Jon Stewart says everything Trump does 'comes with an extra layer of gleeful cruelty'
Sensing that his good friend Stephen Colbert was suffering from Trump fatigue, Jon Stewart popped out from underneath his desk on Thursday night, and addressed President Trump directly, filling him in on why so many people are on edge.
The country is "still having a little trouble adjusting to your presidency as it goes into its 500th year," Stewart said. With North Korea's murderous leader Kim Jong Un good and polite Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau bad, everyone is feeling mixed up, but the hardest thing to deal with is that "no matter what you do, it always comes with an extra layer of gleeful cruelty and dickishness," Stewart said.
Whether it's a football player taking a knee or a family seeking asylum, Trump's not afraid to be brutal, Stewart said, and while he doubts Trump will be "shamed into decency, there is one place where I draw the line. I won't allow you and your sycophants to turn your cruelty into virtue." After playing a clip of different Trump defenders crowing about how the president is a fighter and loves the country more than anyone else, Stewart harkened back to the words of Abraham Lincoln, and then addressed the audience. "Trump wants us to stop calling his cruelty and fear and divisiveness wrong, but to join him in calling it right, and this we cannot do," he said. "By not yielding, we will prevail..." Watch the video below. Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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