In the end, the Megyn Kelly vs. Donald Trump primetime network showdown was little more than an extremely public therapy session. And given all of the build-up leading to this long-awaited meeting, The Daily Show's Trevor Noah was severely disappointed.
“Seriously, the hype for this event was out of control,” Noah said Wednesday night. “It was like if Apple revealed the new iPhone in the middle of a new Beyoncé song in the middle of a new Star Wars sequel.” After recapping the months-long feud, the host added, “this isn’t Trump-Kelly this is Mayweather-Pacquiao, you know, except for the fact that there is no way they make boxing gloves small enough for Donald Trump’s tiny hands.”
But instead of “hard-hitting journalism” and an “unrelenting pursuit of accountability” from Kelly, the nearly 5 million viewers who tuned in got questions about whether Trump has ever been “hurt emotionally.”
“What the hell was that?” Noah asked. “This was sold as a bloodbath, but in the end it turned out to be one of those couples baths that only exists in the Cialis commercials.” But “unlike Cialis,” Noah thought maybe Kelly was just “softening Trump up and then just when he drops his guard, boom!” Yet when he admitted he doesn’t think it’s healthy to reflect on his mistakes, Kelly didn’t even bother to hit him with a follow-up question.
“You just move on?” Noah asked. “That’s like if the producers of The Jinx heard Robert Durst say, ‘I killed them all’ and were just like, ‘Great. So what was it like growing up in Scarsdale?’”
“You know last night’s interview doesn’t seem to be about journalism or the Republican Party or even the election,” Noah continued. “It seemed like it was about two brands: Donald Trump and Megyn Kelly, and whether they could forge a mutually-beneficial partnership.” According to Noah, the most egregious moment came when Trump dismissed his sexist attacks on Kelly with a shrug and “Excuse me.”
“I don’t get it, you spent months lambasting him for sexist comments and now are you just laughing it off?” Noah asked Kelly. “I can’t believe this, but Megyn Kelly just got negged by Donald Trump. He repeatedly insulted her and then all of a sudden switched it up with a little charm and she is all smiles.”
Using some clever editing, Noah proved that almost anyone, including three of his show’s correspondents, are powerless against Trump’s bizarre version of charisma.
“You know what? I get it,” Noah concluded. “I know that Trump may be a torturing, Muslim-disparaging horseman of the apocalypse, but don’t forget, when he’s president and it's all going to shit, we’ll all get to look at that smile.”
On Thursday morning, Kelly fired back with a terse tweet, accusing Noah of mansplaining gender to her: "So grateful I have men like @Trevornoah 2 advise on how to deal w/gender attacks- I'm sure his life experience far better than mine on this!"