Like Jimmy Kimmel and many of the other late night hosts, Jon Stewart’s monologue on Monday was largely focused on ICE’s deadly shooting of nurse Alex Pretti by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis on Saturday.
Over the course of 23 minutes, the Daily Show host unpacks what happened and the massive difference between the video footage and the Trump administration’s description of events. Then, Stewart plays more footage of various officials on the right characterising Pretti as being at fault for carrying a weapon — the White House is now walking back this “deny and attack” tactic after public backlash.
“Are you f***ing kidding me right now? Are you saying that the problem was the guy had a gun? Are you saying that the guns are the problem?” says a stunned Stewart, before going on to give his view on what happened.
“They’re lying. We saw it. And that’s how brazen they lie, when they know we’ve seen the truth. That’s how they lie when they know we know. Imagine how they lie when there’s no evidence to contradict them? And that, more than anything, explains why Alex Pretti really was a threat. Because he was brandishing a weapon: A handheld aluminum, 1080p, 60fps, weapon of mass illumination. Because there is nothing more dangerous to a regime predicated on lies than witnesses who capture the truth.”
