Jon Stewart is getting unmoored in time: The political comedian felt like he was back in the early aughts days of The Daily Show, likening the United States’ military buildup and aggression off the coast of Venezuela to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Kicking off the Monday night episode, Stewart derided President Donald Trump‘s reception of FIFA’s inaugural “appease” prize, delving straight into the headlines — concerning the air strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean — afterward: “Did this meaningless award mean nothing to you?”
Playing clips of conservative anchors’ insistence the intervention is unlike Iraq, the comic said, “Are you fucking kidding me? You guys have the balls to tell us that the pretext for Iraq was bullshit, and that war was a mistake, and we’re not like that, and also, Venezuela has weapons of mass destruction and we have to stop them?”
While showing the parallels between rhetoric then and now, such as from former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who said Saddam Hussein harbored and worked with terrorist networks, Stewart quipped, “Ah, terrorist networks — that’s the worst kind of networks; even including Paramount+, it’s the worst kind of network.” After the audience enthusiastically clapped, Stewart laughed, adding, “You are going to get me fired.”
“I think the saddest part of getting into a war of choice in 2025 is that Dick Cheney won’t be around to see it,” he quipped, faking sentimentality. “The only solace is I’m sure he is looking up at us right now, really proud, probably some birds picking [at his insides].”
After playing a clip of Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who misspoke and addressed Trump as “President Bush,” Stewart reasoned, “If you think this is getting confusing, even senators can’t keep these [George W.] Bush or Trump wars straight … Oopsie-poopsie. That’s a little Freudian, feels like calling the teacher ‘mom’ in the middle of a war crime.”
Addressing concerns that the operation in Venezuela is a ploy for a regime change and access to rich oil reserves in the Latin American nation, Stewart added, “You know, I didn’t think this war was a wise decision, but if it helps the oil companies smile again…”
“Don’t you get it? America’s new foreign policy is basically this: Don’t kill people there [the Middle East]; kill them over here [South America], in your own time zone. It’s classic advice: Shit where you eat,” Stewart said. “That’s the new Trump doctrine. It’s not in any way about stable democracies; it’s about spheres of influence. Russia can have their sphere of influence, including Ukraine; China can have theirs, and probably Taiwan, and we get South America. America is no longer the shining city on the hill. It is merely just one of the five crime families, splitting up the territories.”
At this point in the program, the host was interrupted by off-stage commotion and billowing smoke: making his entrance was none other than Bush-era former Daily Show correspondent Rob Corddry, dressed as Marty McFly, skateboard in hand, arriving from 2005 to warn of the “disaster” of the Iraq War.
“We cannot, Jon, make that mistake ever again in the future,” he said gravely. When Stewart informed him he got his time travel directions mixed up, Corddry agreed it would have made a “lot more sense” to go to the past. And what was it anyway, 2095, judging by Stewart’s appearance?
The former co-workers took turns ribbing each other, with Stewart informing him he’d eventually be in 2010’s Hot Tub Time Machine, and Corddry congratulating him for hosting the show for “26 years straight without interruption.”
“What a run! I always figured you’d get antsy and leave to host a less popular version of this very show on a prestigious, but little watched, competitor [Apple TV’s The Problem with Jon Stewart].”
Wrapping up the episode, Corddry asked for an update on his favorite people and things, which included Bill Cosby, Kevin Spacey and the reality show The Apprentice.” The comic mimicked Trump’s “You’re fired” line, unironically adding, “It’s so good: I could watch that guy all day, every single day, for the rest of my life,” leading to a fit of laughter from Stewart.
