Before he was running for president, Donald Trump was known for getting in all sorts of feuds with celebrities. But among his most bizarre feuds — and there’s a long list — was one that ended with Trump calling former Daily Show host Jon Stewart “a pussy.”
Jon Stewart recalls the time Trump tried “to let people know I’m a Jew”
Trump got into a very public feud with Stewart. It got ugly.
Stewart retold the story at the 10th annual “Stand Up For Heroes” event in New York City on Tuesday. It began, Stewart said, one day when he realized that Trump was suddenly — with no explanation whatsoever — calling out Stewart on Twitter for changing his name.
If Jon Stewart is so above it all & legit, why did he change his name from Jonathan Leibowitz? He should be proud of his heritage!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2013
As these attacks continued for days, Stewart said he began to wonder what Trump was trying to accomplish. “So I start to think to myself, oh, I think this guy is trying to let people know I’m a Jew,” he said. “And I think to myself, doesn’t my face do that?” The hint of anti-Semitism didn’t escape Stewart: “It would be funny if it wasn’t so toxically crude and horrible.” (Trump has repeatedly used anti-Semitic language throughout the campaign.)
Stewart then fired back. He joked, “Many people don’t know this, but Donald Trump’s real name is Fuckface Von Clownstick. I wish he would embrace the Von Clownstick heritage.” The name “Fuckface Von Clownstick” took off on Twitter, with many, many people tweeting it at Trump.
Trump was apparently furious, calling the name unfunny and saying Stewart stole the joke from someone on Twitter.
Amazing how the haters & losers keep tweeting the name "F**kface Von Clownstick" like they are so original & like no one else is doing it...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2013
“You remember, by the way, Lincoln used to get into this shit all the time with people,” Stewart joked at the “Stand Up For Heroes” event.
As the feud continued, the now-Republican candidate for president tweeted this:
@caaataclysm Little Jon Stewart(?) Is a pussy, he would be hopeless in a debate with me!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2013
This is the man who could become president of the United States, and he was getting in Twitter fights with random celebrities — seemingly because of some slight criticism or joke of him on The Daily Show.
Hillary Clinton has repeatedly attacked this aspect of Trump — his total inability to let benign criticisms slide — throughout the campaign. “A man you can bait with a tweet,” Clinton has said, “is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.”
Stewart put it another way: “Vote wisely this November.”
