Jon Stewart explains why Trump is the ‘reverse Oprah’
Jon Stewart, the host of satirical comedy seriesThe Daily Show, has dubbed Donald Trump the “reverse Oprah”, as the US president is poised to accept a $400m (£302.8m) luxury jet from the Qatari royal family.
The “palace in the sky”, which is expected to be used as the new Air Force One for much of the rest of Trump’s term, will be donated to the Trump presidential library near the end of his time in office.
Oprah Winfrey, 71, who had an eponymous talk show from 1986 to 2011, went down in TV history in 2004 when she gifted every live audience member a Pontiac G6, uttering the now-famous phrase: “You get a car!”
Stewart, 62, contrasted Trump and Winfrey’s generosity levels on Monday’s episode (12 May) of his Comedy Central show, joking: “What? Qatar is giving us a plane that Trump gets to keep? He’s like the reverse Oprah. ‘I get a jet! … and that’s it. I get a jet, for my library.’”
The presenter continued: “Why does his library need a jet? ‘Yeah, I’m calling from Europe, and I need a book about Trump by morning. And the book must travel in the comfort and style one can only get from Qatar.’”
Nodding towards concerns that Qatar’s proposed gift could run afoul of the emoluments clause, Stewart added, “It’s not a free jet. That’s the point. You know the expression, ‘there’s no such thing as a free lunch’?
“That’s about being skeptical of the motives of somebody who gives you a sandwich… a sandwich, a BLT. Now, imagine that BLT has an engine, nine bathrooms and funds proxy wars.”
The emoluments clause bars anyone holding government office from accepting gifts or profit from any “King, Prince or foreign State” without congressional consent. This delineation in the US constitution is designed to preserve the independence of the president from influence of outside entities.
When asked how the American people could be sure that Qatar won’t ask for something in return for the jet at a press conference this week, Trump said: “I think that was a very nice gesture. I could be a stupid person and say we don’t want a free plane. We give free things out. We’ll take one too. It helps us out.”
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Asked whether the plane was a personal gift, rather than a gift for the American people by ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott , Trump responded: “It’s not a gift to me, but a gift to the Department of Defense. You should know better. You have been embarrassed enough. ABC is a disaster.”
Meanwhile, the Justice Department and Trump’s top White House lawyer David Warrington reportedly deemed the luxury jet “legally permissible”, as long as the donation of the aircraft is conditioned on ownership being transferred to the presidential library by the end of the term, per ABC.
Of course, it wasn’t lost on critics that Attorney General Pam Bondi was once a foreign lobbyist for Qatar, earning $115,000 (£87,057) a month in the role that she held off-and-on starting in 2019.
