Jon Stewart: Donald Trump Is A 'Repudiation Of Republicans'
NEW YORK (CBS) -- Jon Stewart believes President-elect Donald Trump is a "repudiation of Republicans."
Speaking to "CBS This Morning," the former "Daily Show" host said America electing Trump as president "is a reaction not just to Democrats, to Republicans."
"He's not a Republican," Stewart said. "He's a repudiation of Republicans."
Stewart doesn't think the United States is fundamentally different than before Election Day.
"The same country with all its grace and flaws, and volatility, and insecurity, and strength, and resilience exists today as existed two weeks ago," the comedian explained. "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 as government doesn't work. We're going to make sure that it doesn't work.'"
One of Trump's main slogans on the campaign trail was "draining the swamp" in Washington, D.C., but Stewart doesn't see that happening, with Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan leading the Senate and House, respectively.
"But they're 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," Stewart told "CBS This Morning."
He continued, "But they will reap the benefit of his victory, in all of their cynicism … I will guarantee you Republicans are going to come to Jesus now about the power of government."
Stewart questioned why the media didn't challenge Trump's main campaign slogan of "Make America great again."
"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," Stewart told "CBS This Morning." "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. Like every other state."
Stewart also touched on the notion of Trump supporters being called racists for voting for him, saying it was hypocritical to do so.
"I thought Donald Trump disqualified himself at numerous points, but there is now this idea that anyone who voted for him has to be defined by the worst of his rhetoric," Stewart said. "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're afraid of their insurance premiums. In the liberal community, you hate this idea of creating people as a monolith. Don't look as Muslims as a monolith. They are the 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."
Stewart added that "this is the fight we wage against ourselves and each other because America is not natural."
"Natural is tribal," he said. "We're fighting against thousands of years of human behavior and history to create something that no one's ever and that's what is exceptional about America and that's what is like, this ain't easy. It's an incredible thing."
