Jon Stewart on the RNC: ‘Unity in the Streets, Divisive in the Sheets’
Jon Stewart took to the Daily Show news desk on Tuesday to roast hypocritical calls for unity at the Republican National Convention following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump last weekend.
The host rolled clips of Republicans emphasizing the need to stop the “vitriol and hatred” and turn the “temperature down,” including one of the GOP’s most divisive figures, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, urging attendees to turn the moment to one that “helps us down the path of healing and unity.”
“To hear that ‘healing’ rhetoric coming from Ron Johnson is impressive. I, for one, look forward to hearing his unifying remarks on the convention floor,” Stewart said, before playing a video of the senator claiming the policies of Democrats pose a “clear and present danger for America.”
“I’m sorry,” the late-night host quipped. “I guess he’s what’s known as unity in the streets, divisive in the sheets.” Stewart also called out Johnson for blaming his comments — which stood out against other speeches delivered by Republicans trying to rally around Trump — on his teleprompter, which the senator claimed loaded the wrong speech. “What a douchebag,” said Stewart, who then joked, “I didn’t mean to say that, that was in my teleprompter.”
Despite the RNC’s theme of unity, the event’s “Make America Safe Again” night was filled with lawmakers fear-mongering about migrant crime and displays of garish images including stock footage of a cadaver in a morgue, a family mourning at a funeral, and, strangely, a nuclear bomb exploding. And elsewhere at the convention, Johnson, a known peddler of misinformation on Covid-19 and the 2020 election, blamed the Trump rally shooting on schools.
To conclude Tuesday’s monologue and echoing a more somber tone delivered by his fellow late-night hosts on Monday, Stewart paid tribute to firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was shot and killed during the attempted assassination of the former president.
“We dodged a catastrophe, but it was still a tragedy,” said Stewart. “He had given his life in service to his community and he died literally shielding his family. He’s a reminder that in those moments of crisis, there are helpers, and we can all make a choice to try and be one of those people.”