On Monday night’s episode of “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart criticized President Donald Trump for leaving a recent “Meet the Press” interview midway through, ignoring interviewer Kristen Welker’s persistent fact-checking.
“This could be seen as a hissing fit of an incredibly vulnerable baby boy whose paper-thin skin can’t bear to break free from the flattering embrace of his tongue-twisting followers,” Stewart said. “I mean, actually, I don’t know how else to look at it. That’s really it. It’s sad. It’s very sad.”
Tensions began to rise during Trump’s “Meet the Press” interview when Welker pressed the president on whether he intended to move forward with a controversial $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund aimed at protecting individuals who say they are being persecuted by the federal government, including those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. President Trump said that day that those involved in the riot “lost everything” in the aftermath. “They had FBI agents escort them into the building.” Welker denied the latter claim, telling Trump there was “no evidence of that.”
“I don’t know what will happen to the weaponization fund,” Trump told Welker. “I love this idea, because there are people like you, the fake dirty press, the distorted press, people like Biden, who is stupid. He’s not smart enough to understand what’s going on, but the people who surrounded him, the people who surrounded his beautiful resolute desk in the Oval Office, what they did to people’s lives, they destroyed people. They sent people to prison who had done nothing wrong.”
The conversation then turned to the 2020 presidential election, which Trump called “rigged.” He also raised allegations of fraud in California’s election system. Mr. Welker repeatedly fact-checked Mr. Trump at every opportunity.
In the end, Trump had had enough. Before leaving, he told Welker, “You’re a one-sided, twisted network. I’m sorry. Enough is enough, let’s stop. Thank you, darling. Enjoy.”
Watch the full monologue below.
