After taking a week off for Thanksgiving, Trevor Noah knew our “divided” America was going to be OK when he saw the “entire country coming together as one for the traditional Black Friday celebrations.” The Daily Show host suspected that this year, people weren’t even there for the deals. “They just wanted to be in a space where they could punch somebody.”
“The truth is, we might need to have Black Friday every week,” Noah said. “Because now that Donald Trump is going to be president, people really do want to fight about everything—including whether Donald Trump is actually going to be president.”
The host was referring, of course, to the quixotic recount effort organized by Green Party candidate Jill Stein in a handful of Midwestern states won by Trump. Appearing via Skype on CNN this weekend, Stein said America’s voting system “invites hacks and malfeasance, tampering, human error.”
“Uh, yeah, we know there was human error, because now he’s president,” Noah said in response. “You don’t need to hide, Jill, no one is looking for you,” he added. “Although, they may be looking for you after the people who gave you $6 million read the fine print on your website and see that it says, ‘If we raise more than what’s needed, the surplus will go toward election-integrity efforts.’”
Of course, none of this would have been nearly as big a story as it has become if President-elect Donald Trump had not tweeted over the weekend, “I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”
“Bullshit!” Noah exclaimed. “Count on Donald Trump to find a way to be a sore winner. I didn’t even know that was a thing.” He suspected Trump only cares about winning the popular vote because it has the word “popular” in it.
Like most things Trump has tweeted over the past couple of weeks, his rant about the recount seems mostly designed to distract from the larger scandals plaguing his transition, including the massive conflict-of-interest issues he is hoping the American people will care about as much as his undisclosed tax returns.
“That’s a very good question,” Noah said of how Trump’s business ties will affect his policies. “A question you would think would be answered after a 17-month campaign, a hundred debates, and 12 billion hours of press coverage, but I mean we spent all that time on emails.” He added, “We even know the shape and general size of Anthony Weiner’s dick, but we know almost nothing about where Trump’s money is.”
“Why is the president-elect of the United States stressed about the view from his Scottish golf course?” Noah asked, referring to just one of the many business concerns that has occupied him since the election. “You’re the president! Focus, Donald, focus! Jobs, ISIS, the economy, focus! Most people see president as the end goal. Trump is like, now that I’m president, I can finally be a successful businessman!”
Later, Noah added, “Think about this: If, God forbid, somebody decided to attack one of the Trump Towers in the world, is that an attack on the hotel, or is that now an attack on America?”
“Having a president who is trying to run businesses all over the world not only makes for a less focused president, but people who voted for Trump said they wanted someone who would run America like a business,” the host concluded. “More and more though, it seems like voters got someone who is running America for his business.”