“The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah claims it is a “false equivalency” and “absolute madness” to compare satire aimed at President Trump to his predecessor Barack Obama.
In an interview with Christiane Amanpour on Thursday, the CNN anchor asked: “How different is it whaling on him compared to whaling on Donald Trump?”
Noah replied, “Oh, I mean, to try and compare the two would be not just false equivalency, but absolute madness. Anyone who tries to compare them has to admit that they’re being crazy.”
While it is true that Obama and Trump are vastly different in their policy, the idea that this somehow changes how comedy works is nothing more than Noah echoing the Leftist talking points that Democrats are off-limits while it is open season on Republicans.
Amanpour immediately backtracked. “I’m not,” she said. “I’m just saying how different is it as a comedian.”
Noah answered, stammering, “Oh, wow! It cannot be more, a pair like — one is ripe for comedy. One is, for instance, Donald Trump has left no contradiction unturned. That’s his thing. Donald Trump is a gift to every level of comedy. If you want to apply comedy or satire at the lowest level, Donald Trump is ripe for that. You don’t have to dig deeper. But if you do dig deeper, you will get more from him as well.”
On the other hand, “Obama was, like many politicians, a water table that is very far beneath the surface. So, to get to the right joke and the right piece of satire that would really illuminate what Obama was doing, you had to dig through so many layers and work through the weeds to get to the water table of jokes.”
Noah added, “Donald Trump has water on the surface. And the deeper you dig, the more water you find. So, I think that’s the difference between them. It’s just there is more.”
Noah, claiming that Obama was scandal-free and therefore harder to satirize, is simply untrue. The Daily Wire has reported on at least 11 major scandals during his administration.
A comedian should be allowed to mock and satirize any politician at their leisure, but claiming that there was some sort of balance between how left-wing celebrities mocked Trump and Obama is just not true.
Earlier in the interview, Amanpour geared Noah up by trying to establish his credit as an equal opportunity comedian.
“You didn’t spare President Obama, the satirical side of your tongue,” she claimed.
A simple internet search shows that, while Noah did poke fun at Obama on occasion, most of his jokes were geared toward mocking the former president’s critics.
You can watch the clip below: