Jon Stewart found it hard Monday night to keep up with the Trump administration’s many, wild announcements from the past week.
“So much comes at us every day with [Trump]. I can’t even sleep, organize thoughts, eat,” the “Daily Show” host began Monday. “And he knows! He knows he’s toying with us.”
The comedian went on to briefly discuss White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s remark that Donald Trump is considering suspending habeas corpus, before turning his attention fully to President Trump’s acceptance of a luxury jet from the royal family of Qatar.
The jet in question will reportedly be used as the new Air Force One and then transferred to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation before Trump leaves office. “Qatar is giving us a plane that … Trump gets to keep? He’s like the reverse Oprah,” a visibly confused, frustrated Stewart remarked. Tightly gripping his stack of papers, Stewart continued, “Why does his library … need a jet?”
Calling the plane a “flying f—k palace,” Stewart reflected on Qatar’s status as an ally to not only America but also Iran, China and Hamas. “Trump’s going to take a $400 million jet from people he would expel from Columbia University,” the “Daily Show” host joked.
You can watch the full segment yourself in the video below.
Stewart went on to blast Trump for characterizing Qatar’s offer as simply him getting a free plane. “It’s not a free jet. That’s the point. You know the expression, ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’? That’s about being skeptical of the motives of somebody who gives you a sandwich. A sandwich! A B.L.T.,” Stewart said. “Now imagine that B.L.T. has an engine, nine bathrooms and funds proxy wars.”
Trying to cover as many of Trump’s moves over the past week as he could, Stewart shifted focus to the president’s signing of an executive order designed to reduce the prices of pharmaceutical drugs in America. “I like this!” Stewart exclaimed. During his explanation of his plan, however, Trump said that his administration is going to “equalize” the cost of pharmaceutical drugs and remarked that “equalizing” was a new word he’d come up with.
In response, Stewart mockingly pulled out a dictionary and double-checked to make sure “equalize” was already there. “I thought it sounded familiar,” he quipped. Ultimately, the “Daily Show” host found it impossible to come to grips with all of the announcements, updates and news that have come and continue to come from the Trump administration at such a relentless pace. “He’s trying to kill us all,” Stewart half-jokingly observed.
“It feels like a decade ago that they threatened to suspend habeas corpus — it was Friday,” the comedian added. “Since then, we’ve had the largest bribe ever given to an American president, the seeming surrender of a trade war we started and the socializing of our pharmaceutical industry … What even is this country?”