“The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, speaking live after the first general election debate between President Biden and former President Trump on Thursday night, joined the chorus of people condemning the sitting president’s performance.
“I’ve got to call a real estate agent in New Zealand,” says Stewart, who these days hosts a Comedy Central show only on Mondays. After playing the clip Biden paused mid-thought before asserting, “We finally got past Medicare.”
Democrats panicked about how Biden handled the debate, often mumbling or drifting off to other topics and struggling to get his point across. A CNN quick poll showed that two-thirds of viewers thought Trump won the Atlanta debate.
Stewart said Biden had a “look of relief about the 25th Amendment” on his face as he listened to the Republican lawmakers, and made it clear he believes the president’s response was no different when his predecessor spoke.
“Biden is probably not in top form, so I think we’re going to check out this young up-and-comer, Donald Trump,” Stewart said, before playing a short montage of the former president. “Biden doesn’t seem to pass the idiot test,” he said.
“Let me be clear: everything Donald Trump said in that video is a blatant and total lie,” he said.
Looking at both candidates, the veteran comedian seemed despairing: “This isn’t real. It can’t be.”
