Jon Stewart returned to The Daily Show on Monday for the first time since former President Donald Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts stemming from a hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Stewart dug into both sides of the media, first mocking liberal outlets by saying the conviction “was an exercise in concealed and controlled glee” and that the Democratic party’s next hurdle would be figuring out how to “exploit the moment politically without giving the impression that this was the plan all along.”
The host also lambasted conservative pundits over their claims that the justice system targets Republicans while protecting Democrats. “Someone should mention that to such unprotected Democrats as Senator Robert Menendez and Congressman Henry Cuellar, both facing corruption charges brought by our Department of Justice, not to mention Hunter Biden was facing jury selection in a federal gun charges trial, fucking today,” said the exasperated host, before adding, “Probably why you notice everyone on Fox and Friends this morning using pillows to cover their boners.”
Elsewhere, Stewart took a jab at President Joe Biden’s “Cheshire cat press conference” and rolled a clip of someone asking the president if Trump referred to himself as a “political prisoner and blames you directly.” Biden is seen turning and smiling absently, before walking out slowly. “Why does everything have to be so weird?” Stewart asked, calling the moment “some kinda Seventies sitcom freeze-frame.”
Towards the end of his monologue, the host said, “Our political leaders are not in court, they are here on TV, where the news media has decided that there’s really no such thing as reality,” before playing footage of various media outlets insisting that Americans “live in two different realities” when it came to politics.
Disagreeing, Stewart replied, “No, you’re thinking of the multiverse.” He continued, “We are all living in one reality, and it can be the news media’s job to litigate the parameters of said reality. What the courts do really well is look backward and reconstruct the realities of what happened. The news media could do the same, but what they do instead is look forward and wildly speculate on the future.”
