Jon Stewart breaks his silence on Donald Trump: “He has the physical countenance of a man and a baby’s temperament and hands”

Stewart comes out tough after a preview last week: "Are you eligible to run if you are a man-baby, or a baby-man

By Sophia Tesfaye

Senior Politics Editor

Published May 9, 2016 7:35PM (EDT)

Donald Trump, Jon Stewart   (AP/LM Otero/Brad Barket/Photo montage by Salon)
Donald Trump, Jon Stewart (AP/LM Otero/Brad Barket/Photo montage by Salon)

Not to worry, Jon Stewart has finally made his triumphant return to political comedy and satire just as reality television star Donald Trump has unbelievably managed to convince a major American political party to select him as their presidential nominee. Just in time or too little too late?

The iconic former Comedy Central host called Trump an "unrepentant narcissistic a--hole” during a taping of David Axelrod's "The Axe Files" podcast on Monday, according to Politico. Stewart told Axelrod that he wasn’t sure if Trump is even eligible for the presidential nomination.

“I’m not a constitutional scholar, so I can’t necessarily say, but are you eligible to run if you are a man-baby, or a baby-man?” Stewart said at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. “He has the physical countenance of a man and a baby’s temperament and hands.”

“When was America great? What is this time that he speaks of?" Stewart asked, referring to Trump's lazy "Make America Great Again" slogan. "’81 to ’82? Like what are we talking about? And who took your country away from you?" he joked.

Stewart later added that "at this point, I would vote for Mr. T over Donald Trump."

The former “Daily Show” host, who signed a four-year production deal with HBO to make “a few minutes of content now and again” back in November 2015, recently previewed his coming return to political commentary at a USO event with fellow semi-retired comedian David Letterman.

“Don’t worry,” Stewart told service members on Thursday, “Trump’s going to keep you busy! You’re going to have to repaint all the planes with ‘TRUMP’ in big gold letters.”

During Axelrod's weekly forum on Monday, Stewart delved deeper into the bizzaro world that is an American political landscape that centers around Trump, although he did flatly state that "I'm not going to be on television anymore."

"I feel like I'm engaged now," Stewart told Alexrod, according to People.  "When you're not on television, you're still alive and you're still engaged in the world. And I feel more engaged now in the real world than I ever did sitting on television interviewing politicians."

"The October surprise in this election is not going to be a two-minute cartoon that I'm going to release," Stewart added. The comedian told Axelrod, "we're working on technology and animation to try and do interesting and little small bits" beginning in September.

 

Audio of the entire "The Axe Files" episode featuring Stewart is expected to be released later this week.


By Sophia Tesfaye

Sophia Tesfaye is Salon's senior editor for news and politics, and resides in Washington, D.C. You can find her on Twitter at @SophiaTesfaye.

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