Not content with Monday’s edition of The Daily Show, Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart took to The Weekly Show podcast on Wednesday to continue his Olympic-sized hot takes about Team USA’s gold medal-winning hockey teams, where he also threw in some bad takes about health care in a capitalist system for good measure.
Speaking with MS NOW’s Ali Velshi, who was raised in Canada, Stewart began, “I want to first offer my condolences as a—you are. I don't know if you—would you consider yourself Canadian? You're not born in Canada, you’re born in Kenya—”
Jon Stewart laments to MS NOW's Ali Velshi, who is Canadian, "it's very rare in athletic competitions that you see sore winners. But it does appear that America while rightfully celebrating the incredible feats from the men's team and the women's team in ice hockey. It does feel… pic.twitter.com/XIz7P1COgF
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) February 26, 2026
Velshi quipped that "with each passing day, more and more so, I consider myself a Canadian.”
Stewart then kept rolling, “More and more so Canadian. So, I offer, you know, it's very rare in athletic competitions that you see sore winners. But it does appear that America while rightfully celebrating the incredible feats from the men's team and the women's team in ice hockey. It does feel incredibly personal that we're acting as though Canada is our long-term nemesis.”
Considering that women’s hockey has been dominated by the U.S. and Canada, that is true, at least in a hockey sense. Add to that the fact that Russia is banned from the Olympics due to the invasion of Ukraine, and it is also true on the men’s side. If Canada had won, Canadians would be doing the same thing, maybe even more so due to their opinions of President Trump.
However, Velshi wasn’t on to talk about hockey. He was on to talk economics. According to both men, the middle class is an invention of the government, with Stewart declaring, "Why don't we acknowledge that that was created not through a pure profit-driven capital-is-king system.”
Later, during a capitalism-bashing segment, Velshi claims "so you know when people poor in a purely capital system, you need them wealthy enough to buy certain things, but not wealthy enough to—so the gap will always remain between the owners and the workers. We built a system… pic.twitter.com/LNqmyAzu8b
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) February 26, 2026
Velshi then tried to argue that in a purely capitalist system, people would not be able to afford homes or health care, “Yes, capitalism itself would never produce that. Capitalism would, generally speaking, want people to earn just enough to buy the products that the capital… so you don't want people poor in a purely capital system, you need them wealthy enough to buy certain things, but not wealthy enough to—so the gap will always remain between the owners and the workers. We built a system where people could occupy this middle space. They could have a home. They could have health care.”
Alluding to earlier in the conversation where the duo discussed Canada’s foreign policy under Prime Minister Mark Carney, Stewart interrupted, “They could be a middle power. They could be Canada.”
Velshi agreed, “They could be Canada… The middle class is Canada. That's exactly right.”
Once again Stewart is having a conversation involving profits, health care, and Canada and declining to mention that Canadian health care is facing chronic shortages and absurdly long wait times, not to mention the disaster that is its euthanasia program.
Towards the end of the show, after Velshi left, Stewart joined his producers for the usual listener Q&A segment, and the hockey hot takes returned.
Returning to hockey, later, during the Q&A bit with his producers, Stewart & co. mock the idea of inviting the teams to the State of the Union. Gillian Spear quips "I just like is there any worse way to bask at the gold than to suffer through two hours of his ramblings?"… pic.twitter.com/mlqd6yx4Aj
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) February 26, 2026
Producer Gillian Spear declared that, “I think it's so funny that the US men's hockey team gets to go as a prize to the State of the Union.”
Fellow producer Lauren Walker agreed, “Good on the women for turning it down,” to which Stewart also voiced his agreement, “Right.”
Spear elaborated, “Is there any worse way to bask at the gold than to suffer through two hours of his ramblings?”
Again, Stewart concurred, “Yeah, maybe that's the new, like, we're going to Disneyland. Like, 'You just won a gold medal in the Olympics. What's going to happen now?’ ‘We're going to a bicameral legislative session where people are going to discuss some of the programs that are going to be given.’ Wow, that sounds exciting.”
In the real world, the men’s team was not there for the whole time. Trump recognized them relatively early on, and then they left to rejoin their NHL teams. The women’s team cited PWHL and academic schedules for why they couldn’t make it, but hopefully they’ll be able to work something out and visit the White House when the season and school year end, and then all the liberal hot takes trying to claim the women’s team as their own will end up looking rather silly.
Here is a transcript for the February 25 show:
Comedy Central The Weekly Show
2/25/2026
JON STEWART: I want to first offer my condolences as a—you are. I don't know if you—would you consider yourself Canadian? You're not born in Canada, you’re born in Kenya—
ALI VELSHI: Oh, with each passing day, more and more so, I consider myself a Canadian.
STEWART: More and more so Canadian. So, I offer, you know, it's very rare in athletic competitions that you see sore winners. But it does appear that America while rightfully celebrating the incredible feats from the men's team and the women's team—
VELSHI: Yeah.
STEWART: —in ice hockey. It does feel incredibly personal that we're acting as though Canada is our long-term nemesis.
…
STEWART: And why don't we acknowledge that that was created—
VELSHI: Yes.
STEWART: —not through a pure profit-driven capital-is-king system.
VELSHI: Yes, capitalism itself would never produce that. Capitalism would, generally speaking, want people to earn just enough to buy the products that the capital—
STEWART: It would produce a gilded age like it always does.
VELSHI: Exactly right, so you don't want people poor in a purely capital system, you need them wealthy enough to buy certain things, but not wealthy enough to—so the gap will always remain between the owners and the workers.
We built a system where people could occupy this middle space. They could have a home. They could have health care.
STEWART: They could be a middle power. They could be Canada.
VELSHI: They could be Canada.
STEWART: People can be Canada.
VELSHI: The middle class is Canada. That's exactly right.
STEWART: Thank you.
VELSHI: And people would be content and happy and there was some chance that with some, if you had some innovation, a better mousetrap, you could even be rich. That was the distinction, but at least you live if you didn't—if you weren't rich and your children would do better than you.
…
GILLIAN SPEAR: I just can't handle, I think it's so funny that the US men's hockey team gets to go as a prize to the State of the Union.
STEWART: They're psyched, man.
LAUREN WALKER: Good on the women for turning it down.
STEWART: Right.
SPEAR: I just, like, is there any worse way to bask at the gold than to suffer through two hours of his ramblings?
STEWART: Yeah, maybe that's the new, like, we're going to Disneyland. Like, “You just won a gold medal in the Olympics. What's going to happen now?” “We're going to a bicameral legislative session where people are going to discuss some of the programs that are going to be given.” Wow, that sounds exciting.
