Speed Reads

The Daily Showdown

The Daily Show's Trevor Noah tackles Trump's latest scandals, then shows how Fox News is covering them

"Today was another earthquake of a day in Washington," Trevor Noah said on Wednesday's Daily Show. "Today's late-breaking news — because this happens literally every day now; like we start the day going, 'I can't believe what Trump did yesterday,' and then by the end of it, it's more like, 'I can't remember what Trump did yesterday, that was so long ago' — well, today's news was that the Justice Department is now appointing a special counsel to head the investigation into Russian election meddling." He imagined the new special counsel, Robert Mueller's, reaction to getting that call.

Then Noah turned back to Tuesday's big scandal, the news that former FBI Director James Comey's notes of his chats with Trump indicate that Trump asked him to end an investigation. "The old obstruction of justice," he said. "It's not just an impeachable offense, it is the impeachable offense," ensnaring both Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon. "So in a way, Trump is being presidential." But any way you look at it, "this is by far the biggest Trump scandal — until the next one," Noah said. "To not acknowledge the gravity of this Comey memo, you'd have to be willfully ignorant, aggressively ignorant. In fact, you'd have to be Fox News."

The news side of Fox News has been covering the Trump scandals as they unfold, but the prime-time opinion hosts have been focusing on other topics. And when they have been discussing Trump's troubles, they are still trying to shift the blame elsewhere, Noah said. "Randomly blaming Obama was just one way for Fox to defend Trump. I mean, these guys hit every single angle they could find." He played some examples, then singled out one to encapsulate the conservative network's special relationship with the current president. "Last night, every single anchor on Fox News was truly special in their own way," Noah said. "But one man captured the essence of the evening in a way that very few could." Surprisingly, it isn't Sean Hannity.

"Last night I realized why Donald Trump loves Fox News so much," Noah concluded. "They're basically his Snapchat filter. Because whatever the reality is, they'll always make him look better than he is. Yeah, and just like a Snap, we're all hoping he disappears soon." Peter Weber