Comedian Jon Stewart called former President Trump a “dumbass” for saying he “respected” former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama.
Stewart is “The Weekly Show” During the former first lady’s speech at the Democratic National Convention earlier this week, she said she was “hurt” by the attacks on her family, according to the podcast.
“She was really hurt, quite frankly, by the terrible treatment she received from the Obama family, which continues to this day, not by policy, but by vile attacks that were just vile, conspiratorial and personally offensive,” the late-night comedian said.
“And yesterday Trump said he had a lot of respect for the Obamas. Ridiculous!” he added.
Stewart’s rebuke came just two days after he offered a rare word of praise to former President Barack Obama, calling him a “fine gentleman” ahead of his speech at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday.
“I like him. I think he’s a fine gentleman, but he’s been very weak on trade,” Trump said earlier in the day, later adding, “But I happen to like him. I respect him and I respect his wife.”
Stewart noted the numerous attacks that Republican candidates have launched against the Obamas, and that just because Trump said it doesn’t make it true. Trump was one of the strongest promoters of the “birther” conspiracy theory, which falsely claims that Obama was not born in the United States.
“Just because he said it doesn’t make it true. He was the leader of this very flood and river of foul language. And I imagine she thought, ‘We’ve given a piece of our flesh to this endeavor, and I want nothing to do with it,'” Stewart said of Trump and Michelle Obama.
The former first lady was scathing of the Republican presidential candidate throughout her speech on Tuesday, drawing the loudest applause when she mentioned the former president’s recent “black jobs” comments. Her husband also delivered a scathing remark about Trump, warning that he spreads conspiracy theories and has an “unhealthy obsession with crowd size.”
Trump responded to criticism on Wednesday by questioning whether he needed to “stay true to the policy” after the Obamas made “personal attacks” in their speeches, a reference to calls from Republican lawmakers for candidates to focus on policy differences rather than personal attacks.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
