On this week’s episode of “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart slammed Donald Trump for fixating on oil after bombing Venezuela’s capital and detaining the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores.
“If you look at American history in general, whether it’s true or not, when we intervene in other countries, we put on a high pretense,” Stewart said midway through Monday night’s broadcast. “Liberate the people, spread democracy, and introduce baseball to the Japanese people. They grumbled at first, but it was well worth it. On what moral basis will this conflict be framed?”
The program then cut to footage from a press conference the morning after the airstrike, where President Trump told reporters, “We’re going to be in Venezuela, which is about oil. We’re going to get the oil flowing the way it should.”
“It’s a little on the nose,” Stewart joked. “Oil, valuables, sure. But there’s no reason for a country that was founded 250 years ago on the idea of freedom and self-determination to invade that country at night and kidnap people. Shouldn’t there have been a little more noble pretense?”
Stewart later cut to Trump on Air Force One, telling reporters: “We need full access. We need access to oil.”
“Sir, once again, I see where we’re going here,” added an irritated Stewart. “May I rearrange it? I don’t understand the noble principle behind this.”
Stewart then played another clip from Saturday’s press conference in which Trump declared, “In other words, we’re going to sell oil.”
Then the late-night commentators exclaimed, “Is this your first war? What the hell is going on?”
Watch the full monologue below.
