Jon Stewart Critiques Trump’s Shift from Non-Interventionism, Targets Warner Bros. Discovery Next

Returning to the airwaves on Monday night for the first episode of The Daily Show of the year, Jon Stewart delivered a biting critique of President Donald Trump and his MAGA supporters, highlighting their sudden departure from previously held non-interventionist views after the recent overthrow of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

Diving into the news after a holiday hiatus, Stewart pointed out that the President “ousted a perilous international despot,” while showing images of various global strongmen on screen, including Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (“not him, they’re buddies, and probably, I suspect, business allies”), Russian President Vladimir Putin (“they’re pretty tight too”), and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (“there’s a kind of Fierce Competitors dynamic there, if you catch my drift, so it’s not him”), and Stranger Things villain Vecna (“nope, not our doing”).

Stewart jokingly remarked that the GOP leader had “reverse-ICE’d and essentially imported [Maduro] to a Brooklyn prison.”

“It’s uncertain how this situation will pan out, but judging by America’s past experiences, I predict we’ll be quite pleased for a few weeks, only for a leftist revolution in Venezuela 30 years on, blaming this very event for why our embassy there is ablaze,” Stewart commented, drawing parallels to the 1979 Iranian Revolution. “And it will definitely spoil a Democrat’s term in office.” (Stewart had previously compared recent military actions to the disastrous Iraq War.)

Stewart also ridiculed Trump’s stark shift from a supposedly anti-war candidate to an aggressive hawk, especially given his blatant coveting of Venezuela’s substantial oil resources as his reason for intervention.

“Historically, when the U.S. intervenes, whether rightly or wrongly, we fabricate a noble pretext: freeing a nation, spreading democracy, or bringing baseball to the Japanese — they initially objected, but eventually saw the value. What high-minded excuse will we use this time?”

He added, lampooning Trump: “We can’t even play conspiracy theorists anymore! ‘I think it was for the oil.’ ‘Yep, it was for the oil.’”

After showing a clip of U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick who overtly expressed interest in Venezuela’s steel and mineral wealth as motivations for U.S. intervention, Stewart humorously speculated about Trump eyeing other nations like Colombia, Cuba, and Mexico next.

“What else is on the takeover list? There’s still some time to target Warner Bros. Discovery,” he quipped. “America may not have Netflix’s budget, but that might change once we lay hands on that lucrative oil.”

While Stewart was sharp and quick-witted, catching up with current cultural references and delivering new punchlines tonight, he missed the chance to make a joke about Pluribus with this one: “There’s nothing more flexible than the groupthink between Donald Trump and his followers.”