The Daily Show took a look at Roy Moore’s amazing interview with Sean Hannity on Monday, in which, despite Hannity’s best efforts, Moore was unable to keep himself from confessing on national television that he never dated a teenager “without the permission of her mother.” It’s an astonishing shitshow, and, along with the laughable Republican attempts to spin this away, perfect for Trevor Noah’s usual tone of amused skepticism. He’s never funnier than when he’s dropping his jaw, and since the defenses of Roy Moore have been jaw-dropping, this is right in his wheelhouse. The high point is his deadpan response to Alabama reporter Brandon Moseley, who went on CNN to compare sexual assault with stealing a bicycle: “I don’t know who that guy is, but someone should check his basement.”
But joking aside, the idea of a major political party allying itself with a man who allegedly dated teenagers as an adult is genuinely horrifying, and Noah doesn’t bother trying to hide his scorn for this “group of Christians who only use religion when it suits them”:
For this part of the religious right, a Democrat is a mortal threat. And at least a pedophile will stay true to your values.
In tone and structure, this is the kind of preaching-to-the-choir stuff that makes people call The Daily Show sanctimonious. But if it felt that way to you, remember that the underlying message is “sexually assaulting teenagers is wrong.” When did that become a political opinion?
