Jon Stewart came out swinging on The Daily Show Monday night, torching Donald Trump and suggesting the recent ICE raids in Los Angeles weren’t just political theater — they were a deliberate distraction. Stewart’s message was sharp: the chaos wasn’t just predictable, it was timed. And the reason, he claims? A bombshell tying Trump to the Jeffrey Epstein case.
“Why escalate this shit now?” Stewart asked. “Oh, right — Elon Musk is now accusing Trump of being in the Epstein files.”
That’s the moment Stewart connected the dots. With headlines swirling about Epstein and renewed scrutiny of Trump’s alleged connections, Stewart accused the president of staging a high-profile immigration crackdown to drown out more damaging news.
“This weekend’s combustion was the very predictable result of a liberal city reliant on an immigrant population colliding with a heavy-handed MAGA migrant-trolling operation,” Stewart said. “Gotta catch ’em all. Yes, America!”
He was referring to ICE raids across Southern California, including a sweep outside a Home Depot in Paramount. According to Stewart, the arrests — which included undocumented migrants with no criminal records — directly contradicted Trump’s own claims to focus on “the worst of the worst.”
“A Home Depot? From the worst of the worst to a fucking Home Depot?” he scoffed. “Jeez, ICE, if you need assistance in arresting people, those guys are literally asking if you need help.”
Stewart argued the choice of location and timing were no accident. In his view, Trump was intentionally inflaming a fragile situation to provoke a response, distract from scandal, and rally his base.
“It’s an explosive situation on the cusp of federalism versus states’ rights, border control versus due process, terrifyingly militarized sweeps versus hard-working people,” Stewart said. “And Trump happily lights the fuse.”
He also blasted Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard, sarcastically dubbing him “Mr. Churchill,” and mocked senior adviser Stephen Miller’s alleged demand for 3,000 arrests per day.
To Stewart, the spectacle unfolding in L.A. — protesters clashing with police, tear gas, and even vandalized self-driving cars — wasn’t an unintended side effect. It was political strategy.
“None of this is surprising,” he said. “It’s what happens when you manufacture outrage to cover your own ass.”
In the end, Stewart’s take was clear: the timing of Trump’s ICE crackdown was no coincidence. It was a diversion — a calculated move to shift focus from what he believes is a far more serious problem for Trump: growing public interest in his potential ties to Epstein.
“Why now?” Stewart repeated. “Because chaos is cheaper than accountability.”
Watch the segment below via Comedy Central.
