History has its eyes on you, Chuck Schumer. On a novel episode of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart parodied the music from Hamilton to lay into the Democr
History has its eyes on you, Chuck Schumer. On a novel episode of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart parodied the music from Hamilton to lay into the Democratic minority leader from New York for voting to pass a Republican-backed government spending bill.
The segment began with a montage of news clips featuring multiple congressional Democrats disparaging the bill as “terrible” and “designed to hurt the American people.” After that, Stewart played a clip of Schumer, the senior senator from New York, claiming that “Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate” to pass the budget and avoid a government shutdown.
Stewart then broke out into a bit of song, singing, “You don’t have the votes. You need congressional approval ’cause you don’t have the votes,” a lyric from Hamilton’s “Cabinet Battle #1.” He jokingly continued, making up lyrics before trailing off, then directly addressed congressional Republicans: “You see, Republicans, your little evil budget plan might have worked if you hadn’t forgotten that one Senator Schumer is Charles in Charge of the Democratic Party. I’m afraid your diabolical scheme has been foiled!”
Not so swift. Stewart then threw to a clip of a news anchor announcing that Schumer had changed course and would vote yes on the Republican-backed bill to avoid a shutdown, sparking outrage. The comedian stared blankly out into the audience as the crowed booed Schumer. “It turns out you had the votes,” Stewart sang, still in the tune of “Cabinet Battle #1.” “Republicans had the votes.” Here, he dropped the bit: “What the fuck happened?”
After playing a clip of Schumer contritely announcing he would vote for the novel budget to avoid a government shutdown, Stewart tried to come up with an explanation for Schumer’s flip-flopping on the bill. “You probably got a little something out of this, didn’t you, you old sea shoe!” he said. “You wouldn’t have given up that powerful leverage on the budget for nothing.” Again, Stewart was proven wrong by a clip of a reporter saying Schumer did not receive any incentives for voting yes on the bill. “Senator Schumer, no disrespect, but you are a disgrace to Jewish stereotypes about financial negotiations,” Stewart joked. “That’s what we do! But you’re out there—‘How much is it?’ ‘Five dollars.’ ‘How ’bout I give you $7?’”
The Democrats, who failed to retake the House and lost the Senate and White House in the 2024 elections, currently hold, per NBC, an approval rating of 27%, the lowest favorability rating in the history of the network’s polling. “You’re at 27%,” Stewart whispered. “You’re approval is only seven points above where it turns red and goes into low-power mode.”
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