Jon Stewart has a pretty good idea why “nobody really cares” about the mounting scandals surrounding Republican congressman George Santos. And it has everything to do with how he looks.
“Everything about him just screams of mediocrity,” the former Daily Show host said on the podcast that accompanies his Apple TV+ show this week, citing Santos’ big frame glasses, “doughy countenance,” and basic haircut. “He’s not obese, he’s not skinny, he’s everything in the middle,” Stewart continued, comparing him to the new “fresh meat” inmate who doesn’t know whether to join the “Aryan gang” or the “Spanish gang.”
After making a series of jokes at Santos’ expense with his co-hosts and writers Henrik Blix and Maria Randazzo—including the inspired speculation that Santos typed “lies I could tell that people wouldn’t check” into ChatGPT—Stewart stopped himself and took a step back to warn against the danger of turning the congressman into nothing more than a punchline.
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“The thing we have to be careful of, and I always caution myself on this and I ran into this trouble with Trump,” Stewart said, “is we cannot mistake absurdity for lack of danger. Because it takes people with no shame to do shameful things.”
Drawing a parallel with both Trump and Brazil’s insurrectionist Jair Bolsonaro, Stewart added, “You could say, this is absurd! But absurdity is where the real danger always is.
“Absurdity always makes you think something is more benign than it is,” he continued. “I misjudged Trump because he was so ridiculous.”
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