Jon Stewart returned to “The Daily Show” on Monday night and wasted no time, trashing both President Joe Biden and Donald Trump with a scathing monologue centering on their retirement.
“What are we doing here?” Stewart fumed about the current state of the 2024 presidential election, which is likely to be a rematch between Biden, 81, and Trump, 77.
Stewart, who hosted the talk show for the first time in nine years, criticized the mental capacity of both candidates and criticized those who don’t question Biden’s ability to run the country as an octogenarian.
The comedian began a fiery 20-minute speech on the weekend’s “Big News” episode about the special counsel’s report on the president’s handling of classified documents.
“This guy had no recollection during his deposition,” Stewart said of Biden. “Do you know what that means? He didn’t have the ability to remember very basic things when he was interrogated.”
In a deft switch, the talk show host played a clip of President Trump’s deposition. There, he says he can’t remember how many years he was married to his ex-wife, whom he claimed had one of the best memories in the world.
“It turns out that the main cause of early-onset dementia is being ostracized,” Stewart quipped.
He also sharply criticized Biden for mistakenly referring to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi as the Mexican president at a press conference.
“Joe Biden held a huge press conference to dispel any notion that he may have lost a step, the last three or four steps politically speaking,” he said.
Stewart did not dispute Trump’s age, adding that Republicans regularly make statements at rallies that require medical checkups.
“Objectively, they’re old!” he said of the two 2024 candidates. “They’re at an age where they don’t need to accomplish any more age-related milestones. They got his AARP card, got Social Security, got movie discounts…”
“We have two candidates who are chronologically outside the norm for anyone to run for president of this country in the history of this country,” Stewart said. “They are the oldest people ever to run for president, and they are breaking the record they set in just four years!”
The comedian said that by criticizing their aging bodies and minds, he is not suggesting that neither of the White House candidates are “lifeless, unproductive, or even incompetent.” Stated.
He said of Biden and Trump, “They’re both above and beyond to do some of the toughest jobs in the world.” “What’s crazy is that we, as voters, think we have to silence concerns and criticism. It’s the candidate’s job to allay concerns, not the voters’ job, of course. [them]”
Although Mr. Stewart is typically left-wing, much of his monologue focused on the question of whether Democrats have any evidence that Mr. Biden is as sharp and resourceful as he claims.
But he added that Biden is “not Donald Trump,” listing the scandals and indictments that plagued the former president.
“But the stakes of this election do not exempt Donald Trump’s opponents from scrutiny,” Stewart said.
