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Jon Stewart Calls Trump 'Man-Baby,' But Says Antics Won't Lead To TV Return

By Sam Cholke | May 10, 2016 11:15am | Updated on May 11, 2016 10:55am
Jon Stewart on the Axe Files
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Youtube/University of Chicago Insitute of Politics

HYDE PARK — Former host of the “The Daily Show” Jon Stewart said Tuesday the ripe fodder of Donald Trump is not luring him back into TV satire.

Stewart was at U. of C. Monday to record a podcast with former presidential campaign advisor David Axelrod and took the opportunity to dig into Donald Trump and beg off any rumors he’s going to return to the political fray on HBO.

For all the audacious things Donald Trump has said on the campaign trail, Stewart said he’s seen it before.

“If you took Sarah Palin’s head and jammed it on Donald Trump’s body, would it make any more sense? Probably not,” Stewart said.

He said he’s seen the appeal to nativism before and it’s not going to woo him back to TV.

“We talk about it as though it’s something incredibly different, but in truth how different is it really?” Stewart said. “The media is as usual focused on the wrong things and abdicating responsibility for the general filtration of toxicity. You have enormous amounts of money flowing in to crazy people who are channeling populism of years past.”

That didn’t stop Stewart from making a few jabs at Trump, calling him especially thin-skinned, even for a politician.

“He is a man-baby, he has the physical countenance of a man and a baby’s temperament and hands,” Stewart said. “Character is destiny and he is the most thin-skinned individual.”

He said is working on animation projects with HBO, but people shouldn’t expect it to have any effect on the election.

“The October surprise in this election is not a two-minute cartoon I’m going to release,” Stewart said.

He said he remains engaged with politics, particularly locally as he works on starting a sanctuary for farm animals in New Jersey and all the regulatory hurdles that entails.

“I feel like I’m engaged now,” Stewart said. “When you’re not on television you’re still alive and engaged, and I feel more engaged now than I ever did sitting on television interviewing politicians.”

He encouraged the students in the audience to engage in life beyond social media and to get involved in politics, but to remember it can be a dirty and corrupting force, particularly in Washington, D.C., and they should hold onto their ideals.

Stewart ended by downplaying the role of satire in affecting political change and instead credited the activists whose work comedians are calling attention to.

“Shame can be a final gust of wind,” Stewart said. “Comedy can’t have an effect on policy, people can have an effect on policy.”

The event was part of a live-taping of “The Axe Files,” Axelrod’s podcast on politics and culture.

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