This week, Jon Stewart's annoyance with cable news wasn't just limited to Fox. “The Daily Show” host made fun of CNN and MSNBC for their coverage of a truck decal showing President Joe Biden being described as “disturbing” and “dehumanizing,” which many cable news networks refused to show on air.
“It’s got to be devastating for them. News channels show images from Ukraine, from Gaza, from natural disasters. They get through them dispassionately. I can’t imagine how devastating this footage must be,” Stewart said before showing the clip. He then stared at his audience dumbfounded as laughter filled the studio.
On Saturday, Donald Trump posted a video of the decal in question on his Truth Social account. The image of a truck covered in Trump stickers and flags in Long Island shows a tailgate decal that depicts Biden hogtied in the bed of the vehicle.
“That’s what was so disturbing and dehumanizing you wouldn’t show it on television? An airbrushed Biden decal on the back of a truck?” Stewart asked. “Aren’t you the same networks that show reruns of 9/11 every year?”
Stewart then clarified that he doesn’t think it’s “great” that Trump is posting images like this — indeed the news networks explained they weren’t showing the image because it depicted an act of violence against the sitting president.
“But it’s not like people really think that Biden was tied up in the back of the truck,” Stewart said. “If you think that’s really Joe Biden tied up on back of a pickup truck, I don’t know if you have the mental acuity to be operating a motor vehicle.”
Stewart then used the story to transition into a global problem involving far more believable and nefarious use of public figures, scams run by artificial intelligence.
The top-of-the-monologue segment serves as an example of why Stewart is so beloved among his fans. During his original run on “The Daily Show” from 1999 to 2015, Stewart became known for calling out hypocrisy on both sides on the political aisle, especially when it took place on cable news.
