Much of Stewart’s commentary tonight related to Trump’s health. It may be unsurprising. How could The Daily Show ignore that, last week, many people thought the president was dead because he stopped posting for a few days? And his hands? His ankles? These comedy writers are flesh-and-blood people, who can’t resist the opportunity to play clips of British broadcasters calling Trump’s eyes lumpy and his “cankles” a “flashing neon signs of a body under pressure.” Who could?
The comments about Trump’s health fed into the larger point Stewart was making. Coupled with the scrutiny over Trump’s deterioration, all these fawning sycophants in orbit calling for him to receive the Nobel Prize for economics and offering him a FIFA trophy for being such a brave boy has the air of condescension typically reserved for very sick children. However, toward the end of the bit, Stewart reconsiders what kind of “Make-A-Wish kid” Trump might be, concluding that the kid from the “It’s A Good Life” episode of The Twilight Zone might be a better comparison. A whole community of people praising a petulant child for fear of being sent to “the cornfield” if they don’t shower him with praise and abide by his every demand? That does carry a certain Trumpian je ne sais quoi.
