Jon Stewart slammed President Trump’s pardoning of infamous criminals, recalling the time when even the pettiest of crimes couldn’t grant a person the same privileges.
“I kind of dig what he’s doing,” Stewart said sarcastically Thursday during his Comedy Central podcast “The Weekly Show.” At the time, Stewart was asked if it’s time that Trump’s pardoning power be taken away given the fact that he appears to be abusing it. “I used to think crime doesn’t pay, but now I’m getting a whole other head on this.”
He went on to say that he remembers when people had to fight to obtain non-threatening rights like the legalization of marijuana. But now, Trump is signing off on extreme criminal activity.
“He’s just out there with pens like ‘legalize international drug trafficking,’” Stewart said, referring to Trump’s pardon this week of Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras who played a major role in a drug trafficking scheme that brought over 400 tonnes of cocaine to the U.S., according to the BBC‘s report.
Has Trump legalized drug trafficking? Jon discusses our law and order president’s latest pardon. New pod drops tomorrow! #theweeklyshow #jonstewart #politics pic.twitter.com/wFOlKjitNB
— The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart (@weeklyshowpod) December 3, 2025
“Like, with the stroke of a pen, he’s like—this guy was convicted for—they literally said mountains of cocaine, and he’s like, ‘But a mountain, it’s not too much to have a mountain,’” Stewart said.
As for Congress’ role in it, or lack thereof, Stewart said they’re terrified of Trump.
“They’re scared s—tless,” Stewart said, before returning to his point about Americans’ freedom to use marijuana recreationally and/or for medicinal purposes versus the harsh prosecutions of the past.
“But do you remember when the step between getting dispensaries and getting arrested for smoking on the street was, ‘Well, if you had two joints, you’d be cool, as long as it didn’t seem like distribution’? Trump, while obviously droning boats to fight the drug war, he decriminalized a mountain of coke— you can’t do more than a mountain.”
He added: “Bribery is legal, state-sponsored drug trafficking is legal. I don’t even know what to make of this.”
You can watch “The Weekly Show” segment in the video above.
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