Jon Stewart was so perplexed by President Donald Trump’s choice of subject for his final election-eve pitch to voters that he walked off stage.
The 80-year-old president gave a speech Monday afternoon in front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in his last call before the polls opened for Americans to vote on whether his party keeps control of Congress – and he spent more than 20 minutes of it talking about his renovation efforts.
Stewart opened his The Daily Show monologue by playing a clip of the president boasting about his delayed and costly restoration project, where the president called in an aide to hold up a series of photographs depicting corroded pipework and old joints.
“I’ve kept every single promise I made, except far more. I’ve actually kept far more promises than I made,” Trump declared in the clip played.
Stewart replied. “That is not possible dimensionally in this realm. That, now, dementially, yes, that that may be possible, but not dimensionally.”
Stewart remarked that Trump’s choice of location was where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his landmark 1963 civil rights address.
“In the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial, with the echoes of Dr. King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, please lay out for the American people what you think is most important for them to know,” Stewart said.
Stewart played several clips of Trump rambling about algae, bad aromas, paint jobs and cracked granite. At one point, Trump said: “This is a massive piece of pool.”
When the montage ended, Stewart stared ahead in disbelief.
He said, “Good night, everyone,” and walked offstage.
Stewart quickly returned to his desk and went into further detail about why Trump’s remarks had left him so baffled.
“I just want to be clear: that is not AI,” Stewart said. “That was not artificial intelligence. Or really, I think you would agree, any kind of intelligence.”
Stewart continued: “That was the president of the United States on the day before the midterms choosing to make a speech at the Reflecting Pool to talk about the Reflecting Pool.”
He added: “No symbolism, no metaphors, just straight up pool maintenance. That was Donald Trump’s ‘I Had It Cleaned’ speech, if you will,’” referring to Dr. King’s historic speech.
Stewart noted that the president’s priorities ahead of the midterms were “so badly misplaced, it is no wonder what the expectation is for tomorrow.”
Trump’s appearance at the Lincoln Memorial capped a month of campaigning at his MAGA rallies across the U.S.
The midterms are widely seen as a referendum on Trump’s second term. Many states that Trump previously won are at play in the Senate race, including Alaska, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina, Texas, Kansas and Iowa.
In the House, Republicans are looking to hold on to battleground districts won by Trump in 2024.
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