In an America gripped by political chaos, it seems like every day is a new episode of a dystopian comedy. National parks and monuments are partially closed, food benefits for mothers and children are about to dry up, and federal workers are caught in a never-ending limbo as the government shutdown drags on. The consequences? People are stuck in airports, tourists can’t visit Alcatraz, and the only thing certain is that the politicians running the show are the least affected by it all. From the Senate floor to the Oval Office, it’s a reality show, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Jon Stewart, with his trademark sharp wit and biting satire, shines a spotlight on the absurdities of this political circus. He paints a picture of a world where everything is at stake—the livelihoods of hard-working citizens, the health care of millions, and even the future of the country’s infrastructure. And yet, the political elites seem more interested in public spectacles than finding actual solutions. One tourist from Italy, disappointed by the closure of Alcatraz, serves as the perfect metaphor for the disconnect between Washington’s decision-makers and the American people who suffer from the consequences of these failures. In his comedic portrayal of the shutdown, Stewart echoes the frustrations of those who feel the direct impacts of these absurd political maneuvers: parents struggling to feed their children, workers without pay, and communities left stranded by the inaction of Congress.

Yet, the most disturbing part of this shutdown isn’t the closure of monuments or lack of paychecks—it’s the deadly serious implications on health care for millions of Americans. The Democrats, in their attempts to prevent rising insurance premiums, have come up with a simple ask: extend Medicaid and protect subsidies that keep insurance affordable for 20 million Americans. Simple, right? But not in the world of Fox News, where these demands are immediately framed as radical and disastrous. Talk of “health care for illegal aliens” or “transgender surgery” gets injected into every conversation, as though these unrelated issues are the crux of the debate. What Stewart does best is pull apart this rhetoric, exposing it as a distraction, a way to rally the base with fear-mongering rather than solutions. His relentless mocking of the absurdity of such positions—especially when he sarcastically calls out “transgender surgery for illegal aliens” as if it’s a part of every healthcare conversation—cuts right to the heart of the matter. It’s not about the issues anymore; it’s about manipulating the conversation to score points, even at the expense of real lives.

And just when you thought things couldn’t get crazier, enter Donald Trump. The man who dominated the headlines for years is back in full force, weaving a tangled web of contradictions. On one hand, he brokered a historic peace deal in the Middle East, which, according to Stewart, is nothing short of miraculous. Who would’ve thought the same man who couldn’t stop a fight between Gary Busey and Meat Loaf would be the one to bring about peace in the Middle East? For once, Trump is getting some praise. But of course, this praise is tempered by the bitter reality that, while he’s negotiating peace abroad, his administration is ready to send National Guard troops into American cities, invoking the Insurrection Act against what he claims is a growing threat from Antifa.

Stewart takes this opportunity to call out the insanity of Trump’s actions, particularly his attempts to paint Antifa as an organized and sophisticated terrorist group on par with ISIS or Hezbollah. But when you dig a little deeper, you realize this is just another case of right-wing hysteria used to stoke fear, generate a crisis, and justify military intervention. What Stewart highlights—and does so masterfully—is the absurdity of the situation. In Portland, for example, the threats of “terror” are so exaggerated that they seem to be the stuff of comedy sketches, not real-life crisis management. The reality? The protests are mostly peaceful, the fires mostly contained to small areas, and what appears to be the grand plan to “restore order” looks a lot more like an elaborate attempt to use force where it isn’t needed.

As Stewart continues to riff on the contradictions of this administration—Trump pretending he hasn’t heard of Ghislaine Maxwell while tossing out names like Puff Daddy (we all remember him as Puff Daddy, right?)—he nails the disjointed, slapstick reality of Trump’s political legacy. The media circus of it all is laid bare, with reporters trying to ask serious questions while Trump and his team distract with mind-numbing one-liners. The juxtaposition is stark: the serious nature of health care, international peace, and domestic safety reduced to a game of political ping-pong with no real answers in sight.

But perhaps the most troubling thing about this shutdown is the way it reveals the disempowerment of millions of Americans who voted in good faith, hoping for change, yet see their concerns drowned out by an unrelenting machine of political rhetoric. Jon Stewart doesn’t just point out the absurdities for a laugh; he does it to ask an important question: Why are we letting this circus continue? The Democrats, who have struggled to pass meaningful legislation, are now relying on small asks like preserving health care for millions, but even these reasonable demands are reduced to something unrecognizable. Meanwhile, Republicans seem more intent on fighting over policy matters that have little bearing on the lives of ordinary citizens, ignoring the very real and immediate concerns of their constituents.

The shutdown itself is less of a political disagreement and more of a metaphor for the larger issue: a system that’s so broken, so beholden to partisan gridlock, that the very people it’s supposed to serve are suffering. Stewart points out the madness of the moment, using humor to draw attention to the deadlock and dysfunction. In this world, where one side is willing to hold the country hostage for ideological purity and the other is too weak to push back effectively, the question lingers: Will anyone rise to break the cycle of dysfunction, or are we trapped in a game of political chicken that only deepens the divide?

What we’re seeing isn’t just another government shutdown; it’s a symptom of a larger, more terrifying problem. In the end, Stewart’s mix of biting satire and insightful commentary leaves us with this question: Will the political machine ever care enough about the people to actually change, or are we doomed to watch as the circus continues to perform at the expense of the country? Because if you think it’s just about a few monuments being closed or workers not getting paid, you’re missing the point: it’s about a system that no longer works for the people it was designed to serve. And unless something changes, it’s not just the monuments that are at risk—it’s the very fabric of democracy itself.