Comedy show anchors lambasted the shocking armed incursion targeting Caracas, the seizure of President Nicolás Maduro, and vague plans to "govern" the country.
Jon Stewart
In his return to the show in 2026, the comedian dove straight into the shock decision to remove Maduro from power in early January, an action labeled by more than a dozen countries as a "violation of sovereignty."
"Clearly, this is actually a very dangerous moment for the international community," he remarked. "It's extraordinarily rare for a sovereign nation to breach the borders of another independent country and pull off a grab and go on their head of state."
"The truth is, nobody can predict how this endeavor is going to end," he added. "However, judging by the America's history, my guess is we’re going to be overjoyed about this for a short period. And then 30 years from now, there will be a Venezuelan leftist revolution, and the new government will point to this moment as the reason our embassy there is on fire. And it will completely derail a Democratic presidency. Typically, that’s how this nonsense works."
Stewart also pointed out the blatant admission that the incursion was motivated in part by access to crude oil, despite advisors' efforts to paint it as an anti-drug trafficking effort.
"Petroleum. Precious commodity, certainly – but not the reason a nation, formed 250 years ago on the ideas of freedom and independence, would go into a country and snatch a man at night," said Stewart. "You'd think there would be a somewhat loftier excuse. Is this your first war? I mean, what the fuck?"
He joked that the honesty ruined conspiracy theories: "'I think they did it for the oil' – Actually, I said it was for the oil."
He observed the dangerous precedent being set: "Whenever we want something and it’s within reach, we are going to seize it."
"The people I feel sorry for are the Trump defendants, the defenders, the yes-men, who haven’t received the memo that we no longer have to cloak our adventurism in the ideals of our great country," he concluded. "The reality is, this is all exhausting and exposes the Gulf of America – not the body of water. The true chasm is the distance between the high aspirations that embody this country and the thuggish gangsterism that this crew thinks makes us great again."
Jimmy Kimmel
The host came back with a rapid recap of the eventful holiday break. "It would take a nine-part documentary series to cover it all," he joked. "But I’m going to do my best to boil it down."
He recalled that the former President recently hosted a televised honors event, which reportedly earned the smallest audience in the ceremony's history. "I pity the White House intern who had to see those ratings and deal with it," he said.
The comedian then highlighted the glaring contradiction between a promise of "peace on earth" and the decision to launch a foreign invasion just two days. "If you were wondering how damaging these recent files are for Trump, turns out they’re 'start a war' bad," he remarked.
Even worse, Kimmel ridiculed the assertion about now managing Venezuela. "He’s going to run Venezuela? He can’t even run the country he is supposed to lead!" he fumed. "This is like if a struggling store decided to buy another bankrupt chain."
Stephen Colbert
On his program, Colbert addressed the unexpected operation. "What does this tell us? Those documents must be incredibly damaging," he said, taking a drink on stage.
"Let's be clear, Maduro is no saint," he acknowledged. "The question is suddenly decide to snatch their president in what seems like a breach of domestic and global statutes? Well, allegedly, the last straw was Maduro’s regular public dancing."
"Well, that's a novel excuse," said Colbert after showing a clip. "Let this be a warning to every enthusiastic dancer."
Colbert then mocked the big mystery of who would run Venezuela, suggesting it might come down to streaming services. "Of course, Trump has his plan," which is to "manage the nation until we can have a safe, proper and judicious transition."
"Wait, he'll run this country and Venezuela?" he joked. "Apparently, when he says 'putting America first' he means in the dictionary."
Seth Meyers
"You guys, Donald Trump set a record this weekend by becoming the first winner of a peace prize to initiate a military strike and kidnap its leader," joked Meyers. "The most stunning turn of events since a fictional villain was voted least likely to commit a certain act."
Meyers later mocked the attempts to justify the attack as a war against narcotics, while the central figure immediately confessed the motivation was oil. "It’s really just amazing how Trump just undercuts everyone around him and confesses the truth," he observed.
He also played a compilation of clips highlighting previous rhetoric condemning "never-ending wars."
"It's hard to comprehend anyone believed Trump was being sincere about being opposed to conflict," he said. "You really thought Donald Trump, the most thin-skinned man on the planet, would suddenly embrace the concept of caution when he gained control of the world’s most powerful military? Giving Donald Trump control of the U.S. military is like giving a reality TV cast an open bar and a 'one free slap' coupon. There’s going to be a lot of fighting, a lot of drama and a lot of terrible decisions."
