Jon Stewart Admits He Was Wrong to Dismiss Trump: ‘His Shamelessness is What Made Him Dangerous’

 
Jon Stewart at the Montclair Film Festival 2016 - Conversation With Norman Reedus, Jon Stewart And Filmmaker Awards

Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images

Jon Stewart has admitted that he was wrong to dismiss Donald Trump.

In 2015, Stewart reported on Trump’s White House bid during one of his last episodes as host of The Daily Show, referring to the former president’s candidacy as a comedic “gift from heaven.”

“Thank you Donald, thank you Donald Trump, for making my last six weeks my best six weeks,” he said. “He is putting me in some kind of comedy hospice where all I’m getting is just straight morphine.”

Stewart went on to call Trump’s announcement speech “the most beautifully ridiculous jibber-jabber ever to pour from the mouth of a batshit billionaire,” also cracking that “America’s id is running for president!”

Well, none of us need a recap to know that “America’s id” went on to win the 2016 presidential election.

“What I missed there is that his certainty, his ridiculousness, his shamelessness is what made him dangerous,” Stewart said of his past comments during a Wednesday interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

“I thought it made him a buffoon, and I thought that’s what would disqualify him. What it did is made him the perfect vessel.”

Stewart also drew parallels between Trump’s “shamelessness” and the actions of some of “the most dangerous figures,” adding, “Saddam Hussein seems absurd. Muammar Gaddafi would stand in a kaftan and rant like a madman.”

“You have to be shameless to do shameful things,” Stewart said, clarifying that while he was not directly comparing Trump to anyone, ultimately threatening leaders are often “the ones that seem comic and absurd.”

Tags: