Jon Stewart calls out Fox News for refusing to have him on to discuss veterans' healthcare (updated)
Update July 29, 2022 at 10:45 a.m. ET: Fox News has released the following statement: "We have welcomed Jon Stewart on our programs many times to spotlight his critical work with veterans and 9/11 first responders and look forward to having him on America's Newsroom today at 10:30 a.m. as well as Special Report this evening."
Watch Stewart's appearance on America's Newsroom:
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Jon Stewart appeared Thursday on MSNBC Prime, where he discussed Senate Republicans blocking legislation meant to help veterans suffering from health issues related to burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. Stewart, who also fights for the health benefits of 9/11 first responders, spent the day talking to anyone who would listen. He spoke to the press earlier in the day outside the Capitol, he spoke to CNN’s Jake Tapper, and he even managed to speak with right-wing outlet Newsmax. But Fox News, whose primetime lineup ignored the story altogether, refused to have him on.
“Look, you and I can talk about it till we’re blue in the face, they’re never going to hear this. There’s an information silo. I was lucky enough to be able to get ahold of Newsmax this morning and go on there. Might have been the first time those viewers had ever heard about it,” Stewart said. “Fox News, they’ve refused to put me on all day. We’ve been begging them to get on the air all day long so that we can finally bring along some possible accountability to these senators.”
I’ve never seen anything like it. Nobody on the Hill has seen anything like it.Jon Stewart
Stewart also called out Senate Republicans for now blocking a bill that they overwhelmingly supported just last month. The block was led by Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who falsely claimed that a minor but necessary tweak to the bill in the House created a $400 billion slush fund. But Toomey’s argument is easily debunked due to the fact that the spending in this bill would need to be in a budget presented to Congress each year by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
“By the way,” Stewart said, speaking of GOP Senators, “most of whom voted for the bill, and then turned around and voted against it even though there was no material change. I’ve never seen anything like it. Nobody on the Hill has seen anything like it.”
Stewart also rebuked a narrative regularly pushed on Fox, that the military is falling short of recruiting goals due to so-called wokeness. Stewart believes that what Senate Republicans just did is a perfect example of why fewer young people are enlisting.
“They keep talking about, boy, there’s a recruitment problem in the Army because of the pronouns they’re using. It’s not the pronouns,” Stewart said. “It’s that young people see that this government doesn’t live up to its obligations to its fighters. It’s as simple as that.”
MSNBC Prime airs weeknights at 9 p.m. on MSNBC.
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