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Comedy show hosts this week trained their comedic fire on ex-President Donald Trump, lambasting his employment of a ableist slur and what they described as unconvincing attempts to alleviate growing questions about his mental fitness.

Jon Stewart's Pointed Commentary

Beginning his monologue, Jon Stewart focused on a controversial post in which Trump described Minnesota Governor Tim Walz with a highly offensive ableist term. "On the holiday?!" Stewart remarked. "Did you mix it up with your own personal grievance airing day?"

When asked later if he regretted the remark, Trump reportedly doubled down, insisting there was "something seriously wrong" with the Democratic governor.

"Something wrong with him? With him?" Stewart retorted. "You sat with your family at Thanksgiving, belly full of turkey and pie, surrounded by the love of your notorious associates, but your initial instinct was to Truth a slur at Tim Walz? And there’s something wrong with him?"

The comedian then turned to Trump's peculiar account of a recently disclosed medical scan. In an attempt to dismiss concerns, Trump claimed he had "no idea" what part of his body was even scanned, remarking it "couldn't have been his brain" because he "took a cognitive test."

"That is an impossibility," Stewart countered. "To have no idea, it’s not possible. What would you say to the doctor? ‘Wait, stop, don’t tell me. I want to find out at my MRI reveal party.’"

He continued, "Good grief, man, were you not curious at all? When they placed you in a tube for 30 to 45 minutes, you didn’t want to know what they might be doing? Or did you just think to yourself, ‘What a loud tanning bed’?"

Stewart also mocked Trump's assertion of a "flawless result" on the scan. "Apparently, that's the way they score the MRIs," he quipped. "You either get a big stamp, ‘Perfect,’ or you get in red ink, ‘We need to talk.’"

The Late Show's Witty Observations

On his own program, Stephen Colbert highlighted increasing frustration among some one-time allies. "Certain supporters are starting to notice that Trump views them like meat animals," he said, referencing anger about funding a gilded event space over tackling economic issues.

"Elsewhere, Trump celebrated Thanksgiving in his traditional way – with racism," Colbert quipped, alluding to an anti-immigrant rant from the weekend. "Amidst all of that nonsense," he recapped, the president employed the ableist slur against Governor Walz.

After Walz challenged him to "Make the scan public," Trump said he would release them, despite his claimed ignorance of what was scanned.

"Well, here's an idea: maybe the part that’s broken is the part that’s supposed to know," Colbert suggested.

He then mocked the subsequent official explanation—a medical note stating the MRI was for routine evaluation. "OK, fair enough," Colbert conceded. "People his age also benefit from retiring, so … can we write that prescription next?"

Jimmy Kimmel's Direct Criticism

Jimmy Kimmel also blasted Trump's use of the slur. "See, he can be presidential when he wants to be!" he joked. "It's puzzling why he didn’t get that Nobel peace prize. It defies all logic."

Regarding Trump's follow-up comment that he thinks "there’s something wrong" with Walz, Kimmel was blunt: "another bold statement from the president of the middle school."

Kimmel also addressed Trump's claims of unprecedented approval ratings. "This indicates it’s not just books he can’t read," Kimmel said, noting survey data showing high negative ratings. "There are gas station bathrooms on Yelp with better reviews than Donald Trump right now."

The host finished by criticizing Trump's promise to grant clemency to a convicted former Honduran president. "Now some have pointed out the staggering contradiction of Trump taking a hard line in one instance, while at the same time freeing a man who shipped a massive quantity of cocaine to this country," said Kimmel. "Such individuals are just haters and losers, you know? Relax!"

"During his campaign, Trump made it perfectly obvious: his key goals were a) pardoning drug kingpins and b) building a place to ballroom dance," he summarized. "Commitments stated, pledges fulfilled."