Jon Stewart crushed any hopes that Republican Senator Susan Collins might ever truly stand up to President Trump.
Collins, 73, is running for re-election in Maine against Democratic challenger Troy Jackson. Polling data gives Jackson a small lead, but all it would take is one normal-sized polling error for Collins to keep her seat.
Collins’ race in Maine has received heavy national attention in part because Democrats will likely need to beat her to take over the Senate. Democrats need to flip at least four seats to reach a 51-seat majority, which will let them confirm or reject new Trump appointees without needing any GOP defectors.
Collins has often portrayed herself as a moderate, bipartisan politician, but on Monday Stewart laid out all the holes in that image.
“No one plays the ‘I’m actually quite concerned and upset about this thing I am actually going to vote for’ better than [Susan Collins],” Stewart said.
Stewart described Collins as “the avatar for ‘wanting’ to do something about the policies her votes have enabled.”
In a blistering monologue, Stewart showed clips of Collins expressing concern about ICE’s actions before voting in June to continue funding the agency with zero reforms. He showed a clip of Collins expressing concern about a potential measles outbreak before voting to confirm anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Head of Health and Human Services.
“You know that ‘Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown’ metaphor? Stewart said. ”I can’t figure out if Susan Collins is Lucy or Charlie Brown.“
The Daily Show host explained, “She’s either Lucy, cynically pretending to be concerned about the obvious downstream effects of her votes... or she is criminally naive about the inevitable betrayal.”
Heightening the suspense around Collins’ race is that the polls have famously underestimated her before. In 2020 Collins was down significantly in nearly every single poll, yet she won by over 8 points.
Election analysts like Nate Silver have pointed to a few potential reasons why Collins might not be able to pull off this upset again. Maine has trended blue in recent years, for instance, and the state’s voters now appear less likely to view her as a moderate.
Stewart expressed hope that Collins’ repeated support for the historically-unpopular Trump might actually sink her this time around:
“Susan Collins,” he said, “I’d like to hear an explanation as to why you shouldn’t pay an electoral price for enabling all the terrible consequences that the people of Maine are facing as a result of your Senate votes.”
