Many things have caught the ire of Jon Stewart over the years. All of them stepping stones to the peak of Bullshit Mountain. There are few things, however, that have fueled his inner fire like the Zadroga Act for 9/11 first responders. Last night, for the first time since he handed the show over to Trevor Noah, Stewart walked back onto the set of the Daily Show and didn’t pull a single fucking punch. Short on jokes, absolutely on fire with message, our friend and often-times lone voice of sanity in the void delivered the absolute, unassailable truth about how Congress feels regarding the people they claim to revere:
Mitch McConnell doesn’t give a shit about anything but politics!
At around the 7:15 mark, the actuality of the situation is articulated as very few people outside of Jon Stewart can do:
And the other thing is, people forget, with all the talk about terrorism- from the World Trade Center to San Bernadino, is the one common link to this, the first people on the scene, are the first responders. So I don’t wanna hear about how we’re all concerned about terrorism now with things that are going on. This is the legacy- you guys- what message does it send to first responders if once we’re done as a nation with them helping us, that we forget about them? That’s unacceptable to me.
The impact of three empty chairs to represent the 75% of first responders who are either too sick or dead as a result of their selflessness is beyond merely a statement. It’s an indictment of our elected officials to act. McConnell gave his word to the first responders that the Zadroga Act would be included in the Omnibus Spending Bill. We’ll see. In the meantime, the Daily Show is asking people to spread the hashtag #worstresponders to let both Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan know that playing politics with the lives of the people they pretend to lionize is an absofuckinglute crime.
The entire show is worth watching. Jon Stewart is missed, but he’s certainly not resting on his laurels.