Jon Stewart has taken some warmth over the previous month for supposedly not attacking the Trump administration sufficient. Every week after Donald Trump was formally inaugurated as President of the US, Stewart spent his weekly monologue on The Every day Present warning individuals to not overreact to each single factor the Trump administration does, and to not scream “fascist” day by day. It was a extra centrist take than the left wished to see after the primary week of Trump’s presidency, leading to a bevy of criticism and YouTube feedback like, “Glad to learn I’m not the one one who would not see it the best way Jon does tonight. Fascism would not are available with a bang; it slithers in and erodes the establishments from inside.” It is secure to say that, one month later, issues have heated up.
Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, noticed one among Stewart’s most instantly acclaimed monologues since his return to The Every day Present in Feb. 2024. It was definitely a passionate one, with the comedic commentator actually bleeding out throughout the second half of it after angrily smashing a mug. At first, it appeared like a gag — smashing a prop mug the best way SNL will use prop bottles and plates to smash. Nonetheless, Stewart noticeably saved his proper hand beneath the desk for the remainder of the episode, solely as soon as bringing it as much as reveal a fistful of blood. The viewers gasped, to which Stewart groaned, “It is high quality!”
Stewart continued the remainder of the 22-minute monologue with out lacking a beat. He performed his traditional long-form interview after the industrial break, throughout which his hand had been bandaged. He continued to maintain it beneath the desk throughout the interview aside from one second when he confirmed his still-bleeding however wrapped-up hand, saying, “Oh wow, this factor is admittedly popping out.” The passionate monologue has earned among the finest suggestions The Every day Present has acquired in months.
“Cuts hand by rage smashing a mug and completes the monologue with out lacking a beat. Maestro, take a bow!” writes @Tarasankar_Gangopadhyay in a YouTube touch upon the video. “This may be within the high 5 finest Jon Stewart clips I’ve ever seen,” writes YouTuber @Polish_Hammer1987. “That is the most effective episode of this present since Jon’s return… Simply wonderful work,” writes @P3PP3RX. “J Stew completely on fireplace right here. One among his finest monologues ever,” writes @rennur505. “Kudos to Jon for not skipping a beat, I guess that stung. Jon Stewart for President,” writes @kjacob35.
So what received Jon “Rambo” Stewart so incensed that he drew first blood?
Jon Stewart Bleeds Whereas Blasting DOGE
After a quick opening noting that the US joined solely Russia, North Korea, and Belarus in voting in opposition to an in any other case unanimous UN movement critiquing Russia, Stewart’s Every day Present monologue centered on the present authorities ‘cuts’ being completed by the so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity, or DOGE (which might be pronounced as “dodgy”). Stewart listened to clips of Trump and others touting how a lot the federal government was supposedly spending on fraud, like paying deceased individuals Social Safety, which hasn’t truly been occurring. Stewart mentioned:
“If true, you’ll be able to’t argue with that. If solely it had been occurring. Nevertheless it’s not occurring. We’re not paying thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of useless individuals’s Social Safety cash. And even when there was a 200-year-old man strolling round, he would not want social safety, he’d nonetheless be in Congress. Guys, I will inform you one thing. Slicing cash should not be this difficult. I am beginning to suppose that we as a rustic do not perceive the place the actual waste, fraud, and abuse in our system actually is.”
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Stewart then took out what he known as an “accountant starter package” — a inexperienced visor, a desk lamp, a calculator, and a white mug with the textual content “World’s Most Dad” scrawled throughout it. “I am gonna see if I can noodle some concepts right here,” Stewart mentioned as he fake-typed away on the calculator, earlier than meting out some apparent methods to chop authorities prices with out hurting precise staff. “Oh, how about we simply take the $3 billion in subsidies we give to grease and gasoline firms that already flip billions in earnings?” He continued:
“Oh, wait, how about we simply shut down the carried curiosity loophole on hedge funds? That is $1.3 billion a 12 months. Oh, how about we cease the $2 trillion we have given to protection contractors to construct a fighter jet that blows, when everyone is aware of the subsequent conflict is gonna be fought with drones and ‘blockchain,’ no matter that’s. Holy sh*t, I can not imagine it! I simply saved us billions of {dollars} in 11 seconds. Simply name me massive balls.”
“See, that is the place the actual cash is, the cash our free market-ish system makes use of to prop up company revenue on the expense of the taxpayer. Pharmaceutical firms get every little thing from our authorities — tax breaks, analysis grants, patent extensions value billions of {dollars}. And what will we, the individuals, get for it? The very best drug costs within the Western Hemisphere,” continued Stewart earlier than making a joke about contaminated perineums. “What’s so horrible about our system now, and the corruption that lies inside it, is we’re so numb to it, we truly tout tiny cracks in that exploitation as victory.”
This led to a 2024 clip of then-President Joe Biden gleefully exclaiming how he negotiated with Huge Pharma to decrease the costs of 10 medicine. “Can it’s?” Stewart requested sarcastically. “The businesses we subsidize with billions of {dollars} are permitting us the privilege to barter the value of 10 of their medicine? And 10 is all of them, proper? It could be embarrassing if it was a small drop within the bucket, and that the American individuals did not anticipate that we should always negotiate for all their medicine, as a result of we have already paid for it with our subsidies!” A pissed Stewart then grabbed his mug and slammed it down on his desk, shattering it into many items and slicing his hand up within the course of.
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The remainder of Stewart’s monologue is an ideal summation of the phantasm offered by DOGE. They fireplace (and, in lots of situations, desperately attempt to rehire) working-class individuals, most of whom have been doing a wonderful job on the Federal Aviation Administration, the Nationwide Parks Service, the Nationwide Nuclear Safety Administration, the Nationwide Institue of Well being, and different departments. They then lie about how a lot cash they only saved (initially saying $55 billion, when the precise quantity is lower than $3 billion), all whereas companies and billionaires obtain authorities cash and tax cuts. Stewart shares the final word results of all this for American staff — “We’re getting f***ed at a Diddy social gathering, and so they’re making us purchase the child oil.”
You may stream The Every day Present on Paramount+ or on Comedy Central. Watch the entire monologue under; Stewart smashes the mug 17 minutes in.