Jon Stewart addressed the ongoing fires in Los Angeles, as well as the varied responses to the disaster, on a new episode of The Daily Show. The late-night host specifically took aim at Republicans, who have called for strings to be attached to the relief funds.
Stewart first highlighted the “incredible moments of human compassion and kindness” that have occurred since the fires broke out last week, praising people for looking after their neighbors and charitable contributions. He also paid tribute to the “tireless efforts” of firefighters and rescue workers, some of whom have come from Canada and Mexico. “Damn your open borders Biden,” Stewart quipped.
Not all responses have been so positive, however, including those from incoming president Donald Trump and many Republicans. “The problem now is Republicans appear to watch to attach their 'I told you so's' as a condition of funding California's disaster relief,” Stewart explained before playing a montage of clips of politicians calling for the state's leaders to be held accountable before given money . The montage ended with Tommy Tuberville saying California doesn't “deserve anything.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you? Really, senator from Alabama?” Stewart responded. “The state with the bottom in math, reading, and test scores? Next time you get hit by a fucking hurricane, why don't we have a little parent-teacher conference to see if you got your scores up, you would get the money — or actually, let's not do it 'cause you'll get the money anyway 'cause we're not fucking psychos. That is psychotic. There's something wrong with you.”
He added that there are numerous Republicans who took the complete opposite view “when it was their state on the line.” “Red states are always the tragic victims of circumstance outside of their control, and Democrats always vote for their aid,” he said. “Whereas blue state disasters are a function of their corrupt morality and policy, and if we help blue state survivors, well, what message will that send? What lesson will they learn?”
Elsewhere in the episode, Stewart addressed the misinformation related to the Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire, which has spread rapidly online over the past week. He highlighted Alex Jones' conspiracy theory claim that the blazes were plot to bring about the collapse of the United States, which Elon Musk apparently believed to be “true.”
“Unfortunately, a lot of the information that's out there is not correct, and because of poor forest management, that information just jumps, igniting into larger and larger nonsense infernos, that coincidentally seem to reinforce whatever grudge any of these folks have against California, especially their ideology,” Stewart said.
The host concluded his monologue with a satirical ad for a GoFundMe-like service called “GoFuckYou,” a crowdfunding site “available in all blue states and any cities where the mayor is Black or gay.” The joke ad billed the service as the “No. 1 source for politicians to dangle money over your head while delivering a monologue about why they hate your politics.”