Jon Stewart tears into Trump on The Daily Show for ‘Bigrant crime’ catchphrase

‘I’m not completely sold’, comedian said of the portmanteau

Jon Stewart tore into Donald Trump’s newest campaign catchphrase as he hosted the latest episode ofThe Daily Show on Monday (5 March).

The political commentator returned to the Comedy Central programme last month, after nine years away.

Monday’s segment opened with a montage of media coverage on America’s “border crisis” as Stewart acknowledged that the increasing number was “not sustainable”.

Stewart made reference to the bipartisan acknowledgment of the US’s border issues, with 300,000 migrants having crossed the US-Mexico burder in December 2023 alone.

However, he went on to criticise the Republican party for their confidence in assuming “that fear-mongering will be an effective election year strategy” as he took issue with the latest catchphrase to enter the debate – “Bigrant crime”.

Over the weekend, former US president Trump gave a speech on migration in Michigan in which he said he would be truncating “Biden migrant crime” to “Bigrant crime”. The joke drew thunderous applause and laughter from his audience and supporters.

“Oh that’s good, that’s smart,” Trump said, congratulating himself while wearing a signature Maga (Make America Great Again) red cap.

However, Stewart wasn’t impressed by Trump’s attempt at wordplay.

“It’s a portmanteau,” Stewart said. “I’m not completely sold on ‘bigrant.’ It really just sounds like a migrant who’s open to crossing either border.”

Stewart was not impressed by the portmanteau (The Daily Show)

He added: “There are some documented migrants who are committing crimes – some of them horrific – but isn’t that true for every demographic, including natives?”

The Daily Show segment also showed footage of right-wing US TV network Fox News, in which a guest is seen referring to “criminals, rapists, murderers, child predators and God knows who else” crossing the border.

Following the clip, Stewart joked: “God knows who else? I mean statistically, a couple of them at least have to be podcasters”.

Stewart, who walked away from The Daily Show in 2015, was replaced by comedian Trevor Noah, who hosted the programme until 2022. Stewart returned to his old perch on 12 February, and will host the popular satirical series every Monday until the US presidential election later this year.

He will also executive produce the weeknight show for Comedy Central into next year, in order to help it through another transition.