On this week’s episode of “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart slammed CNN for relentlessly plugging Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s book “Original Sin,” which outlines the decline of Joe Biden’s health, amid the former president’s prostate cancer diagnosis.
Stewart opened the segment by playing clips of CNN’s Tapper plugging his book over and over and over again, teasing that readers will “not believe” what he dug up.
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“Don’t news people have to tell you what they know when they find it out?” Stewart asked. “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 then played a compilation of news outlets reacting to “Original Sin,” and all the different labels they placed on the revelations contained within it. Among them were “bombshell allegations,” “damming claims,” “damaging new details” and a “tsunami” of new information.
“Nothing could slow down this coming, feeding news frenzy about Biden’s cognitive health, other than maybe a report on his actual physical health,” Stewart said, in reference to Biden’s recent prostate cancer diagnosis. “Doing the story seems almost disrespectful. 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?”
Stewart then played a series of snippets of CNN anchors doing just that and refusing to ignore the book. In one clip, a CNN staffer said, “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 colleague, 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 said, mocking the anchors. “And yet, if you act now, you use the code backslash tap that book, it’s 20% off.”
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