Comedy Central’s The Daily Show returned from two weeks of vacation on Monday with Jon Stewart welcoming former 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft to the program to claim that his former colleagues fear “losing the First Amendment” after mutual parent company Paramount settled with President Trump in a lawsuit over their 2024 campaign interview with Kamala Harris. Elsewhere, Stewart ranted and raved against the Big Beautiful Bill, claiming that supporters better get used to people like Zohran Mamdani, because he is “the best case scenario.”
Stewart declared, “Paramount, which is the parent company for CBS and 60 Minutes, and also for Comedy Central, recently made the unusual arrangement of settling a lawsuit that President Trump brought for—and I don't even really know what it was for. And they paid him—”
Kroft interrupted to add, “It was making one edit.”
Stewart then continued, “They made an edit. You bastards. They paid him $16 million. What is—I would assume internally, that is devastating, to the people who work in a place that pride themselves on contextual, good journalism.”
It is statements like that that make the late night comedy shows unintentionally funny. 60 Minutes has constantly performed hit pieces against Republicans and was spreading fake news before that became a popular term.
Naturally, however, Kroft agreed with Stewart, “No, devastating’s a good word. I think there's a lot of fear over there.”
After Stewart asked him to elaborate, Kroft proceeded, “Fear of losing their job. Fear of what's happening to the country. Fear of losing the First Amendment.”
Stewart then asked why Paramount agreed, and Kroft responded by doing the “some say” form of answering, “Well, you know, a couple of congressmen think it was bribery.”
Earlier in the show, Stewart played a clip of GOP Rep. Troy Nehls discounting the Congressional Budget Office’s estimations of how many people will lose their health insurance due to the BBB because they are “wrong half the damn time.”
Work requirements omitted from his rant, Stewart declared that Nehls gets sexually aroused at the idea of kicking people off Medicaid and food stamps, “A congressman who just voted to force people off of Medicaid and food assistance, just smoking a fatty, with both hands bandaged from what I can only assume was a friction burn from too much celebratory masturbation. There is no other way around it. ‘Ugh, Medicaid and food stamps! I've got blisters on me fingers!’”
He then claimed, “The problem in our country isn't the sliver of able-bodied people that are somehow coasting on the unearned medical coverage they may or may not use, but the millions and millions of people in this country who work [bleep] full-time jobs and still need food and medical assistance. That's the system that's broken. Fix that system! What are we talking about? And yet, oh, we're gaslit into this framework of "The deserving poor."
Concluding his monologue, Stewart did his parody impression of a Republican, “Excuse me? Who ate the porridge that was here? Who ate the porridge? You boy! What day is it, boy? Christmas Day? Take this dubloon, buy the biggest Christmas goose you can find, and take it to the heliport. I have a pilot—"
Reverting to his normal Angry Man persona, Stewart warned, “Look, blaming migrants and the able-bodied poor is why Trump won this election, but a system where working people struggle so much is why Mamdani won his election. And for all the people who are worried about Mamdani's socialist tendencies. Guess what? He's the best case scenario, because this system is not sustainable. And if this doesn't change, there's going to be more drastic action.”
After putting up the picture of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries holding a baseball bat, Stewart wrapped up, “Really? We're going to need a bigger bat.”
If Stewart thinks excessive taxation, rent control, government-run grocery stores, and seizing the means of production is “the best case scenario,” one shudders at what he thinks “a bigger bat” would mean.
Here is a transcript for the July 7 show:
Comedy Central The Daily Show
7/7/2025
11:18 PM ET
JON STEWART: A congressman who just voted to force people off of Medicaid and food assistance, just smoking a fatty, with both hands bandaged from what I can only assume was a friction burn from too much celebratory masturbation. There is no other way around it. "Ugh, Medicaid and food stamps! I've got blisters on me fingers!” The [Bleep]? The problem in our country isn't the sliver of able-bodied people that are somehow coasting on the unearned medical coverage they may or may not use, but the millions and millions of people in this country who work [bleep] full-time jobs and still need food and medical assistance.
That's the system that's broken. Fix that system! What are we talking about? And yet, oh, we're gaslit into this framework of "The deserving poor."
…
STEWART: "Excuse me? Who ate the porridge that was here? Who ate the porridge? You boy! What day is it, boy? Christmas Day? Take this dubloon, buy the biggest Christmas goose you can find, and take it to the heliport. I have a pilot —" Look, blaming migrants and the able-bodied poor is why Trump won this election, but a system where working people struggle so much is why Mamdani won his election. And for all the people who are worried about Mamdani's socialist tendencies. Guess what? He's the best case scenario, because this system is not sustainable. And if this doesn't change, there's going to be more drastic action. Really? We're going to need a bigger bat.
…
STEWART: Paramount, which is the parent company for CBS and 60 Minutes—
STEVE KROFT: Yes.
STEWART: — and also for Comedy Central, recently made the unusual arrangement of settling a lawsuit that President Trump brought for— and I don't even really know what it was for. And they paid him—
KROFT: It was making one edit.
STEWART: They made an edit.
KROFT: Yes.
STEWART: You bastards. They paid him $16 million. What is — I would assume internally, that is devastating, to the people who work in a place that pride themselves on contextual, good journalism.
KROFT: No, devastating’s a good word.
STEWART: Yeah.
KROFT: I think there's a lot of fear over there.
STEWART: Fear of —
KROFT: Fear of losing their job.
STEWART: Right.
KROFT: Fear of what's happening to the country. Fear of losing the First Amendment.
STEWART: Right.
KROFT: All of those things.
STEWART: Why do you think they paid the $16 million?
KROFT: Well, you know, a couple of congressmen think it was bribery.
