Jon Stewart on the advanced age of Congress: ‘This is not right, the stakes are too high’

Late-night hosts discussed the death of Lindsey Graham and how the US government is getting increasingly elderly and out of touch.

Jon Stewart

On The Daily Show, Jon Stewart spoke about the recent death of Graham and how Donald Trump responded in a number of odd TV appearances.

He played footage of Trump telling Fox hosts that Graham called him too much and he told him to stop. “I’ll never forget the way I always let him go to voicemail,” Stewart joked.

The host said he “zoomed through the first five stages of grief and went straight to number six: fuck that guy”.

He also complained about how much Graham talked, to which Stewart said it “takes a lot of balls for Donald Trump to gently roast someone for yapping too much”.

Trump also said he gave him 99 out of 100 after his response to the January 6 riot. “My favourite part of any eulogy is when they announce the person’s life score,” Stewart said before saying he spoke “like it’s Portnoy doing a pizza review”.

Reportedly, Graham said he didn’t have time to die as he had to try to fix what was happening in Iran. “Middle East peace is about as ambitious as a bucket-list item can get,” he said.

Stewart expressed surprise that Graham died before Mitch McConnell, given his more publicised health issues. “How the fuck is that possible?” he said.

He moved on to the “totally believable evidence” that McConnell was still alive, showing the viral photo of him being the “happiest boy in the hospital”.

Graham is the sixth member of Congress to die this term. “If this were any other business they would shut it down to find out what the fuck is going on,” Stewart said.

He said that Congress is “falling apart due to a lack of not just political will but bone density” and asked, “why are we tolerating this level of national frailty in our lawmaking?”

It’s also been one of the least productive governments ever and Stewart criticised the system as one that “rewards incumbency”.

“These people aren’t brilliant, they’re fucking barnacles,” he said before adding that “this is not right, the stakes are too high.”

He believes “advanced age is just one more way in which our government is at a remove from the needs of the people they purport to serve”.

Seth Meyers

After a three-week vacation, Late Night’s Seth Meyers returned, saying that things have been “normal and chill” in his absence.

He played footage of Trump being asked about the opening of the strait of Hormuz by Jake Tapper, to which he said he doesn’t want him to talk about it – “not a reassuring answer”, Meyers said.

He added: “You can’t treat access to a key international waterway that controls the world’s oil supply like a mystery, you’re the president not some magical bridge troll.”

He also spoke about calls for decency over the death of Graham, reminding viewers how Trump responded to the death of Robert Mueller, saying that he was glad.

It was followed by footage of Nancy Mace, who is tipped to replace Graham, being asked about posting a Godfather clip with the line “just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in”.

Meyers believes we should “ban politicians from posting memes”.

The host also made multiple jokes about the spread of a bug that causes explosive diarrhea and said that it resembles Trump’s poll numbers, being “in the shit”.

Trump also attended a Nato summit in Turkey where he called Iranian leaders “scum” and “sick people”. Meyers said we are “back to square one, although maybe it’s square zero” before reminding viewers that the last few weeks also revealed that Trump made $2bn in 2025.

“This is the one through-line of the Trump presidency: three weeks of constant tumult, disruption and chaos and the only person who benefits is Trump,” he said.