Daily Show host Jon Stewart tore into CNN on Monday night over its nonstop and “f***ing weird” promotion of anchor Jake Tapper’s new book on Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, accusing the network of peddling “news they should’ve told you was news a year ago for free.”
The late-night host kicked off the program by featuring a montage of Tapper relentlessly promoting Original Sin, the book he co-wrote with Axios correspondent Alex Thompson that dives into the “cover-up” that the White House engaged in during the final years of Biden’s presidency to hide his age-related issues and failing health.
“Don’t news people have to tell you what they know when they find it out?!” Stewart reacted.
“Isn’t that the difference between news and a secret? ‘You won’t believe what we found out!’ No, that’s why I’m watching. Breaking news — in a week.”
At the same time, Stewart juxtaposed the network’s wall-to-wall coverage of Original Sin with the sudden revelation that the former president had been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer.
“Nothing could slow down this coming, feeding news frenzy about Biden’s cognitive health, other than maybe a report on his actual physical health, which was not good, but now we’ve got ourselves a little problem,” he noted.
“You’ve prepared an entire smorgasbord based on what you thought would be a relatively uncomplicated story about mental decline,” the comedian continued.
“News has the countdown clock, they got the book graphics, they got the CNN Happy Meal tie-in toys, but now doing the story seems almost disrespectful. Can CNN thread the needle? How do you pivot from excitedly promoting your anchor’s book to somberly and respectfully promoting your anchor’s book?”
He went on to ridicule the network’s personalities for still attempting to plug Tapper’s book while simultaneously devoting coverage to Biden’s illness, noting they were using the diagnosis as a selling point.
“Forgetting about the fact how f***ing weird it is that the news is selling you a book about news they should’ve told you was news a year ago for free, it’s just fun to watch them not only continue to push the book in light of this difficult news, but to actually frame this difficult news as perhaps even more of a reason to buy this book,” he quipped.
He also took a shot at CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter for saying that in light of Biden’s cancer revelation, “some observers will say that the reporting in the book is even more important now.” According to Stewart, this might make it appear to others to wonder “why are they hawking this f***ing thing” and whether “these CNN people work on commission.”
The Daily Show host also took aim at President Donald Trump’s initial response to the news that his predecessor has cancer, joking that it felt like “ChatGPT” came up with his remarks.
On Sunday, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, writing: “Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis.”
“We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery,” he added.
Stewart attacked the response on Monday night, pointing out that any compassion from the right appeared to have been short-lived with a tirade of conspiracy theories following soon after.
“Right-wing media definitely pivoted from concern to accusation,” Stewart said. “But perhaps the most shocking response of all was from the commander in chief himself.”
As the talk show host played a clip of a reporter reading out Trump’s response, he stared into the camera and took a long pause, before opening his palms in disbelief.
“That’s it? No exclamation points, no all caps, no insults. Whole thing spelled correctly?” the host jibed. Trump is known for posting long rants on Truth Social, which often include capitalized, ungrammatical, and inflammatory accusations.
Questioning the authenticity of the post, the host joked as to whether Truth Social would have flagged it as a security alert, because of the inconsistencies with the president’s previous posts.
“The fact that Trump responded to Biden’s diagnosis with the most pro forma, bare minimum, ChatGPT statement was so astonishing, even the corrupt lamestream media gave Trump his props,” Stewart continued.
He then played several news clips, including one from CNN contributor Paul Begala, who praised Trump’s “gracious” statement.
“What he did was not noteworthy and important,” Stewart continued. “Has any president, has any person ever had a lower bar to clear than I have to salute the president?”
Stewart then sarcastically mocked Begala, stating, “I certainly disagree with him on many things, but I have to applaud that after hearing this devastating news about Joe Biden that Donald did not take cancer’s side.”
Biden’s spokesperson revealed that he was “diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone.”
