‘Perversion of leadership’: Michelle Obama, Jon Stewart slam Trump’s ‘corrupt’ second presidency

WASHINGTON, DC: For Michelle Obama, Donald Trump’s presidency after his return to the White House has been nothing less than unexpected or, as Jon Stewart puts it, “surreal.”

The 62-year-old former first lady, on Wednesday, August 26, joined ‘The Daily Show’ host on her ‘IMO’ podcast, where the duo joined forces to take a sharp look at Trump’s second presidency.

The duo started the episode by discussing their personal lives, but the conversation soon went beyond routine political sparring, as Obama expressed shock over the changed political norms under Trump’s presidency, while Stewart accused his administration of turning presidential power into a “perversion of leadership." 

Michelle Obama reacts to Trump’s second presidency

Stewart began by asking Michelle what it had been like for her family to watch Trump return to the White House after Barack Obama’s presidency.

“I imagine for you and your family…that it’s a surreal experience for you guys because of the effort that you put into building something up and to watch it be corrupted,” Stewart said.

“To have this perversion of leadership, I imagine, is especially difficult to digest,” he added. “There’s a surreal quality to it.”

“Although I have to say, you guys left money on the table,” he quipped, referencing Melania Trump’s crypto cash grab, “a Michelle meme coin.”

Obama responded that she “didn’t even know it was possible,” joking that there were apparently countless ways to make money from the White House.

It is worth noting that Trump’s net worth has reportedly risen by $4 billion since returning to office, largely driven by his cryptocurrency investments.

Trump has also secured tens of millions of dollars in settlements from major companies, including ABC, Meta, X and Paramount, with much of the money initially earmarked for his future presidential library fund, which has since been dissolved.

Stewart joked that the Obamas missed an opportunity. “You guys didn’t do a pump-and-dump,” he said. “You left some money on the table.”

Since leaving the White House, the Obamas have partnered with Netflix through their production company, Higher Ground. Reflecting on the conversation, Mrs Obama joked, “You know, we could have had a Netflix deal a decade ago.”

Jon Stewart slams Trump’s presidential power as 'perverted'

Reflecting on Michelle’s Netflix deal, Stewart took aim at Trump’s businesses, saying, “You could have had a weapons company! You could’ve sold missiles to yourself! Don and Eric have a drone company, I don’t even know what to say.”

He added that the grifting is just one way that Trump has “perverted” the office.

“It’s the level of corruption that is, in some ways, maybe it’s doing a favor by making the current power structure and dynamic of this country untenable because of how explicitly corrupt,” he added.

Michelle said that she and Barack did not imagine this version of the White House when Obama was in office.

“What we were saying about the rolling back of women’s rights,” she said, giving an example, “When things are OK, it is easier to take what you have for granted… and to think, ‘Well, you know, there will always be somebody there who wouldn’t possibly do this. We’ve never had somebody who would do this,’ and you just assume that’s going to be the way it is.”

Still, she believes a deeper sense of greed had been building beneath the surface long before Trump came along.

“I think at some level, we were there as a country, just a little unclear, just a little like, ‘Maybe we can get a little more, maybe I can get more of a tax break, maybe we can get richer than we are. Maybe we can get rights changed faster than ever before.’”