Jon Stewart Explains How Trump’s Winning War On Media: He Appeals To Reporters’ ‘Own Narcissism’

In an interview with CNN International’s Christian Amanpour, comedian Jon Stewart pointed out how President Donald Trump is able to constantly play the press and win his war with the media — he uses the media’s “own narcissism” against them to force the conversation about his fight against the Fake News Media.

Sitting down alongside fellow comic legend Dave Chappelle, the former Daily Show host pointed out that one of the reasons the media as a while is caught up in the “daily Trump fest” is because they “got to make money, too.”

“You have bills to pay,” he told Amanpour. “Man, you got electric bills, you got food. You know, this guy is — he’s giving you all cash. That cash flow in the Trump era for these TV stations and for these news –”

Amanpour objected a bit to Stewart’s characterization, claiming that may be an issue for the “bean counters” but believe their “job is to navigate the truth and to do the fact-checking and all the rest of it.”

President Trump has been able to appeal to journalists’ “own narcissism” by attacking them, says Jon Stewart. “They take it personally, and now he’s changed the conversation to, not that his policies are silly or not working … it’s all about the fight.” pic.twitter.com/2N3V5NqZ6Q

— Christiane Amanpour (@camanpour) October 30, 2018

“But I think that journalists have taken it personally,” he responded. “They are personally wounded and offended by this man. He baits them, and they dive in. What he’s done well, I thought, is appeal to their own narcissism, to their own ego, because what he says is these are the — and the journalists stand up and say, ‘We are noble, we are honorable, how dare you, sir!’ And they take it personally.”

He added, “Now, he’s changed the conversation to not that his policies are silly or not working or any of those other things, it’s all about the fight and he’s able to tune out everything else and get people just focused on the fight, and he’s going to win that fight.”

Amanpour noted that it is hard to be “dispassionate” when the president and White House are so aggressive with their attacks on the press, causing Stewart to place the media’s concern in perspective.

“You’re not used to it?” Stewart declared. “Think of the communities of color, think of Muslims, think of the black community — when journalists rise to this outrage of how dare you say that about us, think of the lives that they’ve been leading and what they’ve been put under.”