Jon Stewart returned to “The Daily Show” desk Tuesday night and spoke about the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday.
“We dodged a catastrophe, but it was still a tragedy,” Stewart said. He then paid tribute to firefighter Corey Comperatore, who died from the shooting.
“He had given his life in service to his community and he died literally shielding his family,” Stewart said of Comperatore. “He’s a reminder that in those moments of crisis, there are helpers, and we can all make a choice to try and be one of those people.”
Earlier in his opening, Stewart joked about how “the internet is a great source of information” when “shit hits the fan” in the U.S.
“For instance, within minutes, I found out that this is staged, and then I found out that it was actually an inside job, and then I found out it was Joe Biden who ordered it,” Stewart quipped of the Trump shooting conspiracy theories.
The “Daily Show” host then discussed why people feel the need to immediately know the suspect’s identity and their background following a tragic event.
“When we hear about a horrific event, you’re on pins and needles in this sort of reverse demographic lottery to make sure that the psychopathic shooter doesn’t belong to one of your teams,” Stewart commented. “You just sit there going, please, no democrats, no liberals, no progressives — it’s like that Press Your Luck game… And we’re all doing it. We have to know what our posture will be on the tragedy.”
He added, “And none of us knows what’s going to happen next other than there will be another tragedy in this country, self-inflicted by us to us, and then we’ll have this feeling again.”
When late-night TV returned on Monday, various hosts addressed the shooting that injured Trump and rattled the country.
“My immediate reaction when I saw this on Saturday were horror at what was unfolding, relief that Donald Trump had lived, and frankly, grief for my beautiful country,” said Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show,” adding, “Though, I could just as easily start the show moaning on the floor, because how many times do we need to learn the lesson that violence has no role in our politics? The entire objective of a democracy is the fight out our differences with as the saying goes, ballot, not a bullet.”
On NBC’s “Late Night,” Seth Meyers condemned the “horrifying” attack against Trump and called for “an inclusive politics of compassion, empathy and community.”
Meyers added, “What we don’t need are the opportunistic purveyors of paranoia, suspicion and fear who have already rushed to fill the void with incendiary conspiracy theories and lies,” before cutting to coverage of the assassination on various news programs.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” guest host Anthony Anderson opened Monday’s show with a joke: “Everybody’s still shaken up by the tragic events at the Trump rally this Saturday. All weekend, I kept thinking, ‘I wonder what Jimmy Kimmel is going to say about this on Monday?’ And then I was like, oh, I am Jimmy Kimmel on Monday.”
The “Black-ish” star added that “hopefully this will be a moment that we can all take a step back from the hatred and vitriol in our politics and maybe chill the f— out.”
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