Trevor Noah on the “Cult of Personality” Around Trump

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]that you came from an like the like a golden age of news in the United States.

[00:00:05]When we think to a time of news, you are from that era.

[00:00:09]And then you rose to become one of the superstars of that era.

[00:00:13]And then I don't want to sound too um you know, pessimistic about it, but I almost feel like you you also seen it sort of come to an end in some ways. Oh, yeah, definitely. I think Well, you know, I guess I think most people might [clears throat] look back on the era of Walter Cronkite.

[00:00:31]>> Yes. You know, back that long ago as the golden era of TV news. Of course, it was an era era when you know, most of the newscasters and reporters were white men, right? And not diverse at all.

[00:00:46]But there were just a handful, a very small group of authoritative figures who you went to and you believed.

[00:00:56]>> The trusted people.

[00:00:56]>> Trusted people.

[00:00:58]>> commas. And and and it's interesting. I was thinking the other day about Walter Cronkite when he said talked about Vietnam honestly and talked about how it wasn't a winnable war whatever he said specifically and LBJ said if we've lost Walter Cronkite, we've lost America.

[00:01:16]>> Wow.

[00:01:18]And you know, I think that I was actually thinking about that because there was a modern-day example, which now I can't remember, but it just these people had such there was so much trust >> Yeah.

[00:01:31]>> [snorts] >> in these figures. And similarly with a handful of newspapers with the Washington Post, which I read ev- every morning growing up. Actually, my dad read it and I watched him at the breakfast table, but you know, >> Yeah, that's that's how part of life it was. It was believed and trusted. And then of course, you had this evolution.

[00:01:50]You had 24-hour news networks, you had cable, you had then the bifurcation of liberal cable versus conservative. You had Fox News, That's what you guys have over here. Yeah, we don't have that.

[00:02:04]>> we don't have it. It's just news is just news. You guys have these kind of people's news and these other people's news. And how do you who is doing the news in South Africa?

[00:02:13]>> So in South Africa there's the South African Broadcasting Corporation, which is similar to the BBC, right? In that it's state-funded >> Modeled after the BBC. Yeah, it's modeled after the BBC and then it's state-funded. People pay a a fee, you know, for having a TV. It's like a nominal fee and that basically goes to funding it and and their reporting. Then we have a few independent stations as well, but none of them have a clear ideological bent.

[00:02:38]>> No, no, no. That that would be I think most people agree that would be crazy.

[00:02:42]Like we wouldn't we wouldn't we just >> Like there's not the pro-apartheid network.

[00:02:47]>> [laughter] >> Oh my goodness, Katie. Can you imagine the pro-apartheid network?

[00:02:54]>> [laughter] >> Oh my goodness, what a great idea. The PAN?

[00:02:58]>> [laughter] >> Hi, we're welcome to PAN.

[00:03:04]Oh, wow.

[00:03:05]>> You are my replacement. Oh, wow.

[00:03:07]>> [laughter] >> What a fantastic premise.

[00:03:09]>> But I have I do have I do have a question. So is there criticism from the the population Definitely.

[00:03:18]that feels or segment of the population that feels that the news as it's presented in South Africa is >> Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And and and how big is the outcry and what is the response by the by the publications or the networks?

[00:03:35]What would you say?

[00:03:35]>> network, I guess singular.

[00:03:38]So in South Africa the debate will always be after democracy will always be would a white party rule in South Africa ever again? So there's a party called the Democratic Alliance, which is leadership is white, but obviously they're always been opposing ANC, which is majority black.

[00:03:54]So sometimes news readers and some other news channels would favor stories that the DA are doing. But just because they're in the news, they would look like they're being favored. Right? Does that make sense?

[00:04:05]>> yes.

[00:04:06]>> on Twitter, obviously cuz they follow the same politicians and they get to see what they're doing. When the news comes on once a day about that specific politician, it looks like it suits the agenda of the politician. Right.

[00:04:17]>> But we were having this discussion the other day. We were saying the newsmakers are now trying to make their own news. If something sells, they'll go with it. If people are talking about it, if they see it on social media, they'll obviously go for it. But if the other party's doing nothing on social media, there's nothing to talk about.

[00:04:34]Does that make sense?

[00:04:34]>> Yes. So so are you saying that politicians are now bypassing news altogether and just speaking directly?

[00:04:41]In many ways they are, yeah. And then the news will pick that up.

[00:04:45]Yeah.

[00:04:45]>> um, you know, trending, if you will, at any moment in time. But is it How How divisive is it uh, in terms of >> like No, it's not like the US. No, no, no. It's nowhere close to the US.

[00:04:57]Nowhere close.

[00:04:58]>> do you think that is?

[00:05:00]Again, I think it's just because it it In most In most In most countries I've been to, people have some form of criticism for the news, right? So when I'm in England, people complain about the BBC. The BBC will even send out, um, regular sort of polls and questionnaires to its to its audience. Do you feel like we're not covering this enough? Do you feel like we should be covering this more, etc., etc., etc. And people will complain about the BBC in everything. How did they handle the Epstein files and Prince Andrew and how did they handle Israel-Palestine and how have they handled People will complain about that.

[00:05:34]In most places I've been to, people complain about the news in some way, shape, or form.

[00:05:39]In the US, what's different is your news pre- presents different realities.

[00:05:45]That's something that I don't see in most places Mhm. where it's like completely I've flipped between channels sometimes just to see >> I do that often.

[00:05:56]>> wild how it's like either one one's news news station is covering it and the other one isn't completely or they're presenting completely different stories different perspectives. Yeah.

[00:06:10]>> yeah. Yeah. And not even perspectives.

[00:06:12]Perspectives would almost be like Yeah.

[00:06:14]Um the Artemis rocket has has taken off.

[00:06:17]It is flying around the earth. Why are we wasting money on this? This is the greatest thing for mankind. Those are perspectives.

[00:06:22]>> Right.

[00:06:23]The one in America is like it's like uh the rocket has taken off. There's no rocket. Yeah.

[00:06:28]>> Wait, what?

[00:06:29]>> Or this didn't even happen. Right. This didn't happen. This is not true or as you said you know, Trevor, basically just ignoring it all together.

[00:06:40]>> Completely. Yeah.

[00:06:40]>> Completely [clears throat] ignoring it.

[00:06:41]It's it's wild. I was thinking about the Walter Cronkite thing the other day because of Tucker Carlson and I was thinking is Donald Trump saying to himself, "If I've lost Tucker Carlson, I've lost America." But I think he's not because Tucker Carlson, as powerful a voice that that he has I think you know, is just a tiny slice of MAGA world. You think he's a tiny slice? Well, I don't know. When I think about I have to look at his viewers but I don't think he is I don't think I don't know. I I guess the the time will tell whether he and other defectors, right? Like Megyn Kelly and all these other people.

[00:07:26]I'm not sure if Donald Trump enthusiasts will follow their lead. I don't know.

[00:07:34]What do you guys think?

[00:07:35]>> So, there's a strange phenomenon that I've noticed in and around Trump world and it's that there's a there's sort of a separation between Trump and his actions.

[00:07:48]And I still don't fully understand how to process it.

[00:07:51]But I've noticed many people who are Trump supporters will criticize Trump's actions, but then somewhere in their sentences they'll say, "But I like Trump." Or but he's better than the other guy. Yeah, or but but but in some way they'll they'll basically personalize it. Yeah, and they'll they'll >> it the cult of personality, right? They don't call it the cult of policy.

[00:08:12]>> This is true.

[00:08:13]This is true.

[00:08:15]Yeah, but what what they'll do interestingly is they will they'll almost excuse him from his actions.

[00:08:23]And when he does something that they do not like Okay, so let's use an example, a concrete example. When Donald Trump posted a picture of himself, like an AI-generated image of him as Jesus healing the sick or healing people, when his [snorts] base was like really really really angry about that, understandably. They're like, "How what are you doing? This is blasphemy."

[00:08:43]The amount of people in the comments of his post saying, "Take this down. This is not you.

[00:08:52]Um I love everything you do. This is This is not Something must have gone wrong here. Mr. President, please, someone has your phone."

[00:09:00]>> that action. They weren't defending the action. advising him not to do that.

[00:09:06]>> And they were incredulous that he had done that, and they were convinced that he had made a mistake.

[00:09:11]>> Yes, that's what I mean.

[00:09:12]>> intentional. But they had separated his mistake from him, which I find very interesting.

[00:09:17]Do you Do you get what I'm saying?

[00:09:19]Uh same thing goes with Iran. People will go, Mhm. "This president said he's not going to go to war. I voted for him because he said he's not going to be dropping bombs on other countries. I voted for him because he said the price of gas was going to come down."

[00:09:31]And then you're like, "So, what does that mean for you?" And they go, "Well, clearly he he he's being influenced by the wrong people and and you know, this is not what he wants.

[00:09:42]Or they'll say he got rid of a terrible regime and he was the only person who had the balls to do it and we're not going to be in a long protracted conflict and what he did I I I think there's this macho undercurrent too, you know, this this display of raw power that that people are attracted to as well and while they may have have doubts about the action and are not necessarily thinking about the geopolitical ramifications, there's something about sort of the brute force the Pete Hegseth, you know, the ethos of the military that the US is once again proving who's in charge that is I think very sort of subconsciously or consciously appealing to some of these folks as well. It it it's definitely that.

[00:10:39]>> [music]