Jon Stewart has said former President Donald Trump has given America a “gift” by “exposing” political and corporate corruption.
Speaking on his new podcast, The Weekly Show, the comedian discussed Trump, the election and democracy.
He said Trump’s conviction and ongoing trials have lifted the lid on “a reality of crony capitalism, a reality of transactional corruption that is the heartbeat of corporate and political America.”
Trump’s exploits have revealed the flaws and culture of shady deals in American politics and business, Stewart said.
He said, “In a way, it’s doing us a service in the sense that… you know how they employ a white hat hacker who breaks into a system and finds its vulnerabilities.”
Speaking on his new podcast, The Weekly Show, comedian Jon Stewart talked about elections and democracy.
Stewart was speaking with New Yorker magazine chief Washington correspondent Jane Mayer and Washington President of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics Noah Bookbinder.
He asked them if Trump’s recent criminal conviction for more than 30 felonies related to a money payment to Stormy Daniels is “exposing a reality” of deep and widespread corruption in the United States.
He said: ‘Are you exposing a reality? I’m not saying he’s not pushing the limit.
“I’m not saying it’s not exploiting it, but isn’t it exposing on some level a reality of crony capitalism, a reality of transactional corruption that is the heartbeat of corporate and political America?”
Mayer responded: “What I’ve seen is that the money has gotten bigger and bigger and it’s corrupting the government, but it wasn’t always like that.” It’s not the whole story.
“There are an incredible number of people in Washington who are really dedicated to doing the right thing for the right reasons, both Republicans and Democrats.”
Stewart asked whether Trump’s recent criminal conviction for more than 30 felonies related to a money payment to Stormy Daniels is “exposing a reality” of deep and widespread corruption in the United States.
Stewart argued that even if there are good, dedicated government workers, Trump has demonstrated “vulnerabilities” in the system.
He said: ‘You are identifying with a dissatisfaction and two things may be true. One is that there are a lot of really good, dedicated policy people and people of good heart and great integrity who work in Washington every day to make the country work better.
‘And number two is that the system is so far removed from the needs of its people and so isolated within the Beltway and within that very peculiar system within the Beltway, that it really can’t accomplish the goal, not even those people of good standing. The heart of Integrity wishes it so.
He then called for “reverse engineering” the system, given the problems Trump has demonstrated.
He said: ‘Now he’s not doing it for our benefit, he’s doing it to exploit us. But what I’m saying is, what if we take the information that he’s giving us, I mean, here are the vulnerabilities in his system that I can exploit? Can’t we reverse engineer that?