Jon Stewart on CNN’s Biden book: ‘Selling you a book about news they should have told you’
Late-night hosts rip CNN for promoting a book on Joe Biden’s health and weigh in on Donald Trump attacking Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen,On the Daily Show, Jon Stewart tore into CNN anchor Jake Tapper for promoting his book Original Sin, written with Alex Thompson, on his network,The host played several clips of Tapper teasing the book, which reports on Biden’s mental decline while still in the White House,In the final clip, Tapper says: “You will not believe what we found out,”“Don’t news people have to tell you what they know when they find it out?” Stewart wondered on Monday evening.
“Isn’t that the difference between news and a secret? ‘You won’t believe what we found out’ – no, that’s why I watch breaking news.”Stewart noted real breaking news on Sunday, which was confirmation from Biden’s personal team that he was diagnosed with “aggressive” prostate cancer and was considering treatment options.“Doing the story seems almost disrespectful,” said Stewart.“Can CNN thread the needle? How do you pivot from excitedly promoting your anchor’s book to somberly and respectfully promoting your anchor’s book?”Well, as one CNN staffer put it: “This was already going to be a tough week, and this makes it much harder.And that is a reference to the fact that our colleagues, Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson have a book that’s set to be published on Tuesday.
”“It’s so hard, it’s such a difficult time, so unfathomable in terms of the pain his family must be feeling,” Stewart mocked.“And yet, if you act now, you use the code ‘backslash tap that book’, it’s 20% off.”Jokes aside, Stewart acknowledged: “How fucking weird it is that the news is selling you a book about news they should have told you was news a year ago, for free.”“I understand the excitement over an insidious Democratic cover-up about Joe Biden’s mental decline,” he added.“The thing is though, it was a terrible cover-up, because we all fucking knew.
”“There was no cover-up – poll after poll showed vast majorities of the public thought Biden was too old and too out of it to run again,” he continued.“Dean Phillips mounted an entire primary campaign because of it.”“He along with most of the public knew it was a bad idea for Biden to run.We knew it,” Stewart concluded.“And that’s what’s so hilarious about politicians.
The cover-up doesn’t work when everyone knows you’re lying,”Meanwhile, Trump spent the weekend “settling back into the White House after his Mideast all-you-can-bribe buffet”, as Stephen Colbert put it on Monday’s Late Show,“He just loved it over there!” he continued,“He was having such a good time with the princes and the palaces and the marble and the gold, and the special souvenir he really wants to bring home: obedience to leaders on punishment of death,”Trump “spent this beautiful weekend viciously attacking anyone who dare defy him”, including Walmart, which recently said his tariffs were “too high” and would force the chain to raise prices.
“Which means it’s going to cost you a lot more when you run out for milk, one Goodyear tire and a t-shirt that says ‘Shrek yourself before you wreck yourself,’” Colbert joked.Evidently, Trump did not like Walmart “accurately describing how he has personally affected your pocketbook”, so he posted on Truth Social: “Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain … they should as is said, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS’”Colbert broke out his Trump impression: “As is said, I make a mess, you eat it.That’s how the world works.Which reminds me – JD, there’s some hot dog stuck in my golf cleats.Get over here with your tongue and a positive attitude.
”Walmart wasn’t Trump’s only target on social media this weekend,On Friday, out of nowhere, he posted: “Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ she’s no longer ‘HOT?’”“First of all, sir, keep my best friend Taylor Swift’s name out of your filthy nugget hole,” said Colbert,“Second, it’s possible people are talking about her a little less these days because her 149-date Eras Tour ended six months ago,”But attacking Swift was “just a warm-up”, because he also went after Bruce Springsteen, after the musician called him “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous” at a concert in Manchester, England,In a rambling Truth Social post, Trump called Springsteen “highly overrated”, said he “never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics” and claimed “he is not a talented guy”.
