Jon Stewart on Trump’s White House media ban: ‘authoritarian crackdown’

Late-night hosts reacted to Donald Trump’s dramatic White House media ban and casual disregard of the first amendment.Jon Stewart“As many of you have heard, if you’ve been following the news, the hottest spot in DC has just changed their door policy,” said Jon Stewart on Monday’s Daily Show, referring to the president’s White House media ban. Over the weekend, journalists from several outlets – CNN, MS Now and Politico – were barred from White House grounds in an extraordinary escalation of Trump’s battle against news outlets, which the president attributed to the fact that it’s “sick” to have “a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories”.“Have you tried presidenting better?” Stewart advised. “You could. But no. You could ban the press or you could be a better fucking president.“I mean, give the press something to work with! ‘Oh, here’s a positive story: I never thought my car could take $140 worth of gas in such a small tank. I had no idea!’“And not for nothing,” he continued, “have we ever had a president, just flat-out in the Oval Office, come out against the constitution? ‘What kind of a sick country doesn’t allow unlimited, warrantless search and seizure? I mean, that’s not the North Korea I grew up in.’”When asked to clarify the specifics of the ban, Trump referred to the decision as “the ban on the free press”, which Stewart decried as an “an authoritarian crackdown”.“He gives no fucks,” he added. “He doesn’t even respect us enough to pretend he’s bound by our constitution.”Seth MeyersOn Late Night, Seth Meyers returned from an extended summer holiday refreshed and revitalized, soon to be ruined by a fresh supercut of every bad summer headline. Among the troubling developments: diesel prices at an all-time high, oil executives declaring “the great fuel crisis is here”, Iran strikes that damaged US base structures, and a trade war with Canada leading to a possible price hike on toilet paper.“Yes!” Meyers jokingly cheered at the montage’s end. “Now, you might be surprised that I’m psyched, despite what I just showed you. But I am psyched because I recently bought a case of this,” he said, whipping out a roll of toilet paper. “That’s pure Canadian two-ply, white as snow in Alberta. You know the street value of this shit? I can sell these for 30 bucks a pop.”But later in the monologue, Meyers got briefly serious: “This is how bad things are. Gas is too expensive to drive to the grocery store, and even if you do, you can’t eat anything because the food costs too much, it might make you sick, and if it does make you sick, the soap you use to clean your hands has just been recalled, while the toilet paper you need will be too expensive because of a trade war with Canada no one asked for.“But don’t worry, it’s not all bad, because you guys, we’re getting a fucking arch!” Trump’s proposed “triumphal” military arch will, according to the president, come equipped with drones and snipers – “you know, like all good-guy arches”, Meyers deadpanned. “What else is it going to have? Lasers, missiles and an eye of Sauron?”Jimmy KimmelAnd in Los Angeles, Jimmy Kimmel also reacted to Trump’s media ban. “As his popularity continues to plummet, Trump’s fingers go deeper and deeper into his ears,” he said. “Bad news is fake news to Donald Trump.”“Everyone knows [this] is an attack on freedom of the press, but Trump sees it differently”, he continued. The president said: “It’s a very simple ban. I don’t want them in my office. I don’t want them here.”Kimmel translated: “They hurt his feelings, and so they’re not welcome in his house any more.”The host then played a clip of Trump justifying the ban at his Oval Office desk, claiming: “There’s something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories. Now, if they want to write them, that’s fine. But I don’t have to let ‘em into my – into the people’s – house.”“He almost slipped and told the truth there,” Kimmel laughed. “It’s the people’s house that he knocked down without consulting any of the people.”“What he’s doing is positively un-American,” Kimmel continued, noting that on Monday, the five major news networks – Fox News, ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN – released a joint statement condemning the ban: “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.”“Do you realize how far south somebody has to go for Fox News to defend CNN?” Kimmel said. “The White House press pool is more of a mess than that reflecting pool right now.”