Longtime late-night host Jon Stewart said the media will lose the fight against President Trump because he is able to use their “own narcissism” against them.
Speaking to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Stewart said Trump is able to shift the focus off his own policies by maintaining an inflammatory rhetoric against the media, and journalists are helping him by taking the bait.
“Journalists have taken it personally. They’re 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,” Stewart said.
“They take it personally and 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. He’s able to tune out everything else and get people just focused on the fight. He’s going to win that fight,” he continued.
In recent days Trump has attacked CNN and other outlets that he claims are “fake news” for reporting his comments on the media being the “enemy of the people.” Trump says he is only referring to the “fake news media” rather than the entire media industry.
[More: Sarah Sanders responds to CNN president: ‘You chose to attack and divide’]
There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly. That will do much to put out the flame…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2018
In a tweet Thursday he demanded the “mainstream” media “clean up its act,” blaming it for fueling Americans’ anger after his own role in contributing to the partisan divide was debated after a week of bomb threats and violence across the U.S.
A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 25, 2018
