A reinvigorated Jon Stewart celebrated the political developments of the last week on The Daily Show Monday night, while delighting in conservatives’ inability to land a blow on vice president Kamala Harris.
“In the span of a week, Democrats have gone from the despair of a certain Trump presidency to the joy of a statistical tie,” Stewart said during his monologue, “Which, right now, feels like victory.”
He also jokingly offered his sympathies to Donald Trump and his supporters.
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“If I thought I had this thing in the bag, and I was going up against old Joe Biden, and then they pulled this, I’d be like, Ref! Ref! Open your eyes!” Stewart said, and later told the GOP, “But what’s done is done. You’re going to have to shift gears, recalibrate.”
How has that recalibration gone so far? According to Stewart, Republicans are “flailing.”
First, he played a recent clip of Trump claiming that Harris “doesn’t like Jewish people.” Stewart remarked that the attack “might ring hollow, seeing as Kamala Harris’ husband is—let me check my notes—Jewish.”
Stewart also showed a montage of the accusations from right-wing pundits that Harris “slept her way to the top,” and he was once again unimpressed.
“I don’t know, guys. You’re being awfully subtle here,” he quipped. “Isn’t there a grosser way you can say that?”
He played the now-infamous clip of right-wing podcaster Alex Lace calling Harris “the original Hawk Tuah girl.” Stewart replied, “That’s what I’m talking about!”
“That’s the kind of substantive and elevated take from a guy who looks like he’s one Mike’s Hard Lemonade away from getting in a fight at his sister’s wedding.”
Stewart added, “So sexist, saying Kamala Harris slept her way to the top. Joe Biden and Donald Trump literally slept their way to the top, and we never heard a fucking peep about it.” The joke was accompanied by recent images of Trump and Biden looking sleepy at public events.
Stewart also mocked recent Fox News flip-flopping on whether Kamala was too tough on crime or too lenient.
But of all the attacks against Harris he chronicled, Stewart seemed most peeved by the idea that Harris’ high staff turnover was a liability.
“Your candidate’s Donald Trump. His catchphrase is literally, ‘You’re fired!’” Stewart yelled. “Donald Trump hired 44 cabinet members, 75 percent of them want nothing to do with the guy. His secretary of state called him a ‘fucking moron.’ His chief of staff said he’s ‘the most flawed person I’ve ever met.’ You know why he needs a new vice-presidential running mate? He tried to get the last one killed!”
Stewart saved the criticisms of Harris’ race for last, particularly an attack from a Newsmax pundit criticizing her for being half-Jamaican, half-Indian, and married to a Jewish guy. Another Newsmax pundit was also shown saying “This is how desperate they are. Is she Black? Is she Indian? Nobody knows.”
“Two races? In one person? Now I’ve seen everything,” Stewart said in a mocking, pearl-clutching impression of them. “I heard she sent her DNA to 23andMe and it broke the computer.”
Stewart later said, “If these people ever saw a Pizza Hut slash Taco Bell, they’d lose their fucking minds.”
