Jon Stewart may have surprised people on Thursday as he called out fellow liberals and demanded they stop trashing all Trump voters as a bunch of bigots. CBS This Morning co-host Charlie Rose apparently expected the former Daily Show host to blast the new president-elect. Rose wondered if Stewart’s reaction to Trump is “fear.”
Instead, the comic cautioned, “There is now this idea that anyone who voted for him... has to be defined by the worst of his rhetoric.” Speaking of Trump supporters he knows, Stewart explained that “there are guys in my neighborhood” “who are not afraid of Mexicans and not afraid of Muslims and not afraid of blacks. They are afraid of their insurance premiums.”
Specifically singling out liberals, Stewart called out:
JON STEWART In the liberal community you hate this idea of creating people as a monolith. Don't look at Muslims as a monolith. They are individuals and it would be ignorance. But everybody who voted for Trump is a monolith, is a racist? That hypocrisy is also real in our country. This is the fight we wage against ourselves and each other.
The comic didn’t name names, but he might have been talking about fellow celebrities like Amy Schumer. After the election, she put out an Instagram reaction in which she wondered if Trump supporters were “able to read this far through the holes in your sheets.”
Stewart responded to Rose’s question about being “fearful” with a very even, measured tone. He calmed the CBS host down:
STEWART: I don't believe we are a fundamentally different country today than we were two weeks ago. The same country, with all its grace and flaws and volatility and strength and resilience, exists today as existed two weeks ago. The same country that elected Donald Trump, elected Barack Obama.
A transcript of the segment is below:
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CBS This Morning
11/17/16
7:32:27AM ET
CHARLIE ROSE: After Jon Stewart left the Daily Show, much of the presidential campaign went on without Jon Stewart's satirical point of view. We met with Stewart yesterday to discuss a new book about the more than 16 years he spent at the Comedy Central program. He was quick to give his post-election analysis. We just went through an election.
JON STEWART: What?
ROSE: Yes! Your reaction to this election?
STEWART: Uh—
ROSE: Surprise?
STEWART: Surprise? Surprise? It all ties together.
ROSE: Fear?
STEWART: Well, fear? You know, here is what I would honestly say. I don't believe we are a fundamentally different country today than we were two weeks ago. The same country, with all its grace and flaws and volatility and strength and resilience, exists today as existed two weeks ago. The same country that elected Donald Trump, elected Barack Obama. I feel badly for the people for whom this election will mean more uncertainty and insecurity. But I also feel like this fight has never been easy. And the ultimate irony of this election is the cynical strategy of the Republicans, which is our position is government doesn't work. We are going to make sure that it doesn't—
ROSE: Drain the swamp.
STEWART: but they are not draining the swamp. McConnell and Ryan, those guys are the swamp and what they decided to do was “I'm going to make sure government doesn't work and then I'm going to use its lack of working as evidence of it.” Donald Trump is a reaction, not just to Democrats, but to Republicans. He's not a Republican. He's a repudiation of Republicans. but they will reap the benefit of his victory in all of their cynicism. In all of their — I guarantee you people are coming to Jesus now about the power of government. One of the things that struck me odd about this election and maybe I missed it, but nobody asked Donald Trump what makes America great? And that was the part that I —
ROSE: He wants to make America great again but nobody said to him, well, what is it that makes America great?
STEWART: Correct.
ROSE: What is it you want to do that we are not doing now?
STEWART: What are the metrics? Because it seems like, from listening to him, the metrics are that it's a competition and I think what many would say is what makes us great is America is an anomaly in the world. Nobody — There are a lot of people, and I think his candidacy has animated that thought that a multiethnic democracy, a multicultural democracy is impossible. And that is what America, by its founding and constitutionally is.
ROSE: And is become more and more, year by year.
STEWART: Correct, correct.
ROSE: But do you think it's healthy that we have this now, that, in fact, battle, this real sense of finding out who we are and whether we have gone off track in some way?
STEWART: Yes — Absolutely. You know, I think you — I would rather have this conversation openly and honestly than in dog whistles. You know, somebody say there might be an anti-Semite working in the White House and I was, like, “Have you listened to the Nixon tapes?” Like, forgot about advising the President. The president. Like, have you read LBJ? Do you know our history? You know? This is — and we also have to caution ourselves to the complexity of that history. I thought Donald Trump disqualified himself at numerous points. But there is now this idea that anyone who voted for him is — has to be defined by the worst of his rhetoric. Like, there are guys in my neighborhood that I love, that I respect, that I think have incredible qualities, who are not afraid of Mexicans and not afraid of Muslims and not afraid of blacks. They are afraid of their insurance premiums.
In the liberal community you hate this idea of creating people as a monolith. Don’t look at Muslims as a monolith. They are individuals and it would be ignorance. But everybody who voted for Trump is a monolith, is a racist? That hypocrisy is also real in our country. This is the fight we wage against ourselves and each other. Because America is not natural. Natural is tribal. We are fighting against thousands of years of human behavior and history to create something that no one has ever — that is what is exceptional about America and that is what is what — like, this ain't easy. It's an incredible thing.
GAYLE KING: Incredible thing. It's so nice to hear from him, Charlie, about this.
ROSE: He is very reflective about the country and the election. He does not miss being at Comedy Central but has a lot to say and you know how much his voice was missed when you heard him.
KING: Yes.
NORAH O’DONNELL: I like it.
ROSE: Very interesting points.
O’DONNELL: I like how he, rather than dismissing Trump or those who voted for him, tried to explain and understand why they voted for him and not — don't paint them as a monolith.
ROSE: About all of the things the people are talking about in terms of Muslims and that, they are worried about insurance premiums.
KING: It shows how people jump to conclusions. Jon Stewart is basically saying, “Calm down. Everybody think.” That America is going to be okay.
