Jon Stewart criticizes Elon Musk’s dangerous comments on the Second Amendment

Jon Stewart returned to hosting The Daily Show on Monday evening, and he immediately addressed the possible “October surprises” that could still impact the final weeks of the presidential campaign.

Stewart began the segment with a brief recap of the surprises of the last few days of October, including the infamous ones Access Hollywood Tape, as well as the media reviewing a selection of recent natural disasters and wars that could become the dreaded Black Swan event in the final days of the campaign.

“Why are October surprises always so crappy? Why don’t we ever get a good October surprise that brings our country together?” Stewart joked, adding that he hoped Internet stars Pesto, the absolute unit of a baby penguin, and Moo Deng, the mischievous baby pygmy hippo, could start dating.

Stewart, who expanded on the October surprises by pointing out that they invariably favor Republicans who exploit death and misery to score electoral points. “If the monkeypox runs amok, I can’t imagine us losing!” Stewart said mockingly. “What does it actually say about a party that a war, a strike and a natural disaster work in its favor? Sir, the election is almost here, but if we could shock and despair the population, we could do it.”

Turning his attention to recent events, Stewart said it was a surprise for him in October to see Elon Musk, bare midriff and all, at Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. “[Musk’s] The surprise in October is that he released MAGA.”

“You might think that having one of the richest men in the world controlling one of the most influential platforms in the world could be a recipe for what some call election interference,” Stewart said, before joking to the audience: “You stupid, stupid people.”

Stewart recalled the 2016 and 2020 elections, when Trump loudly accused Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg of election interference and pointed out the brazen double standards now that Musk, the owner of the embattled X Platform, has now come out in support of the former president. The segment delved deeper into Trump’s repeated threats to punish and jail people he believed were interfering in the election against him, including the team behind the biography The apprentice.

“Trump has threatened almost everyone with jail, lawsuits or censorship, which is why this one segment of this weekend’s rally in Pennsylvania stood out, with Elon Musk talking about why he supports Donald Trump,” Stewart said, getting to the main thrust of the segment .

A clip of Musk’s speech from the Trump rally was then played: “The other side wants to take away your freedom of speech.” To have a democracy, you have to have freedom of speech. That’s why it’s the First Amendment.”

Stewart shot back: “Elon, haven’t you seen the rest of the show? A film that Trump doesn’t like gets sued. He wants to put a technology mogul he doesn’t like in prison. It’s not free speech when only Trump’s admirers have the ability to do so without consequences. It just doesn’t work that way. That’s not how it works. I don’t think his support of free speech is worth exposing his guts. I just don’t.”

Another clip of Musk was then played: “But at least the Constitution remains intact and ensures that we have the First Amendment. The Second Amendment is intended to ensure that we have the First Amendment.”

A visibly upset Stewart grabbed the jugular: Guns don’t protect our free speech. Our free speech is protected by the consent of the governed, as enshrined in the Constitution. It is not based on the threat of violence. It is based on elections, the organization of referendums and a judicial system. Our social contract provides many, many opportunities to resolve these issues and allows the sides to be heard and decide. As far as I can tell, guns seem to primarily protect the language of the people holding the gun. It is a tool of intimidation…”

Stewart received thunderous applause, silencing the audience because he wasn’t finished yet.

“It’s a tool of intimidation that I think is actually being used irresponsibly and recklessly.” Because some people in your group thought they might have been banned from Facebook. I mean, for heaven’s sake, you’re in Butler, Pennsylvania. “The whole reason you’re there is because some fucking asshole with an AR-15 tried to permanently impose his vision of free speech in this country,” Stewart said, referring to the April 13 assassination attempt on Trump. July. “That’s why you’re here. The whole point of a society is that guns don’t decide it. “I would prefer at this moment not to accept a government that offers me many remedies for my legitimate or illegitimate concerns, in a situation where my rights depend on how many militia members agree with me.”

In a softer voice, Stewart finally addressed Musk directly. “The country is not perfect and there are many issues on which we disagree: choice, immigration, the shrinking of snack chips, the unholy marriage of penguins and hippos. But honestly, dude, a country that can decide these complicated questions through a sometimes frustrating, overly bureaucratic constitutional system of separation of powers and peaceful transfer of power is the only country where I want the children of Pesto and Moo Deng to grow up in it.”