Comedian Jon Stewart labeled former President Trump saying he “respects” former President Obama and Michelle Obama as “bulls‑‑‑.”
Stewart said in his “The Weekly Show” podcast that he could tell in the former first lady’s speech to the Democratic National Convention earlier this week that she was “wounded” by the attacks on her family.
“She was really wounded by the, if we’re being honest, disgusting treatment, which continues to this day, of the Obama family, and just the vile attacks like, not policy, not anything other than just vile, conspiratorial, personal disturbing,” the late-night comedian said.
“And then you have Trump yesterday, ‘I’ve got a lot of respect for the Obamas.’ Bulls‑‑‑!” he added.
Stewart’s rebuke comes just two days after the former president offered his White House predecessor rare praise, calling Obama a “nice gentleman” ahead of his speech before the Democratic National Convention Tuesday.
“I like him. I think he’s a nice gentleman, but he was very, very weak on trade,” Trump said earlier that morning, later adding, “But I happen to like him. I respect him, and I respect his wife.”
Stewart noted that just because he said it, does not make Trump’s claim true, pointing out that the GOP nominee has launched a number of attacks against the Obamas. Trump was one of the stronger promoters of the “birther” conspiracy theory that falsely claimed Obama was not born in the United States.
“Him saying it doesn’t make it true. He was the leader of an absolute torrent and river of slime. And I imagine for her, she thought, ‘We’ve given our pound of flesh to this endeavor, and I don’t want any part of that,’” Stewart said of Trump and Michelle Obama.
The former first lady ripped into the GOP presidential hopeful throughout her speech Tuesday with her loudest applause coming from referencing the former president’s recent “Black jobs” comment. Her husband also tore into Trump, warning that he spreads conspiracy theories and has a “weird obsession with crowd sizes.”
Trump responded to their criticisms Wednesday, questioning if he still needs to “stick to policy” after the Obamas “got personal” in their speeches. The comment was in reference to calls from Republicans who urged the GOP hopeful to focus less on personal insults and more on policy differences.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.