There is a tendency among some people to believe that, unlike other late night hosts, Jon Stewart goes after both sides. However, that is only really true if you consider going after Democrats for not being left enough to be equal treatment. On Monday’s edition of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, Stewart ranted at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for not shutting down the government and later welcomed Sen. Chris Murphy to echo his opinion.
Playing the role of someone inclined to give Schumer the benefit of the doubt, Stewart declared, “You got me going, Chucky. You probably got a little something out of this, didn't you. Ole C-Schoo, you wouldn't have given up that powerful leverage on the budget for nothing! My guess is, Chucky got some cheese.”
After playing an MSNBC video reporting that Schumer did not, Stewart settled into airing his genuine feelings, “Senator Schumer, no disrespect, but you are a disgrace to Jewish stereotypes about financial negotiations. That is just, I thought the whole point of us is that is what we do! But you are out there, ‘How much is it?’ ‘$5.’ ‘How about I give you $7!’ Like, what are you doing? And for those of you who may have felt it was a total capitulation, Senator Schumer just felt like this wasn't the moment for Democrats to press their case, because Trump is still too strong.”
After a clip of Schumer claiming that Republicans will be more willing to work with them when Trump’s approval rating hits 40 percent, Stewart ranted a bit before playing another clip that reported that the Democratic Party’s approval sits at 27 percent.
Following that, Stewart added, “You're at 27 percent! You've got to get Trump to lose eight points of popularity just for you to get to the point where you're 13 points below him! Your approval is only seven points above where it turns red and goes into low power mode.”
Mocking the way Schumer wears his glasses, Stewart rolled on, “Maybe a visual demonstration of where you're at. Let me meet you where you [bleep] live! All right. Here we go! Let me do this! This is 48 percent approval! This is them! This is you. This is you. 27 percent! This is them! ‘Oh, I see, they are much higher.’ Yes, they are much higher. And if you keep this up, you will be wearing these on your dick! Do you understand? Jesus. Perhaps I'm being too hard on the senator. Although, I am not.
Later, Stewart asked Murphy, “Clearly, a decision was made within the Senate. Was there a meeting? Was there a lunch where all the senators in the Democratic caucus had, I'm going to assume, mostly mushy food.”
After Murphy quipped that they do serve Jell-O, Stewart continued, “I've been to the Senate. There is a chewing and indigestion issue. Was there a discussion as to whether or not you would invoke the filibuster, not give them cloture, and how did that discussion go?”
Murphy then went on quite a diatribe, “I mean, as you described, what is happening right now is the billionaire takeover of our government, the highest level of corruption that we have ever seen coming out of the White House, and, by the way, added to it, the destruction of our democracy because they know they can't get away with it if we can hold them accountable.”
He continued:
And so this moment requires us to break norms. This moment requires us to take risks. And I get it. A lot of my colleagues said, shutting down the government, being in a government shutdown, that's a risk, that has power to Donald Trump and Elon Musk, but how on Earth are we going to ask the American people to take risks for us, right, when there's a five alarm constitutional fire, and we need them to be out on the streets? Not with hundreds—thousands or tens of thousands of people but hundreds of thousands of people if we’re not willing to show courage and take risks ourselves.
Alternatively, you could have a level head, and claim the sky is falling over cutting $13 billion from non-defense discretionary spending.
Comedy Central The Daily Show
3/17/2025
11:06 PM ET
JON STEWART: But — but you had said it was terrible, and... Oh, wait a minute... Oh, shit, I know what's going on here. All right, I know what's going on here. You got me going, Chucky. You probably got a little something out of this, didn't you. Ole C-Schoo, you wouldn't have given up that powerful leverage on the budget for nothing! My guess is, Chucky got some cheese.
ALICIA MENENDEZ: Did Schumer get anything from Republicans in exchange for those Dem votes?
SAHIL KAPUR: He did not.
STEWART: Senator Schumer, no disrespect, but you are a disgrace to Jewish stereotypes about financial negotiations. That is just, I thought the whole point of us is that is what we do! But you are out there, “How much is it?” “$5.” "How about I give you $7!" Like, what are you doing? And for those of you who may have felt it was a total capitulation, Senator Schumer just felt like this wasn't the moment for Democrats to press their case, because Trump is still too strong.
…
STEWART: You're at 27 percent! You've got to get Trump to lose eight points of popularity just for you to get to the point where you're 13 points below him! Your approval is only seven points above where it turns red and goes into low power mode.
Maybe you're not a numbers learner. Maybe a visual demonstration of where you're at. Let me meet you where you [bleep] live! All right. Here we go! Let me do this! This is 48 percent approval! This is them! This is you. This is you. 27 percent! This is them! "Oh, I see, they are much higher."
Yes, they are much higher. And if you keep this up, you will be wearing these on your dick! Do you understand? Jesus.
Perhaps I'm being too hard on the senator. Although, I am not.
…
STEWART: What is happening? So just in this CR for the budget—
CHRIS MURPHY: Yeah.
STEWART: — there was great resolve and unity about what a disaster this was for the American people. Chuck Schumer, they need us, they don't have us, they don't get to pass it. And then he just flips and I don't want to blame it on him. Clearly, a decision was made within the Senate. Was there a meeting? Was there a lunch where all the senators in the Democratic caucus had, I'm going to assume, mostly mushy food.
MURPHY: There is Jell-O served at every single one of our lunches.
STEWART: I've been to the Senate. There is a chewing and indigestion issue. Was there a discussion as to whether or not you would invoke the filibuster, not give them cloture, and how did that discussion go?
MURPHY: Yeah, there was a discussion and there was a disagreement.
STEWART: I see.
MURPHY: Listen, I don't agree with the decision a handful of my colleagues made and this all to me sits in context, right? I mean, as you described, what is happening right now is the billionaire takeover of our government, the highest level of corruption that we have ever seen coming out of the White House, and, by the way, added to it, the destruction of our democracy because they know they can't get away with it if we can hold them accountable.
And so this moment requires us to break norms. This moment requires us to take risks. And I get it. A lot of my colleagues said, shutting down the government, being in a government shutdown, that's a risk, that has power to Donald Trump and Elon Musk, but how on Earth are we going to ask the American people to take risks for us, right, when there's a five alarm constitutional fire, and we need them to be out on the streets? Not with hundreds — thousands or tens of thousands of people but hundreds of thousands of people if we’re not willing to show courage and take risks ourselves.
