Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert took to their respective late-night shows on Tuesday to share their thoughts following the first, and perhaps only, presidential debate of 2024 between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
The Democratic and Republican candidates faced off at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia for the 90-minute debate moderated by ABC News' Linsey Davis and David Muir. Although it began with a handshake, the gloves were quickly off as each presidential candidate railed against the other on their respective policies, campaigns and beliefs. They also touched on hot-button topics, from abortion and immigration to the economy, the Hamas-Israel war and more.
After the debate, The daily show AND The Evening Show with Stephen Colbert broadcast live to digest the events and focus on some of Trump's more outlandish statements. On Daily showhost Jon Stewart began by joking that neither Trump nor Harris actually answered any questions, returning to the time-honored “American tradition” of evasion and “unfounded ad hominems.”
Stewart focused on the abortion portion of the debate and showed a clip of Trump proudly proclaiming during the debate, without evidence, that “everyone” wanted to overturn the law. Roe v. Wade.
Stewart then played back Harris’s response to Trump: “I’ve talked to women all over our country. You want to talk about this, this is what people wanted? Pregnant women wanting to carry a pregnancy to term, suffering from miscarriages, being denied care in an emergency room because health care providers are afraid they’re going to jail — and she’s bleeding in a car in the parking lot? She didn’t want this.”
“My goodness! He nailed it,” Stewart said, marveling at Harris’ response.
Stewart also criticized Trump for once again obsessing over the size of his crowd and spent time mocking the former president's idle and false ramblings about illegal immigrants eating people's pets.
After reaping the easiest fruits of Trump's bizarre rants, Stewart turned serious toward the end of the segment, especially when Trump tried to evade responsibility for the January 6 insurrection during the debate and placed the blame on Nancy Pelosi.
“One thing will always be true, and that is the quality of the former president that I respect the least. Every time he is backed into a corner and forced to face even the smallest consequences for his own lies and his scheming, he returns to the greatest refuge of scoundrels,” Stewart said, anger rising in his voice.
He continued, “This man, who constantly professes to be your champion, who says they're going to have to go through him to get to you, will always be, when the boat is sinking, the first one in the lifeboats. Because at that moment, he'll always say the same thing: 'I didn't know anything about it, I was just told to show up for a cruise.' Even though, as everyone knows, he was the fucking captain of the ship.
“In any other country, this lack of accountability would be disqualifying,” Stewart concluded.
During the live recording of The show is lateColbert opened his analysis of the debate by saying that Harris “came forward with a vengeance” and was eager to “shake Trump up.”
“And now that it’s over, they’re still looking for pieces of his cage in lower orbit,” Colbert joked.
Warming up to the topic, Colbert joked that “Harris has put himself under [Trump’s] skin as if he were stuffing it with butter and rosemary. It was beautiful. By the end of the debate, the meat was falling off the bone.”
Colbert pointed out Trump's tendency to ramble incoherently. “It was so inane that she looked at it like a parent looks at a child giving a presentation on why they should be allowed to have a pet tiger,” Colbert said.
Jimmy Fallon also opened his Tonight's show monologue with some comments on the debate: “Tonight was the first time Harris and Trump met… that's why Trump prepared for the debate by watching this season of Love is blind.”
“Harris tried to paint Trump as a ‘relic’ from the past, while Trump thinks the relic is a condiment he puts on his hot dogs,” the host joked before adding in his best Trump voice, “Extra ketchup and extra relic. I love the relic. Some people don’t like the relic, but I like the relic…”
Fallon also noted how there was no live audience for the debate, saying, “They were speaking to a completely silent, empty room. Or, as J.D. Vance calls it: a rally.”
Tuesday night’s debate came more than two months after Trump and President Joe Biden faced off in a June 27 debate that left many concerned about Biden’s uncertain and uncertain performance. That night ultimately led to calls across the Democratic Party for Biden to step down from the presidential race. On July 21, the president decided to end his reelection campaign and endorse Harris to take his place at the top of the ticket.