In a live edition of The Daily Show, host Trevor Noah brought on New York Times columnist Frank Bruni to freak out over the “blood-soaked and lawless” State of the Union. Just like Brian Williams on MSNBC, Bruni fumed over the President daring to bring up abortion: “[Trump was] baiting the Democrats with descriptions of abortion laws that were highly exaggerated.”
The Times columnist snarled, “You would think after the longest shutdown in federal history, he would temper his language a little bit. He might retreat. But it was as blood soaked and lawless and fantastical in terms of the relation to the truth as ever.”
But then, Bruni is the guy who said that negative coverage is “the only honest way to cover this president.”
Regarding discussions of the wall, Noah’s concern was solely for the Democrats: “How do you think Democrats begin to combat this narrative? Is there a thing or do they legislate around Trump?”
A partial transcript is below:
Daily Show With Trevor Noah
2/5/19
11:26pm ETTREVOR NOAH: What did you make to have the State of the Union?
FRANK BRUNI: (op-ed columnist, New York Times): Well, you know, it was a real whiplash experience because there were the moments he was appealing for unity saying he wanted to take a bipartisan approach and then there were the moments he was lying. And essentially baiting the Democrats with descriptions of abortion laws that were highly exaggerated and then the border. You would think after the longest shutdown in federal history, he would temper his language a little bit. He might retreat. But it was as blood soaked and lawless and fantastical in terms of the relation to the truth as ever.
...
NOAH: The lies in and around the border, it was particularly egregious. He came in and basically went from the state of the union is strong to America is dying very quickly because immigration is uncontrolled and we need to stop it with a wall.BRUNI: And the caravans are coming and sending the troops to the border.
NOAH: The caravans are we found out they are coming. We just found out now that they are coming. There's a new one coming.
BRUNI: Yeah.
NOAH: How do you think Democrats begin to combat this narrative? Is there a thing or do they legislate around Trump?
BRUNI: So far, they have been fighting it with facts and America is on their side. Americans don't think we should do anything and everything to have a border wall. They blame Donald Trump for a shutdown. So, so far, Democrats are winning.
