Jon Stewart criticizes ‘hypocrisy’ on the left over Trump voters

Silent through much of the 2016 election except for some notable appearances on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Jon Stewart offered extensive thoughts on the election of Donald Trump, and the left’s reaction to it, in an interview that aired Thursday on “CBS This Morning.”

The comedian, famous for dressing down hypocritical politicians and pundits during his 16 years as host of the “Daily Show,” zeroed in on commentary about Trump voters by some liberals.

“I thought Donald Trump disqualified himself at numerous points. But there is now this idea that anyone who voted for him has to be defined by the worst of his rhetoric. In the liberal community, you hate this idea of creating people as a monolith. Don’t look at Muslims as a monolith, they are individuals, and it would be ignorance,” Stewart said. “But everybody who voted for Donald Trump is a monolith, is a racist. That hypocrisy is also real in our country.”

Stewart told CBS’s Charlie Rose that he didn’t believe the country had changed fundamentally between 2008 and today, but he feared for marginalized communities as a result of Trump’s victory.

“The same country that elected Donald Trump elected Barack Obama,” he said. “I feel badly for the people for whom this election will mean more uncertainty and insecurity. But I also feel like this fight has never been easy.”

But Stewart didn’t let the GOP off the hook. He had harsh words for Republican members of Congress in particular, arguing that they pushed the idea that government was broken after their own policies stopped it from working.

“Donald Trump is a reaction not just to Democrats, but to Republicans. He’s not a Republican. He’s a repudiation of Republicans. But they will reap the benefit of his victory,” he said. “I will guarantee you now that Republicans are going to come to Jesus now about the power of government.”