CBS’s Stephen Colbert has the week off, but he still found time to stop by The New York Times for an interview with John Koblin that was published on Tuesday to look back on his time as host of The Late Show that will come to an end on May 21. Throughout the interview, Colbert remained blind to the idea that his raging partisanship led to his downfall. Koblin wrote, “When Mr. Colbert took over ‘The Late Show’ from David Letterman in 2015, his plan was not to have a ruthlessly topical or political show. ‘We were discouraged by the network from being topical,’ he said.”  However, he also recalled how that had changed by the 2016 conventions, which led Colbert to add, “I was like Clint Eastwood in ‘Unforgiven,’ or is it some other movie? He buried his guns. And I’m like, you know, I buried those damn guns. I was talking to Paul Dinello — he’s one of my oldest friends and one of my producers here — and he’s like, ‘You’re having fun, and people love to see that.’ And I said, ‘But that means I got to go dig up the guns.’ And he says, ‘Buddy, that’s the part the audience wants to see.’” Over time, those audience numbers would decline and cast doubt on that assertion, but Koblin moved on to the idea that Colbert and his late night colleagues have become free speech martyrs, “Why do you think the F.C.C. and the Trump administration are so focused on you?” Colbert then made a startling admission when he recalled how allegedly straight newspeople tell him they wish they could be more like him, “Authoritarians don’t like anybody who doesn’t give them undue dignity. Comedians are anti-authoritarian by nature. And authoritarians are never going to like anybody to laugh at them. The number of newspeople who have said to me or Jon Stewart or any of the guys who do this, ‘God, I wish I could say what you say on air.’ And we can. I think that upsets them. I think it might be upsetting that we really do not live in their world of principalities and powers.” Koblin then wondered, “Given that you and other late-night hosts have become political targets, and given how partisan late night has become, do you have any regrets that it’s gotten to this point?” Colbert’s response was the hardest to take seriously, “I don’t have any problem with Trump being a Republican. I have a problem with Trump being a complete narcissist who is only working for his own interest and does not appear to care if the entire world burns. That’s not a partisan position. I have eyeballs and ears, and I think calling late night partisan is just roughing the ref. And we don’t even want to be refs, but they perceive us as refs. I reject the partisan description. Partisan means you’re never, ever going to make a joke about a Democrat, and that’s just not true. There’s just no comparison of how fertile the fields are.” Historically, Colbert tells thousands of jokes per year, so the idea that being partisan means telling literally zero jokes about Democrats is setting up an impossible standard for critics. Second of all, Colbert criticizes Trump and other Republicans all the time for their policy ideas—not just their “narcissist” tendencies, so the idea that Colbert doesn’t have a problem with Trump being a Republican is not true. Finally, Colbert’s “comparison” remarks are also hard to take seriously. The late night shows have not told a single joke about former Rep. Eric Swalwell since he was accused of being a rapist, nor have they joked about former Rep. Shelia Cherfilus-McCormick, who recently resigned before she could be expelled for corruption. For comparison, former Rep. George Santos was joked about 835 times during a strike-shortened 2023, including 262 times by Colbert.  

On Tuesday, ABC’s Good Morning America ignored its own network’s controversy with far-left late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s boast last Thursday that President Trump would die while CBS Mornings not only defended Kimmel as “not some crazy person who would wish” death on someone, but lied about why Kimmel was suspended in September after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. As for NBC’s Today, they were more muted while still carrying Kimmel’s water. Sure, ABC is now facing some FCC license renewal scrutiny at its owned and operated affiliates, but if they truly believe Kimmel saying the First Lady looks like “an expectant widow” isn’t that big of a deal, why hide? Over on CBS, co-host Gayle King lamented “the President and the First Lady are now demanding that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel be fired over remarks he made before the White House Correspondents Dinner.” King also stood up for her fellow elite liberal at the end of chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes’s spin-filled report: “Jimmy Kimmel is not some crazy person that would wish the President to be killed. That’s — he just would not do that.” WATCH: CBS's Gayle King defends Jimmy Kimmel boasting about President Trump dying... "[T]he joke was made before the Correspondents Dinner. Jimmy Kimmel is not some crazy person that would wish the President to be killed. That’s – he just would not do that." pic.twitter.com/cP3uDTPyWt — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 28, 2026 The great Bonchie of RedState pointed out that, back on December 1, 2014, King sang a very different tune when the Elizabeth Lauten odyssey took place, telling viewers that Lauten’s comments about the Obama daughters drew a “backlash and an apology that some people say is too little, too late[.]” For the uninitiated or too young to have been politically inclined, Lauten was a House communications director for a Tennessee Republican when she posted comments on Facebook about the way the Obama daughters were dressed for a White House event. Whereas Kimmel has friends in powerful places like King or CNN’s Brian Stelter and Jake Tapper to defend him at every turn no matter what he says, the liberal media eagerly and gleefully tried to ruin her life and run her out of town. Back to Cordes’s report, she argued Jimmy Kimmel’s “new joke” about Trump dying that ignited the President’s “anger” was part of a bit “skewer[ing] the lack of a comedian” with “a pretend roast of his own.” CBS’s Nancy Cordes says Jimmy Kimmel’s “new joke” about Trump dying was part of a bit “skewer[ing] the lack of a comedian” at the #WHCD, so he “host[ed] a pretend roast of his own” She brushed aside the remark by arguing the joke “[i]nitially, Kimmel’s comments didn’t get much… pic.twitter.com/YDlcX4babH — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 28, 2026 Cordes brushed aside Kimmel’s “expectant widow” line by arguing the joke “[i]nitially, Kimmel’s comments didn’t get much pick-up.” Once she quoted snippets of the First Lady’s X post and Trump’s Truth Social post demanding Kimmel lose his job, she turned to Kimmel’s September suspension when he lost less than a week’s worth of shows. Here was when Cordes was truly irresponsible and misleading. After saying ABC had “suspend[ed] Kimmel for nearly a week” after “facing pressure from the Trump administration,” Cordes only played this half-clip of Kimmel’s remark about the Kirk assassin suspect: “We hit some new lows over the weekend.” Cordes interjected with her explanation of what Kimmel said: “...after the late-night host accused the ‘MAGA Gang’ of trying to score political points from the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.” DISHONEST: CBS’s Nancy Cordes says ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel last year for “accus[ing] the ‘MAGA Gang’ of trying to score political points from the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.” Fact check: Kimmel falsely claimed the Kirk shooter was MAGA. That's what… pic.twitter.com/N04EnYwlDj — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 28, 2026 Fact-check: Kimmel was suspended for falsely claiming the Kirk suspect was a MAGA supporter and there was no disputing otherwise. Here’s Kimmel’s full quote from September 15: “We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” Once Cordes aired more of Kimmel’s insistence he wasn’t calling for Trump’s death, King delivered her defense of the ABC host but also praised Cordes: “Nancy, I’m glad you put it in context that the joke was made before the Correspondents Dinner.” Over on NBC’s Today, co-host Craig Melvin said the WHCD “shooting has led to a new clash between the First Family and Jimmy Kimmel” with the Kimmel “pushing back overnight after the President and First Lady called for Kimmel to be fired over a controversial joke.” Senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez relayed Kimmel was “standing by” his “expectant widow” insult, “calling it nothing more than a days-old light roast about the President’s age while also pushing the White House to tone down its own rhetoric.” Interspersed between clips of Kimmel from both Thursday and then Monday (when he said it was just “a very light joke” and not “by an stretch of the definition” a “call to assassination”), Gutierrez said the late-night host was “facing a new backlash after a controversial joke last week.” “Kimmel now saying it was nothing more than a joke about the Trump’s age difference,” he added. He did tout Kimmel “taking on the White House” and suggesting they are the side who has to tone it down (click “expand”): GUTIERREZ: The controversy comes just seven months after ABC briefly suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live in the wake of a monologue following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Now, the comedian taking on the White House, referencing a comment from the press secretary before the dinner. KIMMEL [on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, 04/27/26]: If you want us to believe that a joke I made three days before this dinner had any effect on anything that happened, well, and maybe someone should look into this psychic lady, too. KAROLINE LEAVITT [on FNC’s The Fox Report, 04/25/26]: This speech tonight will be in classic Donald J. Trump. It’ll be funny, it’ll be entertaining, there will be some shots fired tonight. [CROWD GASPS] GUTIERREZ: And speaking directly to the First Lady: KIMMEL [on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, 04/27/26]: I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do, and I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it because – [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] To see the relevant transcripts from April 28, click here (for CBS) and here (for NBC).

In the aftermath of yet another assassination attempt on President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents dinner Saturday night, it’s more important than ever to hold the left accountable for hateful rhetoric that incites crazed lunatics to commit such violence. We can start by addressing recent inflammatory rhetoric uttered just days before the attempt by TDS-afflicted “comedian” Margaret Cho who called for “a feral, bloodthirsty, violent Democrat,” to “punish” Trump and his officials, who she claims have a sexual “kink” for “cruelty.” Cho’s meltdown occurred on the ironically named podcast The Creative Asylum on April 21, hosted by Daniel House. The episode’s description was the first clue there’d be full-on TDS ranting: In this conversation, we dive deep into the "awful" of the Trump regime, because let's face it: their clown car of cruelty, corruption, and fascist cosplay needs to be met head-on with resistance, and as Margaret mentions, "comedy is hope." Margaret Cho has spent years using comedy as a weapon - against Trumpism, MAGA fanaticism, white grievance theater, attacks on women’s rights, and the nonstop demonization of immigrants, queer people, and anyone else inconvenient to the authoritarian imagination. We discuss comedy as a form of resistance, rage as fuel and her latest tour, CHOligarchy. Fanatics and fascists and clowns, oh my! This kind of deranged thinking doesn’t deserve a stage or spotlight, but here we are. Ironically, Cho right now is playing a psychiatrist on the ABC crime drama Will Trent.  As the conversation began, House praised Cho, gushing, “I really like that you use your platform as much as you do to call out all the bullsh*t and all the fascism and all the stuff that’s going on with our current government.” Comedian Margaret Cho strangely claims Trump is an "incompetent, incoherent, incontinent, pedophile (who) decides whether we live or die," in hateful podcast rant days before assassination attempt. #whcd #whitehousecorrespondentsdinner @margaretcho #thecreativeasylum #danielhouse pic.twitter.com/6jSt3iniah — Dawn Slusher (@BlondeBlogger) April 28, 2026 House: I really like that you use your platform as much as you do to call out all the bullshit and all the fascism and all the stuff that's going on with our current government. Cho: Yeah, thank you. House: So…I don't know if you just wanna talk about using your platform that you have to, you know, as a platform for activism, more than just entertainment, you know. Cho: Oh, it's so important, because I mean, what are we doing? Like, what's happening? Like this incompetent, incoherent, incontinent, pedophile decides whether we live or die. Like that's just it. And then I don't know why we just have been appeasing his narcissism, you know, feeding into his narcissism, allowing it for a decade, you know, it's run culture for a decade. And I'm exhausted by him. I'm exhausted by all of the just disgusting actions that they do… Excuse us, what? “Decides whether we live or die”? Exaggerate much? Cho then complained she doesn’t “know why we just keep letting him have his way,” to which House opined it’s “cowardice and fear.” Strangely, Cho also declared Trump’s administration has a cruelty kink because they supposedly “get off” on seeing people suffer: Comedian Margaret Cho accuses Trump and his officials of having a cruelty "kink" just days before Sunday's assassination attempt. "They love to see the suffering... It gets them off. It gets them really excited about living." @margaretcho #whcd #whca #thecreativeasylum pic.twitter.com/HOB9dhWBut — Dawn Slusher (@BlondeBlogger) April 28, 2026 House: Yeah, although I think maybe we give, you know, this orange goblin a little too much credit, perhaps, for being the decision maker, you know. Because yes, he's lazy, he's incompetent. And I think if left to his own accord, he would just wanna build stuff and, you know, put his name on everything. But he's surrounded by people who have very specific agendas, and I guess very cruel agendas. And I think that's the thing that baffles me the most, is this intentionality of cruelty, which is just weird. Like why? There's enough money to take care of people in a really positive way and build a really positive society. Cho: It really irks me that when they use our language against us, you know, like when they were saying like, oh, the Democrats are the reason why the government is shut down. And when Karoline Leavitt says, “Well, their cruelty is the point. Cruelty is the point.” No, that's you. Your cruelty is the point. Your cruelty is why you do it because they have a kink. It's their kink, is cruelty. They love to see the suffering of immigrants and trans people. And they wanna put children in concentration camps. House: And poor people. Cho: It gets them off. And poor people. House: Even white poor people, right? Cho: It gets them off. It gets them off. It gets them really excited about living. It gets really sickening. House: Yeah, it is. Trying to convince us that enforcing immigration law (illegal crossings under Trump’s second term have thankfully hit a historic low) or protecting women’s intimate spaces is "cruelty” or “authoritarianism,” is typical leftist drivel. The conversation later took a dark turn, as Cho said there’s a pendulum that will swing back towards the right and when it does, “We will punish them,” she stated ominously. “We need a feral, bloodthirsty, you know, violent Democrat… They will suffer for this.”: Just days before Sunday's assassination attempt, comedian Margaret Cho called for a "feral, bloodthirsty...violent Democrat" to punish Trump and his officials. "They will suffer," she added. @margaretcho #whcd #whca #whcad #assassinationattempt pic.twitter.com/sqLtMOwFxv — Dawn Slusher (@BlondeBlogger) April 28, 2026 House: And he goes, “Daddy issues.” I’m like, “You think so”? And he’s like, “Yeah, like think about it. Every one of them, daddy issues.” It's all this unresolved bullshit from childhood. Somehow that plays into the kink of cruelty. And it's pretty weird. Cho: It's weird, it's like a kind of desire for authoritarianism as a way of feeling safe, but it's not. It doesn't work. I mean, it's just so unfair. You know, I really do believe that it is a pendulum and it does swing. And when it swings back, we will punish them. They will be put in prison. We cannot let up. House: I hope we as a party, I mean, I'm assuming that we're probably, if not politically aligned, at least probably philosophically aligned. I always complain that the Democrats have too little spine and not enough willingness to just, you know… It's like if you get in a knife fight and bring a spoon, you're probably not gonna win. You know, and we do it time and time again. Cho: We’re very toothless. They're very toothless against the ruthless. And it's not serving us. And I want to believe in Democrats. I am a Democrat. But I also feel like there's this weird attachment to decorum and taking the high road. And none of that is gonna work. None of that is gonna work. We need somebody. We need a feral, bloodthirsty, you know, violent Democrat. Like we just need somebody who is willing to put them all in prison and do the right thing. House: I agree. Cho: Put them all in prison. House: Well, something I do say is that, you know, I wonder if Pam Bondi knows enough about political history to know that while Nixon didn't go to jail, her A.G. did. Cho: Yeah. So, they will suffer for this. They will suffer for this. House: Well, I hope, They should. Democrats don't need more spine. They need to stop treating half the country like domestic terrorists for wanting secure elections and biological reality in girls' sports. And they need to stop using hateful rhetoric that’s inciting political violence. Not surprisingly, Saturday night’s would-be assassin wrote a manifesto dripping with the same seething hatred displayed by the left, reading in part, “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.” Sadly, this isn’t the first time Cho has wished for violence against Trump. As Breitbart News reported, Cho wrote on BlueSky last year, “Every time I see him, hear him, think of him - I whisper, ‘Please die.’ I think it helps.” The many responses agreeing with her only help to further incite violence, with one user replying, “My wife has a mantra.’ Bullet, heart attack, stroke.’ More of a prayer really....” Surely the left must realize how their rhetoric emboldens extremists into doing the unthinkable. The only “cruelty” here is the hatred TDS liberals like Cho harbor towards anyone who disagrees with them politically. And the only “kink” is Cho and her ilk lustfully fantasizing over the punishment and death of conservatives like it’s some sort of revenge porn.

Just two nights after a third leftist extremist attempted to kill President Trump, MS NOW was already back to using incendiary and possibly inciting language. During the Monday night handoff between Rachel Maddow’s eponymous show and Lawrence O’Donnell’s The Last Word, the duo discussed how Trump was trying to build “concentration camps” for illegal immigrants. They also mocked how the “Trump prison camp warehouses” were failing to materialize. “Did I hear your reporting correctly tonight that not a single one of these Trump prison camp warehouses of - that, that they were they've been trying to build, buy, and operate. Not one of them has come online?” O’Donnell coyly questioned, teeing up his colleague to reiterate content from her show, which was wrapping up. O’Donnell would later quip, “And there's been no uprising by Trump voters in those districts and in those states saying, oh, no, no, we want Donald Trump's detention centers and concentration camps here.” Maddow agreed with the description with a “yeah, yeah.” He was using intentionally incendiary rhetoric to push a narrative that portrayed Trump in Hitleresque and Naziesque imagery. It was just like what we saw in the defamation suit MS NOW (then-MSNBC) settled just before trial last year. In discovery, a message from host Chris Hayes showed that they intentionally used words that “conjured the worst kind of like Third Reich” thoughts in viewers’ heads.   Just two nights after the third assassination attempt on President Trump, MS NOW is claiming Trump is trying to build "concentration camps" for Illegals. They laugh about how the "prison camps" were being rejected. LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: Rachel. You know, I'm - Did I hear your… pic.twitter.com/of0WfnFl22 — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) April 28, 2026   Maddow boasted about how liberals in Maryland had organized to pressure the state to file a lawsuit to stymie the construction of an illegal immigrant detention center: Not one of them has come online. The first one they wanted to open was the one in Williamsport, just outside Hagerstown, Maryland, and that one was stopped in its tracks by a lawsuit brought by the state of Maryland. And that lawsuit, I am surmising, was brought because of the unbelievably fierce and well-organized resistance of all the local people in Hagerstown who said, ‘oh my god, no, we're not going to do this.’ And they form this statewide coalition to stop it. And they dug up all of this incredible detail out of public records requests. They flew a drone over the site. They did all of this great reporting in terms of all the reasons it wasn't feasible. All of that, I think, really, honestly empowered the state to bring this lawsuit. The lawsuit stopped it. And now that lawsuit is being used essentially as a template to stop all the rest of them. She was also tickled by how Republican senators where able to put the kibosh on planned centers by pushing back on the ones slated for their states: Like, I'm sorry, Roger Wicker said, no, you can't put one of those in Mississippi. And so there isn't one. Marsha Blackburn said, no, you can't put one of those in Tennessee. And so there isn't one. John Curtis is saying, no, you can't put one of those in Utah. And I think there's not going to be one there. We saw the Republican governor in new Hampshire say, no, no, no, you can't put one here. Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire said. And so there's not going to be one there. I mean, these things are falling apart everywhere. Anybody realizes it's going to touch their own life. And Republicans have said no to them. And the Department of Homeland security, with the tiniest little iota of pushback from any Republican just instantly collapses. And that dynamic, I mean, it's really important, I think, to observe it. And I think it should help all the rest of us understand sort of how to calibrate the cowardice of all of these various Republicans, seeing how powerful they are. “They just have to lift one finger and say no. And the worst idea Donald Trump has ever had goes away,” she touted. It’s worth a reminder that MS NOW (then-MSNBC), and particularly Maddow’s show, were favorites of Congressional Baseball shooter James Hodgekinson. He also was a big fan of far-left Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: MS NOW’s The Last Word April 27, 2026 10:01:32 p.m. Eastern (…) LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: Rachel. You know, I'm - Did I hear your reporting correctly tonight that not a single one of these Trump prison camp warehouses of - that, that they were they've been trying to build, buy, and operate. Not one of them has come online? RACHEL MADDOW: Not one of them has come online. The first one they wanted to open was the one in Williamsport, just outside Hagerstown, Maryland, and that one was stopped in its tracks by a lawsuit brought by the state of Maryland. And that lawsuit, I am surmising, was brought because of the unbelievably fierce and well-organized resistance of all the local people in Hagerstown who said, ‘oh my god, no, we're not going to do this.’ And they form this statewide coalition to stop it. And they dug up all of this incredible detail out of public records requests. They flew a drone over the site. They did all of this great reporting in terms of all the reasons it wasn't feasible. All of that, I think, really, honestly empowered the state to bring this lawsuit. The lawsuit stopped it. And now that lawsuit is being used essentially as a template to stop all the rest of them. There's opposition to every single one of them that they haven't canceled yet, and they've canceled more than they've even tried to bring online. So it, it does feel like this is turning into - turning out to be a $38 billion debacle. None of these things is open. And if the if the resistance level keeps to these things keeps increasing. The way we've been documenting, I think it's a good bet that none of them ever will. O’DONNELL: And as of right now, the Republican Congress is trying to deliver even more money to this project that appears to be going nowhere. Rachel, the first one that I covered, I remember Senator Roger Wicker, Republican, who's the chairman of the Armed Services Committee. He objected to it in his state. And this is a state Donald Trump carries by, I don't know, 20 points or so, deep south. And I thought that was the first one I reported on. And I saw how easy it was. Just one letter from the chairman to then Kristi Noem to the - the, you know, the secretary. And that was the end of it. And I just thought, well, if you can't build one of these in the deep south in Trump territory - MADDOW: In Mississippi. O’DONNELL: - overwhelming Trump voter support in the place where you want to put it, then you're not going to get one anywhere. And that was just my - my sort of prediction about it. And, and you're reporting to us, that's exactly what happened. Even in states that aren't represented by powerful Republicans in Congress. MADDOW: But, you know, it's funny. I feel like it is one of a it's a really underreported story - O’DONNELL: Yes. MADDOW: - given the understandable focus of the national media and even the international media on why Republicans keep rolling over, and they haven't stood up to him, and why the Republican Party has collapsed under this personalist rule of this would be autocrat, blah blah blah. Like, I'm sorry, Roger Wicker said, no, you can't put one of those in Mississippi. And so there isn't one. Marsha Blackburn said, no, you can't put one of those in Tennessee. And so there isn't one. John Curtis is saying, no, you can't put one of those in Utah. And I think there's not going to be one there. We saw the Republican governor in new Hampshire say, no, no, no, you can't put one here. Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire said. And so there's not going to be one there. I mean, these things are falling apart everywhere. Anybody realizes it's going to touch their own life. And Republicans have said no to them. And the Department of Homeland security, with the tiniest little iota of pushback from any Republican just instantly collapses. And that dynamic, I mean, it's really important, I think, to observe it. And I think it should help all the rest of us understand sort of how to calibrate the cowardice of all of these various Republicans, seeing how powerful they are. They just have to lift one finger and say no. And the worst idea Donald Trump has ever had goes away. It just means we should expect a lot more of them, for them to be able to, because they can do this stuff, and it doesn't cost them much when they do it. And it's effective. It's a it's a case for, as far as I'm concerned, to put even more pressure on them to do the right thing by their constituents. O’DONNELL: And there's been no uprising by Trump voters in those districts and in those states saying, oh, no, no, we want Donald Trump's detention centers and concentration camps here. MADDOW: Yeah, yeah. By Hallie and Mississippi isn't like Roger. What do you mean? Yeah, it's it doesn't go that way ever. Not any of these. O’DONNELL: Yeah. Great reporting Rachel. Thank you. MADDOW: Thanks, Lawrence. Appreciate it. O’DONNELL: Thank you.

Comedy Central’s Monday host of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart, kicked off the show by trying to suggest that the shooting at Saturday’s White House Correspondents' Dinner was merely another incident involving guns in America and suggested that the whole thing could have been avoided if President Trump was never invited. Stewart began, “But first, let's begin, obviously, with the big news, the White House Correspondents Dinner. It was supposed to be an evening of fun and merriment until, like most things in America, it was interrupted by gunfire. This is why we can't have nice things, and to be perfectly frank, it's not even a nice thing. Nobody wanted this [bleep] dinner in the first place. Nobody needed—we're so [bleep] In this country right now we can't even pull off a dinner that shouldn't have existed in the first place. ‘Hey, let’s celebrate the First Amendment with an administration that is doing everything it can to destroy it.’”   Jon Stewart opened The Daily Show by talking about Saturday's WHCD shooting, ", like most things in America, it was interrupted by gunfire" and declaring "We're so [bleep] In this country right now we can't even pull off a dinner that shouldn't have existed in the first place.… pic.twitter.com/EdrB9TIsrS — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) April 28, 2026   Later, Stewart welcomed Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, whom The Daily Show sent to the dinner on Saturday. Triumph was wearing a collar that read “hero” and was part of his and Stewart’s mocking of journalists for their hero complex after the incident, but Stewart also returned to his earlier remarks about guns, “Triumph, I have to tell you, the larger issue—the larger issue we continue to have is gun violence and no effort to pass legislation to stop it.” It was hard to tell whether Triumph was roasting Stewart or sarcastically roasting Second Amendment supporters who do not appreciate the rush to politicize these things. Perhaps it was a little of both, because he responded, “Jon, Jon, Jon, Jon, Jon please don't do this. Don't politicize a political event.”     Stewart tried to defend himself, “I’m not—it's not politicizing it, Triumph. It is a fact. It is a fact that in America, another event is ruined by gun violence, and we’re lucky this time—” Again, Triumph tried to get Stewart to stop talking, but he kept going, “No, I’m going to keep talking. It’s—no—I’m not. I’m not. I—” With an outstretched puppet leg, Triumph repeated, “Jon, now is not the time. Now is not the time.” After a brief digression into CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer’s bathroom experiences at the time of the shooting, Stewart gave the vaguest possible indication that Saturday was more than just a common street crime with a gun, “You know, a lot of people bring up the fact that we do also have a hate speech problem in this problem. Do you think it's time that we look in the mirror? You know, there is talk about how we have to talk the temperature down.” Triumph again tried to shut Stewart up, “Jon, Jon. Shhh, shhh, shhh, shhh.  I have, like, five more jokes to get through, and then you can talk about temperature.” Presumably, Stewart would also wait to turn down the temperature until after he has claimed that Trump is trying to destroy the First Amendment. Here is a transcript for the April 27 show: Comedy Central The Daily Show 4/27/2026 11:01 PM ET JON STEWART: But first, let's begin, obviously, with the big news, the White House Correspondents Dinner. It was supposed to be an evening of fun and merriment until, like most things in America, it was interrupted by gunfire. This is why we can't have nice things, and to be perfectly frank, it's not even a nice thing. Nobody wanted this [bleep] dinner in the first place. Nobody needed—we're so [bleep] In this country right now we can't even pull off a dinner that shouldn't have existed in the first place. “Hey, let’s celebrate the First Amendment with an administration that is doing everything it can to destroy it.” … 11:25 PM ET STEWART: Triumph, I have to tell you, the larger issue— TRIUMPH THE INSULT COMIC DOG: Yes. STEWART: — The larger issue we continue to have is gun violence and no effort to pass legislation to stop it. TRIUMPH: Jon, Jon, Jon, Jon, Jon please don't do this. Don't politicize a political event. STEWART: I’m not—it's not politicizing it, Triumph. It is a fact. It is a fact that in America, another event is ruined by gun violence, and we’re lucky this time— TRIUMPH: Jon, Jon, Jon, shhh, shhhh, shhhhh, shhhhh, shhhhh, shhhhh, shhhhh, shhhhh, shhhhh, shhhhh STEWART: No, I’m going to keep talking. It’s—no—I’m not. I’m not. I— TRIUMPH: Jon, now is not the time. Now is not the time. STEWART: Can I ask you a question? Did you wipe your feet when you came in? TRIUMPH: I used the same bathroom as Wolf Blitzer. STEWART: Triumph— TRIUMPH: Yes. Yes. STEWART:  —clearly you're still traumatized. TRIUMPH: I went through so much. STEWART: Yes. TRIUMPH: I contacted HR and told them I'm going to need an emotional support dog. Yes, preferably a poodle who's into butt stuff. STEWART: You know, a lot of people bring up the fact that we do also have a hate speech problem in this problem. Do you think it's time that we look in the mirror? You know, there is talk about how we have to talk the temperature down. TRIUMPH: Jon, Jon. Shhh, shhh, shhh, shhh.  I have, like, five more jokes to get through, and then you can talk about temperature.