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
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclub
Speed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's ills
Speed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, Stallone
Speed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's view
Speed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talk
Speed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'
Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wife
speed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play