Jon Stewart is feeling the whiplash of Donald Trump’s first days in office on the newest episode of The Weekly Show, where the host said he can’t tell whether “President Trump has been president forever—or an hour.”
“The confusion, the chaos, which I’m assuming is the point, has been stunning,” Stewart continued Thursday. He acknowledged that Trump and his admin had promised to come in with “shock and awe,” but Stewart still finds it stunning, he explained, since that’s “not a phrase that you expect to be deployed on your own country.”
“I was under the impression that it was the kind of thing that we would deploy on countries we had hostilities with,” he continued on the show. “But it turns out, the hostility’s with us. It’s the people, the American people that are gonna get the shock and awe.”
Specifically, Stewart cited the latest drama surrounding Trump’s executive order to halt government spending. “‘Let’s just stop the money, just real quick. I’m just gonna, you know what, what are we doing there, what are we paying for? Let’s just stop the money real quick and just take a look at it,’” Stewart said, mocking Trump.
The administration ultimately backtracked on freezing federal grants and loans on Wednesday after a federal district Judge temporarily halted the order with an “administrative stay.”
The freeze “remains in full force,” Trump’s press secretary told reporters, however, to ensure “every penny that is going out the door is not conflicting with the executive orders and actions that this president has taken.”
Panic and confusion ensued as Americans tried to figure out which programs were frozen, which was only exacerbated when the Medicaid portal went offline following the order. The White House eventually clarified that “individual assistance” including “Social Security benefits, Medicaid benefits, food stamps, welfare benefits” would not be affected by the order. Stewart insinuated the confusion around the freeze is part of Trump’s plan.
“They always need emotion,” Stewart said in the Thursday episode. “I imagine you could just keep paying the money and take a look at it while it’s happening, but I guess they wanted to stop it,” especially when it comes to senior-aged Americans, he said. “They don’t want to kill old people—but the rest of us...” Stewart trailed off. “This is a lot. It’s a f---ing lot.”
