Too far? The ‘Daily Show’ plugs nasty hashtag about Trump.

[Commentary] Is there a line between what the media should and should not say about Donald Trump? Or has the Republican presidential front-runner erased it with his own boorish behavior?

These are the questions running through my head as I scroll through Twitter posts marked by the hashtag #DonaldTrumpWantsToBangHisDaughter, which “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah promoted on the late-night program. Noah has used this line before -- and, we should emphasize, was making a rhetorical point when he pulled it out again. That point is this: Trump displays a reckless disregard for facts when spreading information (remember those bogus black/white homicide stats he got from “radio shows and everything else”?). So using Trump’s own standard, the logic goes, it’s okay to circulate the notion that he would like to have sexual relations with his daughter. “I’ve even seen people saying it on television,” Noah said sarcastically, as an image of himself from a previous episode appeared onscreen. Besides, Trump has joked that he would date his daughter if, you know, she wasn’t his daughter.

Something about this particular gag feels uncomfortably tasteless. Noah’s wisecrack was personal, and was about something truly depraved. As many online Americans get their news from “The Daily Show” as from USA Today, according to the Pew Research Center. There’s a certain responsibility that comes with that. I just can’t get behind the idea that the press should emulate what it sees in Trump.