Jon Stewart shreds ‘criminally naive’ GOP senator Susan Collins with Charlie Brown meme
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Jon Stewart has blasted embattled GOP senator Susan Collins for being “criminally naïve” in a blistering monologue.
Collins is running for re-election in Maine in November’s midterm elections, but multiple polls show she is trailing her Democratic opponent. The Democrats will likely need to defeat Collins to retake the Senate, which has put particular focus on the race.
On Monday’s episode of The Daily Show, Stewart took aim at Collins for her record of voting for policies despite previously expressing concern over issues that they could worsen.
“You know that ‘Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown’ metaphor,” Stewart said, referencing the famous scene where the Peanuts character yanks away a football Brown was just about to kick, causing him to go flying into the air.
“I can’t figure out if Susan Collins is Lucy or Charlie Brown,” Stewart continued. “She’s either Lucy, cynically pretending to be concerned about the obvious downstream effects of her votes, despite repeatedly voting that way, or she’s criminally naïve about the inevitable betrayal.”
The late-night show host compared Collins’ voting record against her public comments.
“I am really worried that we are going to see outbreaks of measles…totally preventable outbreaks of measles,” Collins said in a clip played by Stewart, who went on to show that she had voted to confirm vaccine sceptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr as HHS secretary.
“Yes, totally preventable. Specifically by Susan Collins,” Stewart quipped.
Stewart also played a video in which Collins claimed: “I would not support a nominee who demonstrated hostility to Roe v. Wade.”
Showing pictures of four conservative Supreme Court judges, Stewart said: “And, to her credit, she only voted for four of them.”
During his monologue, Stewart said Collins was the “poster child for troubled acquiescence.”
Collins has trailed Democratic challenger Troy Jackson in a several of polls compiled by The New York Times. In one August survey by Abacus Data, Jackson led Collins by as much as 8 points.
However, the senator has been underestimated in polls before, dramatically trailing her opponent in 2020, only to win the election.
Ousting Collins would bring the Democratic Party one seat closer to control of the Senate. The party needs four seats to wrest control of the upper house from the Republican Party and win a majority of 51.
Jackson has also joined in using his opponent’s record against her, posting a clip on X of Collins declaring “I don’t regret that vote” in reference to voting to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
“She stood with him then. She’s defending that vote now,” Jackson wrote. “Mainers will remember it (sic) that when they vote her out.”
The Independent has contacted Collins for comment.
