Jon Stewart on Trump’s assassination attempt

Jon Stewart returned to the “Daily Show” desk Tuesday night and spoke about the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.

“We averted a catastrophe, but it’s still a tragedy,” Stewart said. He then paid tribute to firefighter Corey Comperatore, who died in the shooting.

“He gave his life in service to his community and he died literally protecting his family,” Stewart said of Comperatore. “He reminds us that in these times of crisis, there are people who can help and we can all make the choice to try to be one of those people.”

Earlier in his opening remarks, Stewart joked that “the Internet is a great source of information” when “shit hits the fan” in the United States.

“Like, within minutes I found out it was a set-up, then I found out it was actually an inside job, then I found out it was Joe Biden who ordered it,” Stewart joked of conspiracy theories about Trump’s shooting.

The “Daily Show” host then explained why people feel the need to immediately know the suspect’s identity and background after a tragic event.

“When you hear about a horrific event, you’re on tenterhooks in a kind of reverse demographic lottery to make sure that the psychopathic shooter isn’t on one of your teams,” Stewart said. “You sit there and say, ‘Please, no Democrats, no liberals, no progressives — it’s like this game of ‘Press Your Luck.’ … And we all do it. We need to know where we stand in the face of tragedy.”

He added: “And none of us know what’s going to happen next, except that there’s going to be another tragedy in this country, that we’re going to bring upon ourselves, and then we’re going to feel that feeling again.”

When late-night television resumed Monday, several hosts discussed the shooting that injured Trump and shook the country.

“My immediate reaction when I saw this on Saturday was horror at what was happening, relief that Donald Trump survived and, frankly, heartbreak for my beautiful country,” Stephen Colbert said on “The Late Show,” adding: “But I might as well start the show by wailing on the floor, because how many times do we have to learn the lesson that violence has no place in our politics? The whole purpose of a democracy is to settle our differences by voting, as the saying goes, not by shooting.”

On NBC’s “Late Night,” Seth Meyers condemned the “horrific” attack on Trump and called for “an inclusive politics of compassion, empathy and community.”

Meyers added: “What we don’t need are opportunists who indulge in paranoia, suspicion and fear and who have already rushed to fill the void with incendiary conspiracy theories and lies,” before moving on to cover the assassination on various news programs.

Jimmy Kimmel Live guest host Anthony Anderson opened Monday’s show with a joke: “Everybody is still reeling from the tragic events that happened at the Trump rally on Saturday. All weekend, I kept thinking, ‘I wonder what Jimmy Kimmel is going to say about this on Monday?’ And then I thought, ‘Oh, I’m Jimmy Kimmel on Monday.'”

The “Black-ish” star added: “I hope this is a moment where we can all take a step back from the hate and vitriol in our politics and maybe relax.”