“What are you doing? Attacking Bruce is like attacking America itself!” Colbert marveled.Trump went on: “This dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country.”“Pretty bold to say someone else’s skin is atrophied when your own complexion can best be described as Tandoori Catcher’s Mitt,” Colbert quipped.
Wildlife charities urge Labour to scrap ‘licence to kill nature’ in planning bill
Leading wildlife charities are calling on Labour to scrap a significant section of the planning bill that they say is a “licence to kill nature”, as new data reveals bats and newts are not the main reason planning is delayed in England.The RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts, whose membership is more than 2 million, said Labour had broken its promises on nature. They called for part three of the bill, which allows developers to avoid environmental laws at a site by paying into a national nature recovery fund to pay for environmental improvements elsewhere, to be ditched.Beccy Speight, CEO of the RSPB, said: “It’s now clear that the bill in its current form will rip the heart out of environmental protections and risks sending nature further into freefall.“The fate of our most important places for nature and the laws that protect them are all in the firing line
UK politics: Starmer accused of being ‘beneath contempt’ for attack on Chagos deal critics – as it happened
James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, is responding to Healey.He starts by saying that what Keir Starmer said at his press conference about opponents of the deal being on the side of Russia and China was “beneath contempt”.He says by opposing the Chagos Islands deal, the Tories would not be traitors, they would be patriots.The UK has signed a £3.4bn agreement to cede sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius after an 11th-hour legal challenge failed
Yeah but no but yeah but no but surrender. Life’s just one big betrayal for Kemi and co | John Crace
I fear for Kemi Badenoch’s sanity. She may need a little respite care. From herself. Little more than 24 hours after one of her by now customary car-crash outings at prime minister’s questions in which she didn’t appear to have noticed that Keir Starmer had U-turned on the winter fuel allowance, KemiKaze was emailing Tory party members to tell them the exciting news. She had had the prime minister on the rack and it was only down to her that Labour had done their reverse ferret
Tories must ‘get moving’ on new policies or face crisis, says Robert Jenrick
The Conservative party needs to “get moving” with new policies or risk being cut adrift in a social media-informed world where people make up their minds quickly, Robert Jenrick has said.While the shadow justice secretary did not directly criticise Kemi Badenoch for the time she is taking to formulate policies, and said he accepted there was a need for reflection after a bad election defeat, he warned that without rapid action the Tories faced an “existential crisis”.Badenoch, who defeated Jenrick in the party leadership race last year, has attracted some criticism within the party for her insistence that the Conservatives should not rush into policies but instead spend the next couple of years working to rebuild voters’ trust.Asked about generating new polices at an event in London on Wednesday evening, Jenrick said: “I do think you’ve got to get moving. That’s not a criticism
Talks to start on recognition of state of Palestine by western states
Talks will start on Friday at an official level about the possibility of recognising the state of Palestine.A senior Arab diplomat in London said:“If you asked me a fortnight ago if there will be wider recognition [of Palestine] by western states I would have said no, but now I am not so sure.”The UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, suspended trade talks with Israel on Tuesday and described its refusal to lift a blockade of aid into Gaza as “abominable”.Lammy spoke to the Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, on Wednesday about the barriers blocking aid. The French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said this week: “We cannot leave the children of Gaza a legacy of violence and hatred
Labour could review other benefit cuts after winter fuel U-turn, sources say
Keir Starmer has announced a partial U-turn that would make more pensioners eligible for winter fuel payments as government figures opened the door to more tweaks to controversial policies.After a major backlash against one of the most unpopular measures announced by the Labour government, the prime minister indicated he would look again at the £11,500 threshold over which pensioners are no longer eligible for the allowance.Downing Street said the change was a result of an improved economic landscape, with sources saying ministers could revisit policies including the two-child benefit cap or health and disability cuts if the economy continued to improve.“We’re open to adapting policy as the circumstances allow. So when there’s an opportunity to make people better off, which is our central purpose, then we’re going to take it,” a government source said
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