Amidst the media outrage over Donald Trump’s publicity stunt at McDonald’s or his NSFW rally comments about Arnold Palmer’s genitals, The Daily Show host Jon Stewart wants the focus to remain on Trump’s comments last week about using the military to punish “the enemy from within.”
“That’s not fun-loving and mischievous,” Stewart said. “That sounded quite threatening. That’s actually worthy of some real examination.”
Stewart showed a clip of VA Gov. Glenn Youngkin brushing aside Trump’s comments, claiming he was just talking about criminal immigrants coming over the border. Stewart responded by showing a clip of Trump clarifying that, by “enemy within,” he did mean prominent Democrats like Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi.
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“Are you out of your f---ing mind?” Stewart responded to Trump. “The former Speaker of the House is the enemy within? Well, I bet Donald Trump is about to get an earful from the current Speaker of the House, who will, despite his support of Donald Trump, still have the courage to—I’m kidding.”
Stewart showed a clip of House Speaker Mike Johnson downplaying Trump’s comments again, insisting the former president was just talking about “marauding gangs of dangerous, violent people.” Stewart also showed a clip of Florida Rep. Mike Waltz insisting that the media was just “connecting some dots” that weren’t there.
“It’s exactly what he said. Not dots. Words,” Stewart replied. He later added, “You can’t just pretend that he’s talking about something else.”
“This is what gets us to the ultimate problem, which is this: Is any of the s--- Trump says real? How are we supposed to understand what’s bulls--- and what isn’t?” Stewart asked.
He continued, “Kamala Harris, she’s got to have an 80-page presentation on exactly how this opportunity economy is going to function and how it’s going to be paid for. Meanwhile, the standard for Trump is emotional vicinity. Apparently it doesn’t actually matter if the things he says are true.”
For Stewart, the worst part about Republicans’ downplaying of Trump’s extreme rhetoric is that Trump has already proven he’s not all talk.
“Remember that day he tried to overthrow the government?” asked Stewart, referring to on January 6, 2021. “And I know it didn’t work, but ‘attempted murder’ isn’t the same thing as ‘never tried the murder.’”
“So we are left with this surreal idea that somehow Trump’s absurdity renders him benign,” Stewart said. “We dismiss his threats because of how much fun he has expounding on the length, width, and girth of Arnold Palmer’s c---.”
