On Monday night’s episode of “The Daily Show,” correspondent Jordan Klepper poked fun at the “important issues” Donald Trump‘s campaign focused on in the final days leading up to the election, including the death of Peanut, an orphaned squirrel-turned-social media star who was euthanized by New York wildlife officials last week.
“Trump campaign, this is your last chance to get your message out. Surely there is someone who is staying focused on the important issues and not getting distracted like some idiot dog when it sees a squirrel,” Klepper said.
The late-night show then cut to a clip of vice presidential candidate JD Vance bringing up Peanut the squirrel’s death. “I know Don’s fired up about Peanut the squirrel,” Vance told supporters at a campaign rally in Sanford, N.C., on Sunday. “We were on the way down here from Cincinnati. He was like, you know, is it really the case that the Democrats murdered the Elon Musk of squirrels?”
“Everyone, we are mere hours before Election Day, and Republicans’ final message is, ‘We must avenge the death of Peanut the squirrel,’” Klepper said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad Republicans finally care about police brutality, but here we are, with all of MAGA world mourning the death of Peanut the squirrel.”
During his opening monologue, Klepper compared Kamala Harris and Trump’s closing campaign messages, saying that the latter’s campaign has “gone off the rails.”
“While Kamala’s ending the campaign on a note of joy and celebrity hype, Donald Trump’s closing argument is that he’s pissed at basically everyone,” Klepper said.
The late-night show cut to footage of Trump speaking at his rallies in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania on Friday and Saturday, respectively, and complaining about people like Rep. Adam Schiff. In one clip, Trump said he wouldn’t mind if someone tried to “shoot through the fake news” to assassinate him.
“He’s just casually joking about reporters getting shot,” Klepper said. “I guess you’d be grouchy, too, if you had to do all your campaign events encased in glass like a stick of deodorant at Walgreens.”
He continued, “But Trump wasn’t just giving off dark vibes. He was also giving off a weird sexual energy.”
The show then played a clip of Trump appearing to simulate an oral sex motion with his microphone at his Wisconsin rally on Friday.
“You know a campaign has gone off the rails when you go to watch C-SPAN and it asks if you’re over 18,” Klepper said. “But blowing a mic stand isn’t even the weirdest part of his closing message. The weirdest part is that, with just a few days to go, he’s now telling us, ‘Oh, by the way, RFK Jr. is going to do all the president stuff.”
The “Daily Show” correspondent noted how the former president has recently insisted that he will put Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in charge of the nation’s health, food and more. “This is a lot of new shit to drop on us the day before Election Day,” Klepper said. “You spent two years talking about tariffs, and now you’re like ‘Oh, by the way, the guy with brain worms is in charge of everybody’s health.’”
Klepper concluded, “So to sum up: We are an hour from Election Day. We have a presidential candidate descending even further into madness, a legion of his supporters ready to follow him into battle, the Capitol’s all boarded up and ready for a final showdown, our kids’ teeth are about to fall out, the police are executing squirrels, and tomorrow is the climactic day when we discover whether Earth continues existing in its muddled mess or we all go screaming into hell.”
He added, “I guess what I’m saying is, don’t forget to vote.”
