President Obama Jokes About Donald Trump in 'Daily Show' Appearance
"I'm sure the Republicans are enjoying Mr. Trump's dominance," Obama said.
— -- President Obama joked about Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's unexpected rise to the top of the crowded field of GOP candidates during a taping of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on Tuesday.
Asked by the late-night comedian if he had any advice "to bequeath to future President Trump," Obama mused that the Republican Party must be appreciating Trump's popularity.
"I'm sure the Republicans are enjoying Mr. Trump's dominance in their primary," the president joked.
"Anything that makes them look less crazy," Stewart quipped in return.
President Obama's comments on Trump come one day after a new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows Trump leading the Republican field of presidential contenders with 24 percent support among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who are registered to vote. His closest rivals, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, trail with 13 and 12 percent, respectively.
The president sat down with Stewart one final time before the late-night comedian steps down from his post in August -- a point on which the commander in chief gave Stewart a hard time.
"I can't believe you're leaving before me," Obama said. "In fact, I'm issuing a new executive order that Jon Stewart cannot leave the show. "
"It's being challenged in the courts," the president jokingly added following laughter from the audience.
Stewart also asked the president about his relationship with the media.
The president admitted that there are "some that get on my nerves more than others" but that his main concern is not over the media being too tough or unfair. Instead, he said, he sees a challenge in getting the media to focus on the big issues of the day.
"It gets distracted by shiny objects," Obama said of the media. "Part of that is just the changing nature of technology. It's hard to do an hour-long special on 'The Other America,' let's say, or some of the other classic documentaries done a long time ago," Obama said. "On big tough issues sometimes it's hard to get entire nation's attention, but part of my job and part of the job of the White House is, how do we adapt to the new environment?"
The president was also reflective of his accomplishments as president but conceded that there are some issues he hasn't fully tackled.
"One of the things I'm proud of, and this is not just me, is that we have looked at a whole slew of problems when we came into office and we said, 'where can we advance the ball down the field each and every time across the board?' And we don't always score a touchdown every time, but we move the ball forward," Obama said.
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