Liberal comedian Jon Stewart recently took the gloves off when criticizing members of Congress for alleged corruption on both sides of the aisle. The host of “The Daily Show” called out numerous prominent political figures across the nation, including Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and Hunter Biden.
One of the key allegations Stewart zeroed in on is the alleged insider trading that occurs within Congress. Members of the legislative branch will often have access to material, non-public information relating to publicly traded companies that will inevitably be market-moving. Stewart points out that the stock portfolio of the average U.S. senator will often outperform the S&P 500 and hedge funds, arousing suspicion.
The comedian said, “Now, you might be wondering yourself, how does Congress get away with all this? Well, it may be because Congress is regulated by, let me check my notes, Congress! And its Congress that has refused to even hold a vote on the bills that have been proposed to ban members of Congress from trading stocks.”
Stewart continued, “Because not letting members of Congress insider trade would be unAmerican. Just listen to one of the biggest beneficiaries of this stock windfall.” He then played a clip of Nancy Pelosi defending her “free market” right to trade stock as an elected member of Congress.
A reporter asked Pelosi, “Should members of Congress and their spouses be banned from trading individual stocks while serving in Congress?” She responded, “No to the second one… This is a free market, and people, we have a free market economy that should be able to participate in that.”
Stewart sounded off on Pelosi’s comment, stating that in a free market, you must assume that all actors have equal information. The comedian noted that for Pelosi’s assertion to be fair, the average American must be privy to significant insight into Congressional initiatives. “But here’s the thing. In a free market, everyone has access to the same information. So unless you’re going to put all of us on the committee’s I don’t get it,” he said.
Later in the segment, Stewart turns his attention to the president’s son, Hunter Biden, when discussing questionable business opportunities provided to politically connected individuals. He addressed Hunter’s position on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
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“Your son-in-law might receive billions in no-questions-asked Saudi investment, or your son might get a lucrative seat on a corporate board. Let’s hear Hunter explain that one away,” Stewart said. The segment cut to a clip from an ABC interview, where the president’s son was asked if he would’ve received the position without his family name.
“If your last name wasn’t Biden, do you think you would have been asked to be on the board of Burisma?” The reporter asked. Biden responded, “I don’t know. I don’t know. Probably not.” Stewart pointed out how concerning it is that Hunter Biden is the most honest of all politicians.
He said, “Out of all the senators and representatives who dodged and prevaricated and wouldn’t answer any questions, you know, you’re in trouble. When the most honest and transparent person in a story of government corruption is the ex-crackhead?”
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.