“Daily Show” host Jon Stewart put Democrats and Republicans alike on blast for the passage last week of President Donald Trump’s signature “big, beautiful bill” that will cut taxes for the wealthy while slashing Medicaid and other essentials for the poor.
First, he called out Democrats for putting up only token resistance ― such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) boast that he got the name of the bill changed … and nothing else.
“Are you trying to suck? Is that what this is?” he asked. “That’s your move?”
On the GOP side, Stewart attacked lawmakers for pretending they objected to the bill ― and then voting for it anyway.
“It’s all pro wrestling!” he declared. “The only difference between that vote and wrestling is that wrestling is fun and takes actual courage.”
Stewart called the actual GOP votes against the bill “scripted” ― to allow some lawmakers “plausible deniability.”
He named and shamed some of the GOP lawmakers who went to the media to trash the bill, like Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Ron Johnson (Wis.), only to flip-flop later.
Johnson called the bill “unacceptable.”
“You’ll never guess who accepted it,” Stewart said, noting that both Hawley and Johnson voted for the bill.
“Any other Republican who initially said ‘this is terrible, I’m not voting for this’ and had an even dumber reason for flipping to yes?” he wondered aloud before answering his own question: “Tim Burchett, from Tennessee, I’m looking at your dumb ass.”
Rep. Burchett flipped after a White House meeting in which he said Trump flattered him by saying he likes watching Burchett on TV and “signed a bunch of stuff” for him.
Stewart said the bill’s passage is more proof that the deck is stacked against millions of working-class and poor Americans, who work full-time jobs yet still need food and medical assistance.
That, he said, explains the rise of Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist candidate for mayor in New York.
“Look, blaming migrants and the able-bodied poor is why Trump won this election,” Stewart said. “But a system where working people struggle so much is why Mamdani won his election.”
Then he delivered a warning to both parties.
“For all the people who are worried about Mamdani’s socialist tendencies, guess what? He’s the best-case scenario,” he said. “’Cause this system is not sustainable. And if this doesn’t change, there’s gonna be more drastic action.”
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See more in his Monday night monologue:
