the former The Daily Show Comedian Jon Stewart weighed in on Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to fly immigrants from Texas and Florida to Martha’s Vineyard.
During his YouTube show, John Stewart’s problemHe discussed the political stunt with writers Jay Jarden and Tokara Mallard.
“I don’t want to make this racial again, but — but the country has a history of putting non-white people on ships and going, ‘Yeah. yes It’s going to be fun wherever you go,'” Mr. Jarden said.
Ms. Mallard agreed, saying “it all started with slave labor.”
“It was not allowed to be taught in my school. So I don’t even know what you are talking about. If that’s a CRT, I want no part of it,” Stewart joked, before turning his attention to Mr. DeSantis. “Well, it’s very clear at this point that the Republican path to power lies in hate.”
Stewart said, “This stunt did exactly what it was intended to do, which was to raise his profile, make him a hero among those for whom d***ishness is one of the only qualities they look for in their leaders.”
“It probably angered Trump because ‘nobody can be bigger than me.’ It’s going to be — imagine the season we’re in where they’re trying to one-up each other with absolute brutality,” Stewart said. “And that’s what’s going to happen. And this country works to take care of the people who are already here.”
After tearing into Mr. DeSantis, Stewart returned to the real issue of immigration and called for a “sensible immigration policy” that does not involve “demonizing” immigrants.
Stewart concludes that Republicans don’t really care about immigration as much as they sell their “brand” to their constituents.
“The brand is this — what’s the brand about now? Their brand is — they’ve found groups of people they can demonize and get their base excited about,” he said. “And so it’s about finding ways to expand their brand at the expense of real people and real problems that are solvable.”
Despite the roast at Stewart’s hands, Mr. DeSantis is likely more concerned with the open criminal investigation into his actions by Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar. A Texas sheriff announced earlier this week that he intended to investigate whether Mr. DeSantis coerced or misled the migrants when they were invited to board a plane bound for Martha’s Vineyard.
Numerous outlets reported the story of “Perla,” a woman who spoke Spanish and offered to pay at least one immigrant to help recruit other immigrants for political stunts.
In addition, many immigrants were given brochures promising them cash assistance, housing assistance, job training, and other resources if they traveled to Massachusetts. Under U.S. immigration law, these offers are only available to refugees, however, meaning most immigrants have agreed to travel under false pretenses.
Mr. DeSantis defended the flight and the brochures, insisting that all participants were volunteers.
