Jon Stewart objects to the fortune-telling news media on a new Daily Show
As hard as it is to believe, the Trump conviction has brought the worst tendencies out of the news media
Photo: Comedy Central
Former reality TV host Donald Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts this week. It’s true. It happened. One of the main reasons so many could hardly believe it is that, well, for so long, the Teflon Don always managed to wiggle his way out of any jam. His conviction proves that there’s still one place somewhat immune to his, um, we guess we’ll call them charms. To Jon Stewart, that’s the problem.
On an all-new Daily Show, Stewart was apoplectic at the response to the conviction. Cutting to clips of politicians and reporters, he noticed two things: 1) President Joe Biden really needs to leave the room after a press conference, and 2) did Donald Trump really deny ever saying, “Lock her up.”? Shouldn’t someone remind him of all the times he actively endorsed Hilary Clinton’s incarceration?
Stewart argues that, despite the many failings of the judicial system, courts are the last bastion of truth in America. Trump and Rudy Giuliani can go on Fox and say the election was stolen and get away with it. “The difference between in court and out of court is that in court someone can say, ‘Prove it,” says Stewart. “The problem is that most of the time in this country, our political leaders are not in court; they are on TV, where the news media has decided that there’s really no such thing as reality.” The news media can do the same, but Stewart says reporters have begun falling into this false belief that Americans are living in two realities, which isn’t true. There’s reality and a lie liars say is reality.
On the verge of a heart attack, Stewart argues reporters must “litigate the parameters of our shared reality.” Instead, news media is looking to the future. How will the conviction affect the election? Will Marco Rubio endorse a candidate with a conviction? That might be good for a show called “No One Fucking Knows,” the host screams, but what people actually need is someone to present the facts of what happened, not what they think is going to happen.
“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 on the future.”