Jon Stewart returned for his second round of hosting “The Daily Show” under his new deal on Monday night, and he wasted no time in laying waste to Tucker Carlson’s trip to Russia. In fact, the host treated it as a “master class” from Carlson in “the particulars of unquestioning propaganda.”
Pulling out a pad of paper and a pen, Stewart first asked “Professor, tell me, what is step one in delivering world class fealty to power?” At that, a clip of Carlson played, in which he explained that he was in Russia to interview Vladimir Putin “because it’s our job. We’re in journalism.”
“Lie about what your job is,” Stewart parroted back, taking notes.
From there, Stewart went through Carlson’s footage piece by piece, mocking the interview Carlson did with Putin, his fawning over Russia’s subway system, his additional fawning over the prices at a Russian grocery store, and more.
Actually, Stewart agreed with Carlson that Russian grocery prices “will radicalize you against” U.S. leaders.
“It will radicalize you, unless you understand basic economics,” Stewart shot back. “See, $104 for groceries sounds like a great bargain, unless you realize Russians earn less than $200 a week. That’s the kind of context that a — what did you call yourself earlier? Journalist — would have provided.”
Stewart wasn’t at all surprised by Carlson’s adoration of Russia though, nor by his attempts to glorify it to American viewers. Stewart even offered an explanation as to why Carlson was doing it.
“Here’s why. It’s because the old, civilizational battle was communism versus capitalism. That what drove the world since World War II, Russia was the enemy then. But now they think the battle is woke versus unwoke. And in that fight, Putin is an ally to the right. He’s their friend.”
He continued, “Unfortunately, he is also a brutal and ruthless dictator. So now they have to make Americans a little more comfortable with that. I mean, liberty is nice, but have you seen Russia’s shopping carts?”
You can see Jon Stewart’s full takedown of Tucker Carlson’s trip to Moscow in the video above.
