Late-night hosts are getting used to toggling between comedy and tragedy.
On Monday, the killing in Minneapolis of Alex Pretti by U.S. Border Patrol agents was on the mind of “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, who was clearly contemptuous of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem for her claim that Pretti was a “domestic terrorist.”
“I’m hearing there may be some grainy Zapruderlike footage from — I don’t know — every angle imaginable that contradicts the government’s version of events,” he said.
Stewart wondered if it might be a tiny bit hypocritical for Republicans to blame Pretti for legally-possessing (and never brandishing) a weapon but fiercely defending right-wing gun-carriers like Kyle Rittenhouse and the Jan. 6 insurrectionists.
Stewart said he never imagined Republicans would abandon the Second Amendment. “Isn’t that kind of the load-bearing law of the ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ flag? Your snake is down to a newt,” he said. “C’mon, guns are your whole personality.”
On ABC, Jimmy Kimmel opened his show with a pointed commentary on the weekend tragedy in Minneapolis, calling ICE agents “poorly-trained, shamefully-led, mask-wearing goons.”
“They’re goons committing vile, heartless, and even criminal acts. And it’s sickening to watch,” Kimmel said. “It’s like we’re all being forced to play a game that has no rules. They just make up the rules as they go along.
“How does this end? What’s the plan here?” Kimmel said. “Is the plan to just keep doing this in every city that didn’t vote for Donald Trump? Does anyone on any side believe this is good leadership?”
Stephen Colbert focused his monologue on the Trump administration’s attempt to portray Pretti as an armed threat – a version of events contradicted by the footage.
“Masked government agents disarmed an American citizen and then executed him in the streets. That’s what it looks like,” said the host of CBS’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.” “They want you to believe that something didn’t happen when we all saw it happen with our own eyes.”
Colbert also took a moment to pay tribute to Pretti, whose work as an ICU nurse during the pandemic has been hailed by his colleagues. “This administration has no idea the mistake they just made. They’re messing with nurses now,” he said. “You stupid old men really want to cross the people in charge of putting in your catheters? Believe me, they can do it the lubricated way or the unlubricated way. You just made your choice.”
The late-night hosts couldn’t resist commenting on “Melania,” the new documentary about Melania Trump that was paid for by Amazon and directed by Brett Ratner.
“The film was a $75 million gift to the Trumps from Amazon, and the president was very grateful. He said that without this documentary he’d know nothing about his wife,” said Kimmel.
“Also, love the tagline to the movie: ‘Melania, the inspiring true story of how an online shopping billionaire paid millions to curry favor with the president,’” said Stewart
Mark Shanahan can be reached at mark.shanahan@globe.com.