The Daily Show host Jon Stewart on Monday put the media on blast for fixating too much on Donald Trump’s stunts and not focusing enough on the “ultimate problem” with the former president.
“We’ve lost the ability to understand what level of outrage to even demonstrate,” he said.
He played footage of Trump’s 10-minute ramble about golf legend Arnold Palmer’s penis, along with some of the media reaction, which he suggested was an overreaction.
“For Trump, this was actually one of his milder genital rants,” he noted. “This was kind of his Kidz Bop genitals rant: classy, body positive. He was complimenting somebody else. I don’t know why we have to parse everything that this guy says so sternly.”
Then he played a very different clip of Trump.
“We have two enemies: We have the outside enemy and then we have the enemy from within,” Trump said, adding he could use the military against them. Trump said these “enemies” include Democratic lawmakers and others who oppose him, and specifically named Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
“They’re very dangerous. ... They’re so sick and they’re so evil,” Trump said.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Stewart shot back, then looked for evidence that Republican lawmakers would at least show some concern over those comments.
He couldn’t find it, with key GOP figures such as Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu openly lying about what Trump said.
“He’s not talking about using the military to attack people who disagree with him politically or anything like that,” Sununu said on CNN.
Stewart just about lost it.
“He is literally saying that! He is literally saying that! What are you talking about?” Stewart yelled, adding:
This is what gets us to the ultimate problem, which is this: Is any of the shit Trump says real? How are we supposed to understand what’s bullshit and what isn’t? Kamala Harris, she’s gotta have an 80-page presentation on exactly how this ‘opportunity economy’ is gonna function and how it’s gonna be paid for. Meanwhile, the standard for Trump is ‘emotional vicinity.’ Apparently, it doesn’t actually matter if the things he says are true.
See more in his Monday night monologue:
View this video on YouTube
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
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