Jon Stewart ripped into Donald Trump’s bungled handling of the global economy since returning to office, calling him “the world’s worst negotiator” and pleading, “Just stop.”
In a scathing segment on Trump’s first 100 days, Stewart tore into the president, calling his leadership a total disaster, especially when it comes to the economy.
“Trump is not only not the best negotiator, he is maybe the worst negotiator on Earth,” Stewart said, torching Trump’s claims of brokering 200 trade deals after his so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs. “100% bulls–t! Here’s how you know. 200 deals? There’s only, like, 180 countries!”
The segment focused on Trump’s first 100 days back in office, with Stewart mocking his constant self-praise and empty bragging. Dressed in a long grey beard, Stewart joked, “Trump’s return has aged the nation in Castaway years.” After playing a clip of Trump celebrating his own record, Stewart ripped off the beard and shouted, “Suck it, Jefferson! Suck it, Lincoln! Suck it, Roosevelts squared.”
Then came the harsh reality check. Stewart called out Trump’s so-called strategy with other nations, questioning how the former president could be so blind to backlash from other global powers. Responding to a pundit’s praise of Trump’s “game theory,” Stewart snapped: “I’m pretty sure, in game theory, you are supposed to tell the person on your side—on your side where they’re going to end up, so they don’t freak the f— out!”
“How did you not know that other countries weren’t going to fight back?” he continued. “Did you miss that page in The Art of War? Spoiler alert, it’s on page one!”
But the angriest moment came when Trump claimed he was using “tremendous leverage” to force tariff deals. Stewart lost it.
“You don’t have the leverage! That’s the key misunderstanding here!” he yelled. “Trump is so arrogant, he thinks the leverage is his. It’s ours! We the people!”
“It took the people 250 years of striving to live up to a constitutional republic and rule of law, painstaking equity that you are squandering,” Stewart said. “That is the crux of American exceptionalism. You just want to make us great. That’s a downgrade!”
And then the kill shot: “You are not the keeper of our pot of gold. You are a temporary leprechaun.”
Stewart ended with a final warning, condemning Trump’s obsession with power:
“The more enamored, President Trump, you are with your authoritarian whims, the more you turn our shining city on a hill into just another ordinary, despot-led, sea-level s–thole. So if I could just put this in negotiating terms you can understand, all caps, ‘Donald, STOP!’”
Watch the full monologue below:
