'F***ing Do That!'

Quoting Jon Stewart is hard. At least if the goal is to catch the man’s drift. He’s more mime than messenger, so much of what he expresses is not verbalized. Oh, words flow from him like molten lava, but the words alone do not sufficiently convey his meaning. Sometimes it’s a pregnant pause or even prolonged silence that hammers home what he’s getting at.

Stewart makes crucial points with wide, disbelieving eyes or an impish grin or incredulous smirk or exaggerated grimace. He punctuates with a wagging finger or waving arms or clenched fists pounding a desktop or with mouth gaping or his head buried in his hands.

The Daily Show’s Monday host was miming up a storm this past week, his dander raised by Republican reaction to a New York City jury making a former president a convicted felon for the first time in our nation’s history. He mocked and pilloried the cowardly Trump toadies who’ve prostrated themselves before him and can’t get up. But he especially aimed his comic ire at the media.…