Jon Stewart’s War with Weak Dems and the Punditsphere

In his second post-election episode of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart (who hosts every Monday) said that the show’s long history of calling out hypocrisy was “utterly ineffective” — at least when repeated by actual holders of office. He urged Democrats to do more than simply copy that move in resistance to the incoming Trump administration. 

You could take that as an acknowledgment that the importance of The Daily Show has always been a tad overstated;  but that doesn’t mean Stewart and the show have no power or role in the pop political conversation in 2024 and beyond. 

On Monday, Stewart went into a long rant about a reeling Democratic party trying to brightside speckles of blue amidst the red wave, all while clinging to the idea that norms might slow down a Republican party that routinely ignores them and exploits whatever loopholes they can find. The obvious limitations of this approach is a lesson that, as Stewart pointed out, Democrats have serious trouble learning. 

In his previous episode, Stewart mocked cable news and the punditsphere for their post-election analysis, telling us “why it happened” despite being “so wrong about what was going to happen.” This week, he once again mocked the punditsphere, specifically the Morning Joe crew for bending a knee for the sake of access to Trumpworld weeks after being a part of the “but he’s a fascist!” chorus. That move was reportedly “driven by fear of retribution,” according to CNN. 

The Daily Show’s charge is to sniff out the bullshit that dominates American politics, laughing and pointing in a way that can loosen clenched jaws just a little bit. For the next four years, this could be a useful thing for people who are looking for that kind of distraction. I doubt I’m the first to make a similar analogy, but political comedy is like being served a shot of whiskey after getting a grim call from your doctor: it cures nothing, but it beats dealing with this shit sober.

Stewart is great at pouring that shot and punching right, as is the rest of the show’s team, but he’s just better, and potentially more useful, bullying Democrats into growing a spine or in railing on the often-derelict press. That last part is key, and where he may have the most influence given his status in media. 

Cable news pundits are a collection of bad actors and good shouters. They’re mostly smug ex-pols and advisers who have lost sight of the players and the board – like ancient ex-linebackers on a pregame show justifying their existence by telling you how life was 30 years ago even though it means fuck-all to the game at hand today. Meanwhile, the journalists who are supposed to rein the pundits in often seem overwhelmed in these 1-on-5 configurations. That, or they’re complicit, tilting the narrative so every election is breathlessly covered as a ratings-friendly horserace. 

The 2024 election saw a steady flow of complaints about the press, and they were heavily in their feelings about it. CNN’s Anderson Cooper provided the perfect example when Charlamagne Tha God called out CNN for its double standard in how they covered Harris and sanewashed Trump. Still, there isn’t nearly enough sustained or substantial media criticism, and the public has long been yearning for a new kind of news.

According to Gallup, those with a “Great Deal or Fair Amount” of trust in the media went from 55% in 1999 (Stewart’s first year hosting) to 40% in 2015, his final year in his first run. It was 31% when they updated in October. I would love to know where it’s at now that we’ve seen yet another election undermine the prognosticators. 

We just saw the most consequential opinion poll about the true popularity of the Democratic Party. They lost the White House and both houses of Congress, triggering an existential crisis that, thus far, looks like infighting, instability, and political insolvency because, as Stewart pointed out, they lack the strength in numbers and will to fight back. As with the media, there isn’t nearly enough sustained or substantial criticism of the octagenarian oligarchs running the Democratic party.

As for Stewart, is he still the most trusted name in news and a Walter Kronkite for millennials and GenXers like he was in 2009? 

YouGov says Stewart has a 45% “popularity” rating and that another 20% of people are neutral, which, in these divisive times means he’s practically beloved. He’s certainly more popular than almost everyone he reports on. And while in-power Republicans aren’t going to give a shit about being called out by The Daily Show, Democratic politicians and the press probably still fear Stewart and want his approval. These groups recognize that he still speaks to a (growing) audience they can’t afford to lose – politically engaged but likely disaffected millennials whose votes, willingness to donate, and cable news viewing habits might be influenced by what Stewart has to say. Might. 

Listen, it isn’t 2009 anymore. The Daily Show isn’t the only show in this space, and Stewart is more professorial than pugnacious and a little both-sidesy and preachy for a lot of people’s tastes (mine included, sometimes). He cuts it all with self-deprecation, but he still leans into his own authority and desire to be that Kronkiteian figure whose words have such power as to cut through the partisan fog that envelops everything else. 

When Stewart said we’re “all going to have to wake up tomorrow morning and work like hell to move the world to the place that we prefer it to be” on Election Night, you could have told me Joe Biden said it or Aaron Sorkin wrote it and I would have believed you.

Last week, Stewart tried to assure and give everyone a paper bag to breathe into when he said the current alignment of power in DC isn’t going to last forever. An accurate message, but proclamations in the “it’s not that bad” column feel off the mark, especially coming from another powerful old, rich, white, dude.

Last night, there was no balm within Stewart’s opening monologue. Just burns, for whatever that’s worth, though it’s worth the most if it becomes a habit. 

While it might be a kind of hollow catharsis to watch Stewart scream through our screens at the shmucky Democratic leaders who fumbled the bag and the journalists who absent-mindedly helped, in the absence of actual catharsis, checks and balances, or a functioning fourth estate, we’ll take what we can get.