“Our economy is in the midst of a beautiful metamorphosis, turning from a simple caterpillar into a dead caterpillar” — so went Jon Stewart‘s decidedly literary opening (giving Franz Kafka a run for his money as far as transformations go) during this week’s installment of The Daily Show.
The political comic and host naturally tackled the “Trade Wars,” as stylized on his show in Star Wars‘ signature font as seen above, and overlaid with its “Main Title” theme. Stewart unpacked President Donald Trump’s mixed messaging on the permanence vs. negotiation approach of his tariffs and the Republican Party’s staunch support of such a jumbled rollout.
Addressing Trump’s tweet about the so-called “Panican” party (“a new party based on Weak and Stupid People!” as POTUS wrote), Stewart joked, “The genius who gave us classics like Sleepy Joe and Crooked Hillary, just sh– out, ‘You’re a Panican’? How about Hysterocrats? Repussicans? How about Cryontologists? Did the overseas factory you had been sourcing your nicknames from get shut down during the tariff war?”
When Trump doubled-down on his tariff rollout with the tweet “ONLY THE WEAK WILL FAIL!” Stewart took another swipe: “Your economic policy has the same tagline as Season 3 of Squid Game?”
Ridiculing the leader’s waffling on whether the tariffs are permanent or more so a negotiation tactic, as well as Republicans’ minimizing of people’s fears and the philosophizing around the policy, Stewart quipped, “How much White Lotus did you people watch? ‘What is permanence in this negotiated life we live?’ Have a piña colada.”
“[The GOP’s] best argument so far for any of this is the same one that we got about Tinker Bell being able to fly — You have to believe,” Stewart said of Republicans’ insistence on Trump’s “business acumen” and how it will guide the country through continued stock market meltdowns.
Stewart concluded the program by allowing that the country could “make adjustments,” but ultimately, as the richest nation in the world, the burden of our inequalities rest on us. “We’re not the world’s victims … It didn’t have to be this reckless; you killed the hostage and then went, ‘So, ransom?’”
