In a remarkable cycle of stupid, right-wing media are attacking The Daily Show host Jon Stewart after he did a segment explaining President Donald Trump’s civil-fraud verdict and why it isn’t a “victimless crime.” Right-wing media figures are claiming that because Stewart sold his New York City apartment for more than the market estimate, he “did the exact same thing as Trump,” “stole” money from the city of New York, and should look “for the nearest rabbit hole to dive into.”
Stewart, who hosts Comedy Central’s flagship satirical news program one night each week, opened his March 25 program with a long segment about the dishonest narrative that the $454 million civil-fraud judgment against Trump was harsh and unfair. In particular, Stewart addressed the argument that Trump inflating the value and size of his properties to get bank loans was a “victimless crime.” Stewart explained how this narrative is incorrect, not only because the banks he took a loan from got paid back at a lower interest rate, but because “money isn’t infinite. A loan that goes to the liar doesn’t go to someone who is giving a more honest evaluation. So the system becomes incentivized for corruption.” Stewart also noted that Trump’s “shenanigans cost the city of New York.”
Sycophants accuse Stewart of Trumpian wrongdoing
Stewart's monologue clearly struck a nerve because the next day, right-wing troll Tim Pool posted on X (formerly Twitter), suggesting that Stewart “commit[ted] fraud when he sold his penthouse for $17.5M” when New York city had “listed its market value at $1.8M and AV [assessor value] at around 800k.” The next day, Pool framed the buyer of Stewart’s apartment as a “victim,” posting that he “lost around $4M on the deal.”
In his second post, Pool was referencing a March 27 piece from the Murdoch-owned New York Post titled “Jon Stewart benefited by 829% ‘overvalue’ of his NYC home even as he labels Trump’s civil case ‘not victimless.’” The article drew a bizarre comparison between Stewart selling his apartment for more than the estimated market value and Trump lying about the size and value of his properties to defraud financial institutions and secure bank loans.
The Daily Beast explained in brief why the comparison was meaningless:
While Trump presented his inflated property values to lenders in order to get favorable loans, Stewart sold his property to a buyer who was willing to pay $17.5 million, which is an entirely different scenario. Stewart did not, for instance, submit documents tripling the size of his penthouse, like the former president did with his own in Trump Tower.
Additionally, it is quite common for a property’s assessed value and its market value—what someone would pay for it—to vary … with the latter often being higher.
However, other right-wing media figures started jumping on the bandwagon after the New York Post story, with Newsmax host Rob Schmitt claiming on his March 27 show that Stewart “did the exact same thing as Trump and most property owners in the United States.” He added that by paying taxes on the estimated value on his property, Stewart “stole” money from the city of New York just like he accused Trump of doing and should “volunteer that money back.”
Ever the enthusiast of dumb narratives, Fox host Mark Levin also talked about the story, reading out parts of the New York Post article, and calling Stewart “an economic illiterate and a moron.”
On March 28, the drumbeat continued with The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles claiming that Stewart “did the very same thing that he lambasted Trump for doing.”
One America News Network also picked up the New York Post story with guest David Wohl saying of Stewart, “If I were him, I would be looking for the nearest rabbit hole to dive into because this is the ultimate test of bias right here. If [New York Attorney General] Letitia James does not charge him for the exact same nonsense she charged Trump with, then we know there’s nothing but bias, nothing but politics behind this whole case.”
Fox News contributor Joe Concha also tweeted about the story, claiming, “Rich just get richer. And hypocrisy knows no bounds.”
Tim Pool doubled down on the March 27 edition of his podcast. After reading out Stewart’s X post mocking the attacks against him, Pool said, “Here is what I propose: We seize all your assets just like they’re doing to Trump. … You want to play that game, we can play that game.”
There's just one problem with the accusations that Stewart has engaged in some kind of Trumpian fraud scheme: They’re nonsense. Stewart himself mocked his critics on X: “OMG!! I've been caught doing something not remotely similar to Trump!"
