebrated Thanksgiving in his customary fashion – with racism," Colbert quipped, alluding to an anti-immigrant rant from the weekend. "Somewhere in all of that nonsense," he summarized, the president employed the offensive term against Governor Walz.

After Walz challenged him to "Make the scan public," 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 supposed to know," Colbert suggested.

He then poked fun at the follow-up official explanation—a medical note stating the MRI was for preventative screening. "Alright, that's reasonable," Colbert conceded. "Men in his age group also benefit from retiring, so … can we write that prescription next?"

Kimmel's Blunt Assessment

Jimmy Kimmel also condemned Trump's choice of words. "Look, he is capable of being presidential when he wants to be!" he remarked sarcastically. "It's puzzling why he didn’t get that Nobel peace prize. It makes no sense."

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 addressed Trump's claims of unprecedented approval ratings. "This indicates it’s not just books he can’t read," Kimmel said, noting polling showing significant disapproval. "You can find gas station bathrooms on Yelp with higher approval ratings than Donald Trump right now."

The host finished by highlighting Trump's promise to grant clemency to a imprisoned international drug trafficker. "Critics have noted the unbelievable hypocrisy of Trump tough on drugs in one instance, 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 haters and losers, you know? Relax!"

"When he was running, Trump made it very clear: his key goals were a) pardoning drug kingpins and b) building a place to ballroom dance," he summarized. "Promises made, promises kept."