Jon Stewart calls out Trump’s strange MRI defense: “That’s not even biologically possible”
Late-night hosts across the board are once again taking aim at Donald Trump — this time for his use of an ableist insult and a bizarre explanation about his own medical exam. The situation quickly turned into one of the most talked‑about moments of the post‑Thanksgiving news cycle.
Jon Stewart
Just as people were trading leftover turkey for Monday deadlines, Jon Stewart returned to The Daily Show with both humor and disbelief. During his monologue, he targeted Trump’s weekend Truth Social post, in which the former president used an ableist slur to describe Minnesota governor Tim Walz, his former political rival and Kamala Harris’s running mate. “On Thanksgiving?! Are you sure you’re not confusing that with Festivus?” Stewart quipped, mocking the tasteless timing of the remark.
When reporters later asked Trump if he regretted the statement, he doubled down, saying there was “something seriously wrong” with Walz. Stewart couldn’t resist: “Something wrong with him? You were at your Thanksgiving table, surrounded by your … let’s say, close associates, and your first instinct was to post a slur online? And he’s the one with something wrong?”
The comedian painted a picture of reporters forced to spend their holidays lingering at Mar‑a‑Lago, waiting for Trump’s next statement: “They couldn’t even go home on their own — they had to fly back with this guy and ask if he wanted to clarify the nonsense.”
But things got even stranger when Trump tried to calm concerns about his mental health, insisting he had “no idea” what part of his body an MRI scan examined. “It wasn’t the brain,” Trump claimed. “I already aced a cognitive test.”
Stewart’s response was cutting: “That’s not possible. How could you not know? Who goes to a doctor and says, ‘Please, don’t ruin the surprise — I’ll find out at my MRI reveal party!’?” he joked, imagining Trump mistaking the loud MRI machine for “a very aggressive tanning bed.”
Trump later bragged that he got a “perfect score” on the MRI — sparking another Stewart punchline: “That’s right, MRIs are graded. You either get a gold star or a note that says ‘See me after class.’”
Stephen Colbert
On The Late Show, Stephen Colbert carried the mockery further. “MAGA folks are beginning to notice that Trump treats them like livestock,” he said, referring to a Daily Beast story about former supporters upset that Trump built an extravagant ballroom instead of tackling cost‑of‑living issues. “Don’t worry, the ballroom is for the poor — they’ll be the hors d’oeuvres,” Colbert deadpanned.
Then came a sharper edge: “Trump celebrated Thanksgiving the way he always does — with a side of racism.” He cited Trump’s weekend rant on immigration policy in Minnesota, where the same ableist slur against Walz surfaced again. In a clever clapback, Walz posted on X: “Release the MRI results.”
Trump agreed he’d release them but still claimed he didn’t know which body part was scanned. Colbert couldn’t resist adding, “Here’s a theory — maybe the part that’s broken is the one that’s supposed to know.”
When Trump’s team later posted a doctor’s letter saying the MRI was routine for “cardiovascular and abdominal health,” Colbert shrugged. “Fair. Men his age do need those checkups,” he said. “They also need retirement — should we go ahead and prescribe that, too?”
Jimmy Kimmel
Meanwhile, Jimmy Kimmel Live! continued the roast, with the host sarcastically praising Trump’s “presidential tone” before adding, “I wonder why that Nobel Peace Prize never showed up.”
When Trump later re‑asserted that “something’s wrong” with Walz aboard Air Force One, Kimmel quipped, “Another statesmanlike moment from the president of the eighth grade.”
Kimmel also poked fun at Trump’s inflated self‑approval: “He says his approval numbers have never been higher, which just proves he’s still struggling with reading comprehension.” With a 60 percent disapproval rating, Kimmel joked, “Even gas station bathrooms on Yelp are polling better than Trump.”
Finally, he addressed the former president’s promise to pardon Honduras’s ex‑president Juan Orlando Hernández, convicted for running what prosecutors called a "cocaine superhighway" into the U.S. “So Trump blows up boats full of suspected drug runners,” Kimmel said, “but he’s cool with pardoning the guy who sent in a million pounds of cocaine? Sure, makes perfect sense if you ignore basic logic!”
He ended with a biting summary: “To be fair, Trump did campaign on two big promises: one, pardon drug kingpins; and two, build a place where the rich can ballroom dance. Promises made, promises kept.”
What do you think — are these late‑night hosts simply holding Trump accountable through comedy, or have they crossed into unfair ridicule? Should political satire have boundaries, or is outrage part of its purpose? Share your thoughts in the comments — this debate isn’t going away anytime soon.
