Former The Daily Show host Jon Stewart said that he thinks Trump is winning his war against the media by turning “their own narcissism” against them.
Stewart told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour earlier this week that Trump is winning this “war” he created by changing the conversation.
President Trump has been able to appeal to journalists’ “own narcissism” by attacking them, says Jon Stewart. “They take it personally, and now he’s changed the conversation to, not that his policies are silly or not working … it’s all about the fight.” pic.twitter.com/2N3V5NqZ6Q
— Christiane Amanpour (@camanpour) October 30, 2018
“I think that journalists have taken it personally,” the comedian said. “They are personally wounded and offended by this man. He baits them, and they dive in. What he’s done well, I thought, is appeal to their own narcissism, to their own ego. … They say, ‘We are noble, we are honorable, how dare you, sir!’ And they take it personally.”
Amanpour pushed back against Stewart’s criticism and said journalists react to Trump’s “fake news” and “enemy of the people” taunts because it’s difficult “to be dispassionate” when the words coming at them from the White House are so “aggressive.”
Stewart then reminded her that journalists aren’t the only group in the U.S. suffering under the Trump administration.
“Think of the communities of color, think of Muslims, think of the black community,” he said. “When journalists rise to this outrage of ‘How dare you say that about us,’ think of the lives that they’ve (minority communities) been leading under this and what they’ve been put under.”
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