Late show hosts have lobbied their share of criticisms at Donald Trump, but “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah said there’s a reason for Trump’s rise to the top of the Republican ticket, comparing the candidate’s appeal to that of an African dictator.
“When he was first running I told people I can see why Donald Trump is popular,” Noah told the audience at the PaleyFest panel for “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” Thursday.
Noah drew from his experiences as an outsider to the U.S. presidential election, noting similarities in the 2016 race to the political climate he experienced growing up in South Africa.
“The first thing I noticed in Trump was he, whether you like it or not, possesses charisma,” Noah said. “He has the charisma of a car crash, you don’t like it, but you can’t stop looking at it. And he engages with people.
“He reminds me of a stand-up comedian most of the time, and most dictators — most African dictators — possess that trait,” Noah said, citing both the fictional Ugandan dictator played by Forest Whitaker in “The Last King of Scotland” and real-life Ugandan political leader Milton Obote.
Noah said he understood that Trump’s appeal to the American public is similar to how most dictators gain power. Noah previously compared Trump to an African dictator in a “Daily Show” segment Oct. 2, joking, “Donald Trump is presidential. He just happens to be running on the wrong continent.”
“The people believe in [dictators] and they tap into a fear and desperation that people possess, and they have answers. That’s the biggest thing, they have answers and the answers are absolute,” Noah said. “From the first time I saw Trump I thought, ‘This guy has a plan.’ He didn’t waffle. He didn’t say ‘I think’ — because he doesn’t — he came out and said, ‘this is what we’re going to do, this is where we’re going to go, and I’m done.'”
“Most politicians have to skirt the line,” Noah continued. “Trump didn’t do that. He came out, simple words, straight to the point: ‘Mexicans, rapists, war, Mexicans, bad, wall, boom, thank you folks.’ And I was like, “‘hat guy I can see why people would vote for him.’ Because half the time politicians forget that they’re talking to the people, instead they’re speaking to the people writing the articles.”
