Trevor Noah takes on Republican claims that they face an unfair double standard in debates.

Republicans Say Their Debate Questions Are Unfair. Trevor Noah Proves Otherwise.

Republicans Say Their Debate Questions Are Unfair. Trevor Noah Proves Otherwise.

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Slate's Culture Blog
Nov. 4 2015 10:27 AM

Republicans Say Their Debate Questions Are Unfair. Trevor Noah Proves Otherwise.

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As Jon Stewart proved repeatedly over his years as host of the Daily Show, there’s no better way to expose political hypocrisy than to juxtapose footage of what public servants say happened with footage of what actually happened. Trevor Noah, who’s been hosting the show for a little more than a month, has thankfully continued this grand tradition in his coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign, which has been largely divorced from reality. Last night, Noah took on Republican candidates’ efforts to “babyproof the whole election from top to bottom” by imposing restrictions on future GOP debates, such as banning yes or no questions, predetermining the temperature in the debate hall, and prohibiting networks from airing footage of empty podia during bathroom breaks.

Noah artfully contrasts the Republicans’ macho bluster—like Jeb Bush’s boast that he “eat[s] nails” when he wakes up in the morning—with their whining about how unfair and tough the questions were in last week’s CNBC debate. He showed clips that belied the Republicans’ claims that they had to answer “gotcha” questions while the Democrats got off easy in their CNN debate. Contra the GOP’s claims, CNN’s Anderson Cooper did not actually ask Hillary and company “Which of you is more handsome and wise?” or “What’s your favorite dog name?” “Did anybody actually watch the Democratic debate?” Noah asks. “Because those were not nice questions.” Score one for reality.

L.V. Anderson is a former Slate associate editor.