The vicious nativism that we all know resides just below the surface of many leftists, reared its ugly Wednesday in a nasty Salon piece aimed at “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah. The dogwhistle attacks on Noah’s “outsider” status as an immigrant were more like bullhorns:
Shortly after Noah was announced to follow Stewart, I cautioned that his status as an “outsider” to U.S. politics would be a problem. I didn’t mean he couldn’t be funny and get a laugh; I meant that the sort of comedy he was likely to offer viewers would be more mockery than satire: it would be the sort of comedy that turns people off entirely from politics rather than encouraging them to engage. I worried that his comedy would not have the ability to mobilize viewers to fight to improve the political landscape in the way that Stewart did. And I wondered whether the turn away from a focus on the fact-averse reporting of Fox News would be disastrous in an election cycle. Thus far, Noah has proven me right.
First of all, it’s worth mentioning that Noah consistently reinforces his position as a “recent immigrant,” perplexed by our system and confused by our policies. It can be very funny. But unlike the politically powerful satire of John Oliver, it doesn’t lead to any sort of public response and it doesn’t have any productive social impact.
The Left is in a panic. After more than a decade of watching the DC Media allies circulate and endlessly replay clips of Jon Stewart attacking conservatives and traditionalists, Noah has been nowhere to be seen. He’s just not that funny.
Unlike Salon, I don’t think the problem has anything to do with the fact that he is a South African. I think the problem is that he’s just not funny.
When leftists do not get their way, they get vicious, especially with one another. Salon and their DC Media allies have lost a powerful weapon in Jon Stewart. And Noah has just been put on notice that if he doesn’t shape up soon, things are going to get real ugly real fast.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC