#AfricaDay: Trevor Noah compares Trump to 'Africa'

The Daily Show host, Trevor Noah. Photo: Supplied

The Daily Show host, Trevor Noah. Photo: Supplied

Published May 25, 2019

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While Trevor Noah's international career seems to be taking off in spectacular fashion, it's the things he says that raises eyebrows of his local fans. 

This week, while participating in the Wall Street Journal's Future of Everything Festival, Noah and his "The Daily Show" team shared insights about the journey and transition that the show has gone through up to this point. 

One of the things Noah highlighted is that when he began hosting the show following the departure of its long-time host Jon Stewart, he faced backlash from Americans who did not think he was capable of deciphering the American political spectrum. 

Noah said: "You know when I came to the 'Daily Show,' the first thing people said is 'what does a South African know about American politics?' I said, 'I don't know anything'. And then I realised that politics is fundamentally the same across most countries in the world, it's just the characters that change. 

"You will find corruption everywhere, you will find oppression everywhere, you will find laws that are created to benefit and harm certain people everywhere. What I came to realise was that we are telling the same story with a different headline. And I think Dave will remember when Donald Trump started speaking we looked at each other like, 'we know this guy. This is Africa all over again, we're home."

Trevor Noah on taking the reins from Jon Stewart as "The Daily Show" host pic.twitter.com/ccvriJNEuU

— WSJ Life & Arts (@WSJLife) May 22, 2019

He added that upon Stewart's departure,  he had to deal with finding an evolved identity for the show, He said according to him, the show is an extension of "How I absorb the world with my friends. And so that's been a wonderful journey."

This is not Noah's first comparison of Trump to African leaders, with him having said the corruption allegations that were levelled against those around Trump do not surprise him, as Trump and African dictators are similar. 

He has also been on SA's naughty list after he made jokes about EFF Commander in Chief that locals found less than funny. 

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