Jon Stewart Criticizes Elon Musk’s Trump Rally Speech on ‘The Daily Show’

Jon Stewart used his opening segment on Monday night’s episode of “The Daily Show” to break down Elon Musk’s appearance at a Trump rally on Sunday in Butler, Pennsylvania. While the performance was widely mocked online due to Musk’s enthusiasm, he literally jumped across the stage – the content of his speech focused on the First and Second Amendments.

“The other side wants to take away your freedom of speech,” Musk said. “For democracy you need freedom of expression. That’s why it’s the First Amendment…The Second Amendment is there to make sure we have the First Amendment.”

Stewart first addressed the hypocrisy of Musk applauding Trump’s embrace of free speech as the former president threatened legal action against the upcoming film about his life, “The Apprentice,” with his team calling it “election interference.”

“It’s not free speech if only Trump’s admirers are allowed to do so without consequences,” Stewart said. “It just doesn’t work that way. That’s not how it works.”

Stewart then shut down Musk’s comment about the Second Amendment.

“Guns do not protect our freedom of speech,” Stewart said. “Our freedom of expression is protected by the consent of the governed, as enshrined in the Constitution. It is not based on the threat of violence. It is based on elections, organizing referenda and a legal system. Our social contract offers many, many options to solve these problems and allows parties to be heard and tried.

“As far as I know, guns seem to mainly protect the speech of the people holding the gun,” he continued. “It’s a tool of intimidation that I think is actually being used irresponsibly and recklessly. Because some people in your group thought they might have been overshadowed by Facebook. I mean, for God’s sake, you’re in Butler, Pennsylvania. The whole reason you’re there is because some asshole with an AR-15 tried to permanently challenge his views on this country’s freedom of speech. That’s why you’re there. The whole point of a society is that guns don’t decide it. I would prefer not at this time to trade a government that offers me many remedies for my concerns, legitimate or illegitimate, for a situation where my rights are determined by the number of militia members who agree with me.”

Watch the full clip below.