In a 2025 interview with the Radio Times, Stewart said he and the U.S. president used to be friends but that was no longer the case.
“I’m not a great fan of Trump,” he said. “I knew him very, very well. I used to go to his house. I live literally half a mile away [in Florida] … We’re both on the beach. I used to go to his Christmas parties. He’s always been a bit of a man’s man. I liked him for that. But he didn’t, as far as I’m concerned, treat women very well. But since he became president, he became another guy. Somebody I didn’t know.”
After Trump criticized British and NATO troops — saying they “stayed a little back, a little off the front lines” in Afghanistan — Stewart posted a video on Instagram in which he said: “I may just be a humble rock star. I’m also a knight of the realm, and I have my opinions. I was born just after the war [World War II], and have great respect for our armed forces that fought and gave us our freedom. So, it hurts me badly, deeply, when I read that the draft dodger Trump has criticized our troops in Afghanistan for not being on the front line.”
Stewart doesn’t hold back with his political opinions. Last year, just before his appearance at the Glastonbury Festival, Stewart urged British voters to back Nigel Farage. He told the Times: “We’re fed up with the Tories. We’ve got to give Farage a chance. He’s coming across well … I know some of his family. I know his brother, and I quite like him.”
And in 2017, Stewart apologized after being filmed seemingly miming an Islamic State-style execution with friends in the desert near Abu Dhabi. In a swiftly deleted video clip, Stewart appeared to get a male friend to kneel down, held him by the hair and made what looked like a cutting motion across his throat.
In a statement, Stewart said: “From re-enacting the Beatles’ Abbey Road crossing to spontaneously playing out Game Of Thrones, we were simply larking about pre-show.
“Understandably, this has been misinterpreted and I send my deepest apologies to those who have been offended.”