While
plenty of questions were raised about Donald Trump during the 2016
presidential campaign, Jon Stewart says there was at least one question
that was never posed to the Republican nominee.
“Nobody asked Donald Trump what makes America great,” Stewart told Charlie Rose in an interview that aired on “CBS This Morning” on Thursday.
“What are the metrics? Because it seems like from listening to him, the
metrics are that it’s a competition. And I think what many would say is
what makes us great is — America is an anomaly in the world.”
The
former “Daily Show” host, who left the Comedy Central show last year,
said Trump’s candidacy “has animated that thought: that a multiethnic
democracy, a multicultural democracy is impossible. And that is what
America by its founding, and constitutionally, is.”
Stewart,
who made a few surprise appearances on stage and on television but was
largely absent during 2016 election, said he “thought Donald Trump
disqualified himself at numerous points” during the race. But the
comedian also cautioned against painting Trump’s supporters with a broad
brush.
“There
is now this idea that anyone who voted for him has to be defined by the
worst of his rhetoric,” Stewart said. “Like, there are guys in my
neighborhood that I love, that I respect, that I think have incredible
qualities who are not afraid of Mexicans, and not afraid of Muslims, and
not afraid of blacks. They’re afraid of their insurance premiums. In
the liberal community, you hate this idea of creating people as a
monolith. Don’t look at Muslims as a monolith. They are individuals, and
it would be ignorance. But everybody who voted for Trump is a monolith,
is a racist. That hypocrisy is also real in our country.”
Trump, Stewart argued, isn’t even a Republican: He’s a “repudiation of Republicans.”
“Donald
Trump is a reaction not just to Democrats, to Republicans,” he said.
“They’re not draining the swamp. [Senate Majority Leader Mitch]
McConnell and [House Speaker Paul] Ryan, those guys are the swamp. And
what they decided to do was, ‘I’m going to make sure government doesn’t
work and then I’m going to use its lack of working as evidence of it.”
“The
ultimate irony of this election is the cynical strategy of the
Republicans, which is: ‘Our position is government doesn’t work. We’re
going to make sure… that it doesn’t work,’” Stewart continued. “But they
will reap the benefit of his victory, in all of their cynicism. I will
guarantee you Republicans are going to come to Jesus now about the power
of government.”
Stewart also said the
outrage over Trump’s appointment of Breitbart CEO Steve Bannon — who
has championed white nationalism — as his chief White House strategist is overwrought.
“You
know, somebody was saying there might be an anti-Semite that’s working
the White House,” he said. ‘And I was like, ‘Have you listened to the
Nixon tapes?’ Like, forget about advising the president, the
president.’”
At a standup benefit the week before the election, Stewart recalled his 2013 Twitter feud with Trump, who had called him a “phony” and suggested that Stewart — nee Jonathan Leibowitz — was ashamed of his Jewish heritage.
“Vote wisely in November,” Stewart joked.
On the eve of the election, Stewart joined former colleague Stephen Colbert to blast Trump on CBS’ “The Late Show.
“Are
you kidding me?!” he said. “Are you serious? That angry
tax-and-draft-dodging little orange groundhog is running for president?”
On Thursday, though, Stewart offered a glimmer of hope to those distraught over Trump’s election.
“I
don’t believe we are a fundamentally different country today than we
were two weeks ago,” he said. “The same country with all its grace and
flaws, and volatility and insecurity, and strength and resilience exists
today as existed two weeks ago. The same country that elected Donald
Trump elected Barack Obama. I feel badly for the people for whom this
election will mean more uncertainly and insecurity. But I also feel like
this fight has never been easy.”
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