If you ask conservatives, a double standard has unfairly emerged in the wake of last week’s failed MAGA coup at the US Capitol. That double standard, of course, is that social media websites have been cracking down on them and their misinformation. Donald Trump was permanently banned from Twitter; Senator Josh Hawley lost a book deal. Meanwhile the Democrats…actually, well, they never stormed a federal building armed with zip ties, or close to it.
Anyway, The Daily Show feels that a different double standard exists in the wake of Donald Trump losing to Joe Biden in November. Namely, that Trump voters, who are holding on to the lost cause that the election was stolen from Trump, are fragile souls hurt by defeat. They need to be given time to grieve and, you know, attempt a coup that left five people in Washington dead.
As The Daily Show pointed out, that same grieving period (sans coup) was not allowed to Democrats by Fox News when Trump won in 2016, as the network routinely roasted Democrats for not accepting defeat. In a video posted on Twitter on Monday, the show roasted Fox News by directly comparing the way they covered Dems after Trump’s victory in 2016 with how they’re covering Trump supporters after they’ve spread baseless voter fraud accusations and incited a riot.
Fox News winning vs. Fox News whining pic.twitter.com/AE4BXFn6aO
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) January 11, 2021
It will likely do little to change the dysfunctional political discourse in America, but there really is something satisfying about hearing Tucker Carlson say, “My god, you crybabies, you lost,” even if he’s talking about Democrats in 2016. It’s another example of how media coverage on Fox is markedly different when dealing with Democrats or Republicans, and the grace extended to the latter when it comes to pretty much everything.