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(Southern accent) "I'm jus' a lil ole comedian!" ____________________________________________________ |
She had an excellent response to Jon Stewart's predictable defense of his both-sidesing Biden last week.
I say predictable because he had previously teamed up with his fellow millionaire celebrity Susan Sarandon in presenting her critics as assholes who unfairly blamed her for Trump.
Mary writes:
In his response, Stewart joked about the backlash he received from Democrats:
“I just think it’s better to deal head on with what’s an apparent issue to people. I mean, we’re just talking here.”
That’s when Stewart referred to my statement that “not only is Stewart’s ‘both sides are the same’ rhetoric not funny, it’s a potential disaster for democracy.”
“It was one fucking show!” Stewart exclaimed. “It was 20 minutes. But I guess, as the famous saying goes, ‘democracy dies in discussion.’”
“But look,” Stewart added with a Southern accent, “I have sinned against you. I’m sorry,” before he insinuated the pushback was propaganda.
In other words, instead of engaging with my actual critique, he set up a straw man. He didn’t defend his false equivalency — he pretended my objection to his comment was that he had made a comment at all.
Besides, Jon Stewart is not just a comedian trying to nail his tight ten at the Comedy Cellar on open mic night. By his own design, he puts himself out to be a serious player and influencer in American politics.
Exactly. He's a serious enough player to say:
“I very much wanted to have some kind of place to unload thoughts as we get into this election season, and I thought I was going to do it over at, they call it, Apple TV+,” he said. However, he added, “they felt that they didn’t want me to say things that might get me in trouble.”
But when he gets criticism for his thoughts, he falls back on (Southern accent) "who me? I'm jus' a lil' ole comedian."
I would subscribe to Mary Trump's work, but unfortunately she's still on Nazi-loving Substack.
Both Steven Colbert and John Oliver are consistently outshining Stewart.
Biden is old. But he is not corrupt, incompetent or criminal. He believes in democracy. For Stewart to compare the two men in this way distorts reality in the precise manner right-wing propagandists do. He should be ashamed of spouting this kind of claptrap.
And clearly, he is, because he devoted an entire segment in his second show to trying to laugh off the backlash to his first show. That’s how you know Stewart has messed up — he tries to gaslight his critics by accusing them of overreacting.
But here’s the thing Stewart knows, deep in his heart: The political fate of this country isn’t a joke — especially for our most vulnerable citizens. If you’re an immigrant fleeing violence in your homeland, if you’re a young woman impregnated by your rapist, if you’re a transgender child, if you’re a person of color living in a community with white supremacists, the difference between a Biden and Trump presidency is a direct threat to your life, not a punchline.
