On Monday’s The Daily Show, Jon Stewart skewered President Donald Trump over the growing backlash from his own base after failing to deliver the long-promised Jeffrey Epstein files, calling it an “open revolt” within the MAGA movement.
“MAGAworld, for the first time in memory, isn’t just slavishly acquiescing to Trump’s reality distortion field,” Stewart said, noting how even diehard supporters are booing, burning MAGA hats, and turning on him. “Clearly telling your base to just forget about Epstein isn’t working,” he added.
Stewart played a montage of Trump administration officials — Vice President J.D. Vance, FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi — hyping up the supposed Epstein client list, only for the FBI and DOJ to announce earlier this month that no such files exist. Bondi herself had declared on Fox News in March that “Americans have a right to know,” while claiming that the list was on her desk.
“These are all people who work for Trump that set the expectation,” Stewart said. “In a few months’ time, we went from ‘the Epstein files will expose the Democrats,’ to ‘the Epstein files were written by the Democrats and therefore can’t be trusted, so let’s move on.’”
Some Trump supporters, however, are refusing to move on. Stewart highlighted MAGA crowds booing the news; conservative pundits and influencers have also criticized the president.
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“The Trump that you’re just experiencing now, to your deep disappointment and dismay, is the dude we’ve been dealing with the whole f**ing time,” Stewart said. “Trump’s MAGA base always benefits from favorable treatment — except now. They’re finally understanding what it’s like to be the target of his hostility.”
Stewart also mocked Trump’s attempt to change the subject with a Truth Social post threatening to revoke Rosie O’Donnell’s citizenship.
“That won’t be enough,” Stewart predicted, warning Trump that the Epstein betrayal may be a rare rupture that his usual distractions can’t fix.
Watch the full segment: