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Late-night television hosts this week trained their comedic fire on ex-President Donald Trump, lambasting his use of an ableist slur and what they described as unconvincing attempts to alleviate public concerns about his cognitive health.

Jon Stewart's Scathing Critique

Kicking off the week, Jon Stewart focused on a controversial post in which Trump referred to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz using a highly offensive ableist term. "On the holiday?!" Stewart remarked. "Are you confusing that with Festivus?"

When asked later if he regretted the remark, Trump reportedly intensified his attack, insisting there was "something seriously wrong" with the governor.

"Something wrong with him? With him?" Stewart responded. "You sat with your family at Thanksgiving, belly full of turkey and pie, enveloped in the love of your notorious associates, but your first thought was to Truth a slur at Tim Walz? And there’s something wrong with him?"

The host then turned to Trump's bizarre explanation of a recently revealed medical scan. In an attempt to downplay worries, Trump stated he had "zero knowledge" what part of his body was even scanned, remarking it "couldn't have been his brain" because he "took a cognitive test."

"That’s not physically possible," Stewart shot back. "Being completely unaware, it’s not possible. What would you say to the doctor? ‘Wait, stop, don’t tell me. I want to find out at my scan unveiling celebration.’"

He continued, "Good grief, man, were you not curious at all? When they laid you down in a tube for a half an hour, you didn’t want to know what they might be doing? Or did you just think to yourself, ‘What a loud tanning bed’?"

Stewart further ridiculed Trump's boast of a "perfect score" on the scan. "That’s how they score the MRIs," he quipped. "You either get a big stamp, ‘Perfect,’ or you get in red ink, ‘We need to talk.’"

The Late Show's Satirical Take

On his own program, Stephen Colbert highlighted increasing frustration among some one-time allies. "Certain supporters are starting to notice that Trump views them like meat animals," he remarked, referencing anger about funding a gilded event space over tackling economic issues.

"Elsewhere, Trump celebrated Thanksgiving in his customary fashion – with racism," Colbert quipped, alluding to an anti-immigrant rant from the weekend. "Somewhere in all of that nonsense," he summarized, the president also used the ableist slur against Governor Walz.

After Walz challenged him to "Release the MRI results," Trump promised do so, despite his claimed ignorance of what was scanned.

"Uh, here’s a theory: maybe the part that’s malfunctioning is the part that’s supposed to know," Colbert noted.

He then mocked the follow-up official explanation—a medical note stating the MRI was for preventative screening. "OK, fair enough," Colbert conceded. "Men in his age group also benefit from retiring, so … can we write that prescription next?"

Jimmy Kimmel's Blunt Assessment

Jimmy Kimmel also blasted Trump's choice of words. "Look, he is capable of being presidential when he wants to be!" he remarked sarcastically. "I wonder why he didn’t get that Nobel peace prize. It defies all logic."

Regarding Trump's follow-up comment that he thinks "there’s something wrong" with Walz, Kimmel was direct: "another bold statement from the president of the middle school."

Kimmel also touched on Trump's insistence of unprecedented approval ratings. "Which means it’s not just books he can’t read," Kimmel said, noting polling showing high negative ratings. "There are gas station bathrooms on Yelp with better reviews than Donald Trump right now."

The host concluded by criticizing Trump's promise to grant clemency to a convicted international drug trafficker. "Now some have pointed out the staggering contradiction of Trump tough on drugs in one instance, while at the same time freeing a man who sent a million pounds of cocaine to this country," said Kimmel. "Such individuals are just detractors, you know? Relax!"

"When he was running, Trump made it very clear: his key goals were a) pardoning drug kingpins and b) building a place to host formal dances," he summarized. "Promises made, promises kept."