“Seriously, are we going to follow this guy to court every f—ng day?” said the exasperated late-night host. “Are you trying to make this OJ? It’s not a chase. He’s commuting”
With Trump’s criminal hush money trial underway, Jon Stewart slammed news networks over their unrestrained coverage — from documenting Trump’s commute to the Manhattan courthouse to his various moods captured in courtroom sketches.
“This trial will obviously be a test of the fairness of the American legal system, but it’s also a test of the media’s ability to cover Donald Trump in a responsible way. A task they have acknowledged they’ve performed poorly in the past,” said the late-night host, before cutting to a reel of several hosts on cable networks touting how they had learned from their mistakes since reporting on the 2016 and 2020 elections. “Well done,” said Stewart, who then added: “I think from this trial we will see the seeds of that introspection bear fruit — or we will learn that learning curves are for pussies.”
The host then rolled another clip of several anchors declaring Trump’s New York trail the “the trial of the century.” Feigning hope, Stewart mused, “Perhaps if we limit the coverage to the issues at hand and try not to create an all-encompassing spectacle of the most banal of details, perhaps that would help?”
In response, Stewart played a aerial footage of major cable news networks following Trump’s motorcade through NYC traffic to reporters attempting to decipher the former president’s facial expressions in court. “Seriously, are we going to follow this guy to court every fucking day? Are you trying to make this OJ? It’s not a chase. He’s commuting,” said Stewart.
The host was momentarily excused from his soapbox as correspondent Jessica Williams returned to the show to remind Stewart that Trump farting his way through the trial is the entertainment America wants. For his part, Trump has reportedly raged over the media’s increased scrutiny over everything from reports that he can’t stop nodding off, to unflattering court sketches, to late-night talk show hosts‘ daily roasts.