The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart cancels Trump schadenfreude party before it starts

The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart was having a pretty good week until he wasn’t. One of his favorite artists, Gary Clark Jr., was a guest on his television show. He got a chance to sexually harass former President Donald Trump after America’s favorite large adult son owned the libs by winning two trophies at a sporting event that bears his name. Oh, and the deadline for Trump to pay the $355 million judgment handed down last month was coming due. With interest, that judgment totals more than $450 million. Unfortunately for Stewart, party time has been delayed.

Last month, Trump was given a guilty verdict in a massive fraud case and was ordered to pay a $355 million penalty. Former President Trump was found guilty of falsification of business records, issuing false financial statements, insurance fraud, and conspiracy. As Stewart put it, every time Trump needed money, he would inflate the value of his properties. To be clear, this is illegal. However, an entire class of people do this all day, every day, free from legal recourse: Real estate developers.

As he continued his Monday night madness, Stewart was in a rare form following a week off from his post. Punchy and exasperated, Stewart tore into the investor class’ protection of, perhaps, the world’s most famous realtor. But Stewart wouldn’t take the likes of Kevin O’Leary from Shark Tank calling fraud “victimless” lying down. He’s going to go to some clips! Aside from calling O’Leary an “asshole,” he pointed out the hypocrisy of not holding Trump accountable for a crime simply because “every real estate developer everywhere on Earth” does it and has never been prosecuted. That sounds more like a global problem needing fixing than a precedent that should be followed because world governments give developers a free pass to break the law. Of course, as Stewart notes, there are examples of conservatives being concerned about fraud: When people are accused of taking advantage of welfare, food stamps, and other social safety nets that barely meet the financial requirements of living in a world where real estate developers unashamedly commit fraud to inflate housing costs. Or when a contestant on Shark Tank does it. In those cases, committing fraud is “stinky poo poo.”

As is usually the case, Trump probably will skirt all accountability, either via postponement and appeals or through the billion-dollar public offering and merger from the owners of Truth Social, the social media apparatus he prefers for live tweeting Saturday Night Live, mocking Jimmy Kimmel, and defying gag orders. Ah! Well, nevertheless.