Jon Stewart is railing against sweeping cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — and giving his hand one of its own in the process — during an impassioned monologue on “The Daily Show.”
“Apparently our nation’s civil service is now synonymous with waste, fraud and abuse,” the Comedy Central host said on Monday’s show, as he slammed billionaire Elon Musk and DOGE, which has been pushing for widespread layoffs across numerous federal government agencies.
“Cutting money shouldn’t be this hard. I’m starting to think that we as a country don’t understand where the real waste, fraud and abuse in our system really is,” Stewart said, as he pulled out several props he described as an “accountant starter kit,” including a printing calculator, a bankers lamp and a white mug inscribed with the words “World’s Most Dad.”
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“So we’re looking to save taxpayers some money… How about we just take $3 billion in subsidies we give to oil and gas companies that already turned billions in profit?” Stewart exclaimed.
“How about we just close down the carried interest loophole on hedge funds? That’s $1.3 billion a year,” he added, his voice getting louder.
“How about we stop the $2 trillion we’ve given to defense contractors to build a fighter jet that blows — but everybody knows the next war is gonna be fought with drones and blockchain, whatever that is.”
“I can’t believe it — I just saved us billions of dollars in 11 seconds,” Stewart deadpanned.
“But see, this is where the real money is. The real money, the money our free market-ish system uses to prop up corporate profit at the expense of the taxpayer,” he continued, turning his focus to prescription drug costs.
“Pharmaceutical companies get everything from our government — tax breaks, research grants, patent extensions — worth billions of dollars. And what do we, the people, get for it? The highest drug prices in the Western hemisphere,” Stewart, 62, said.
“But you know what’s so horrible about our system now, and the corruption that’s laid within it? We’re so numb to it, we actually tout tiny cracks in that exploitation as victory,” Stewart said, before playing a clip of former President Biden last year trumpeting what his administration said would be billions of dollars in savings on 10 of the most expensive prescription drugs after working to pass Medicare drug price negotiation legislation.
“Can it be the companies we subsidize with billions of dollars are allowing us the privilege to negotiate the price of 10 of their drugs?” Stewart said.
“It would be embarrassing if it was a small drop in the bucket, and that the American people didn’t expect that we should negotiate for all their f—ing drugs, because we’ve already paid for it with our subsidies!” Stewart said, before smashing the mug on his desk into pieces with his bare hand.
“Come on!” Stewart yelled, before glancing down at his hand.
“I’ll be going to the hospital soon,” the comedian said with a chuckle, lowering his hand out of view under his desk and carrying on with his monologue.
“We are DOGEing in the wrong place if we really want to change the system,” he said.
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Stewart kept his injured hand out of the camera’s view for the rest of the segment, except for raising it for a brief moment, leading to gasps at the bloody sight.
“It’s fine!” he said with a smile.
Representatives for “The Daily Show” didn’t immediately return ITK’s request for comment about Stewart’s on-air injury on Tuesday.
In an interview later in the show with Rupa Bhattacharyya, who served as the special master for the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund, Stewart quipped about his wound.
While talking about cuts in the federal workforce, Stewart displayed a bandaged finger, and told the audience, “It makes me so angry I want to smash another mug.”
