Now Jon Stewart Is Going After That ‘Shark Tank’ Guy
Jon Stewart is seeking $450 million for 100 percent of Kevin O’Leary’s dignity.
Now that he’s back in the big chair at The Daily Show (at least on a once-a-week basis), Stewart has wasted no time picking up where he left off when he resigned from hosting duties in 2015 and passed the torch to Trevor Noah. As many Daily Show fans lamented, during his tenure, Noah didn’t exactly have the fire and the fury that his predecessor held for the pompous, privileged and deceptive members of the financial class who misguided Americans for their own gain. In his seven-year hosting stint, Noah never once reached the heights of righteous outrage that Stewart hit during his infamous interview with Mad Money host and economic anti-Nostradamus Jim Cramer back in 2009 following the collapse of the housing market.
Well, with Stewart back in charge, The Daily Show has returned to attacking the business entertainers who wield the “authority” they “earned” by being rich on TV to push BS agendas and mislead their viewers about the machinations of law and finance. This past week, as the American news media debated former president Donald Trump’s $450 million bond as part of his massive and ongoing fraud trial, Shark Tank host O’Leary hopped on CNN and decried the case against his friend, arguing that, though Trump did break numerous laws in securing loans, he should not face penalties because those crimes are committed by “every real estate developer everywhere on earth.”
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“There is a theory within the law that, if enough people commit a crime, it automatically becomes legal,” Stewart addressed O’Leary on last night’s Daily Show. “You’re familiar with The Purge, are you not?”
“That didn’t go over very well with the investment community because we’re all asking each other, ‘Who’s next?’” O’Leary said of the judgment against Trump during a CNN interview snipped for last night's Daily Show episode.
“Ah, who’s next? The persecuted minority of the investment community?” Stewart sarcastically quipped of the clip, saying of the Canadian businessman who calls himself “Mr. Wonderful,” “I am surprised to hear this from Kevin O’Leary, the guy who’s such an asshole … that even the other people on Shark Tank think he’s an asshole.” Stewart continued, “I’m surprised to hear (O’Leary) is so chill about overvaluing something that he thinks is victimless, because when someone tries to do that to him…” before cutting to a montage of O’Leary losing his temper on numerous Shark Tank contestants who, perhaps, fudged their valuations of their companies in a similar manner to Trump and his properties.
Stewart tore into O’Leary’s hypocrisy, saying, “How is he not this mad about over-evaluations in the real world, because they are not victimless crimes. First, the banks got paid back at lower interest rates,” offering the caveat, “Although, to be honest, who gives a shit,” before adding, “Second, money isn’t infinite. A loan that goes to the liar doesn’t go to someone who’s giving a more honest evaluation, so the system becomes incentivized for corruption. Avoiding taxes hurts all of us. Donald Trump’s shenanigans cost the City of New York."
Stewart later attacked O’Leary’s excuse that Trump’s deceptive practices are too popular among other shady real estate developers to warrant prosecution, saying of the Shark Tank host’s argument, “The fucking entitled arrogance. I don’t know if you know this, but most people just can’t commit fraud and expect to face no repercussions, even if everyone’s doing it. Try getting a car loan by saying you have 10 times as much money as you do.
“I’ll guarantee you there aren’t just financial consequences for those lies, but criminal ones,” Stewart continued. “But, don’t tell that to the investment community, because in their minds, in pursuit of profit, there is no rule that cannot be bent, there is no principle that cannot be undercut, as long as you and your fucking friends are making money.”
And for that reason, I’m out on Kevin O’Leary.
