Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart tried to present himself as the only reasonable man in America on Monday’s The Daily Show. According to Stewart, everyone is too busy trying to portray perpetuators of violence as members of the other side, but he was determined to show it is not that simple. While Stewart’s point came with some reasonable warnings, he also downplayed known political motivations in the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk and the attack on the ICE facility in Dallas.
After discussing the markings on the Kirk killer’s bullets, including references to video games, Stewart moved on to a montage of clips highlighting “anti-ICE” being featured on that shooter’s bullets, sarcastically noting, “Case closed! He wrote ‘anti-ICE.’”
He then wondered, “Doesn't anybody think it's [bleep] weird that these people just started writing on bullets all of a sudden like that's the most effective way to get out their deeply held political beliefs? ‘Anti-ICE.’ Nuff said. Or is there the slightest possibility that these people are [bleep] with us?”
That led into a two-clip series that began with ABC’s Mireya Villarreal reporting, “According to his friends, the alleged gunman was not overly political and was mainly interested in video games and internet culture.”
Another clip showed reporter Ken Klippenstein on the far-left Democracy Now! adding, “Clearly, it's anti-ICE, right? And his friends say, ‘I wouldn't interpret it that way. He was never a sincere guy. Everything he said was laced with irony and sarcasm.’"
We also know that the ICE shooter was not on board with the administration’s deportation efforts and appears to be a copycat inspired by the Kirk assassination.
However, Stewart reacted, “What kind of [bleep] psychotic internet culture—what's happening? Can't we just go back to the cinnamon challenge? Is that so hard? What is wrong with you people? Look, we would definitely have a healthier political discourse if we weren't constantly calling each other fascists and communists and Nazis. But we're the only place in the world where this shit happens all the time. But we are not the only place in the world that name calls.”
To further prove his point that rhetoric is not the reason for violence, Stewart played a clip of a CNN documentary to emphasize that excited rhetoric is nothing new, “John Quincy Adams taking aim at [Andrew] Jackson, asserting that Jackson didn't know how to spell, was too uneducated to become president, while newspapers portrayed his wife, Rachel, as a short, fat dumpling.”
Calling someone dumb or fat is not the same thing as calling them a Nazi. As for Stewart’s larger point, most people can recognize that not all acts of violence targeting political figures have straightforward motivations. The person who shot former Rep. Gabby Giffords, for example, was a paranoid schizophrenic who thought grammar was a government conspiracy. However, that does not mean there aren’t straightforward cases, and in those cases it is perfectly legitimate to call them out.
Here is a transcript for the September 29 show:
Comedy Central The Daily Show
9/29/2025
11:17 PM ET
JON STEWART: Case closed! He wrote “anti-ICE”—doesn't anybody think it's [bleep] weird that these people just started writing on bullets all of a sudden like that's the most effective way to get out their deeply held political beliefs? "Anti-ICE" Nuff said. Or is there the slightest possibility that these people are [bleep] with us?
MIREYA VILLARREAL: According to his friends, the alleged gunman was not overly political and was mainly interested in video games and internet culture.
KEN KLIPPENSTEIN: Clearly, it's anti-ICE., right? And his friends say, "I wouldn't interpret it that way. He was never a sincere guy. Everything he said was laced with irony and sarcasm."
STEWART: What kind of [bleep] psychotic internet culture — what's happening? Can't we just go back to the cinnamon challenge? Is that so hard? What is wrong with you people? Look, we would definitely have a healthier political discourse if we weren't constantly calling each other fascists and communists and Nazis. But we're the only place in the world where this shit happens all the time. But we are not the only place in the world that name calls. So what is this? Perhaps we need to look back at our founders, who through their infinite wisdom, designed and operated a more mature system, with checks and balances, and a respect for all, that prevented this kind of corrosive infighting and radicalization.
CNN REPORTER: John Quincy Adams taking aim at Jackson, asserting that Jackson didn't know how to spell, was too uneducated to become president, while newspapers portrayed his wife, Rachel, as a short, fat dumpling.
STEWART: A delicious dumpling indeed.
