Jon Stewart has slammed the media for reporting the “mundane” details of former President Trump’s first of four criminal trials. The trial began with opening statements Monday after a week of jury selection.
On Monday night’s episode of “The Daily Show,” Stewart told TV news outlets that tracked Trump’s travel route from Trump Tower to the courtroom and compiled footage from various news outlets as the car made every turn. Made fun.
“Seriously, are we going to follow this guy to court every day? Are we going to make this O.J.? [Simpson]? That’s not tracking.? He’s on his way to work,” Stewart said. “So the first attempt at media restraint, the first attempt on day one, failed.”
In recent days, the media has provided detailed coverage of Trump, who is making history as the first US president to go to trial on criminal charges. Trump is also this year’s Republican presidential nominee.
President Trump currently faces 34 criminal charges for falsifying business records in connection with his payoff to then-fixer Michael Cohen. Michael Cohen paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged affair with the former president before the 2016 election. Ten years ago. This is the first of four criminal trials Trump faces, and likely the only one before a jury before the November election.
In his broadcast, Stewart took aim at television news organizations, suggesting they cover small breaking news stories as important breaking news stories.
Stewart pretended to be talking to a producer on the receiver, pausing mid-sentence and saying: We’ve got breaking news,” cuts to a clip from an earlier interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, who similarly cuts to a clip of his guest’s remarks to confirm the photo shown on the screen for viewers. It was temporarily interrupted.
“I’m sorry for interrupting you. Just for a second. I’m sorry,” Tapper said in the video. “We’re just showing the first image of Donald Trump from inside the courtroom. What we’re showing you there is a still image. We just want to make sure the viewer understands what they’re seeing. It is.”
Stewart retorted: “Yes, for viewers who have just woken up from a 30-year coma, this is what Donald Trump has looked like every day for the past 30 years. Same costume.”
Stewart again criticized CNN for dissecting the courtroom sketch so closely, saying: Why would anyone analyze a sketch like that? It’s like watching The Last Supper and saying, “Why do you think Jesus looks so sad here?” What do you think? Is it because of Judas? ”
“Something important and revelatory is going to happen at some point in this trial,” Stewart said. “But none of us would notice because we spent hours speculatively checking his face. The media makes us feel as though mundane shit is earth-shaking.” Even if we tried, we wouldn’t believe it, even if it was really interesting.”
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