During a recent appearance on CBS This Morning to promote his book about his experiences hosting Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, Jon Stewart gave his thoughts about what the controversial presidential election results mean to him personally and to the entire nation.
Before Stewart took over the reins from Craig Kilborn as host, The Daily Show served as a humorous take on national news and highlighted more absurd and bizarre events from around the world that national news shows didn’t. With Stewart at the helm, the show handled the 2000 presidential election and the tragedies of 9/11 with the appropriate amount of sophistication and satire that made the show a go-to source of information and commentary for a younger generation, catapulting Stewart into the spotlight.
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Without Stewart, or Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report, to help put the recent political events into perspective, people have been craving to the hear comedian weigh in on the current national climate, which he finally did while being interview by Charlie Rose.
“I don’t believe we are a fundamentally different country today than we were two weeks ago,” Stewart confesses. “The same country, with all its grace and flaws and volatility and insecurity and strength and resilience, exists today as existed two weeks ago. The same country that elected Donald Trump elected Barack Obama. I feel badly for the people whom this election will mean uncertainty and insecurity.”
Rather than merely being full of rage, Stewart implied that this election will serve as a catalyst to bigger changes in our democracy. “Donald Trump is a reaction, not just to Democrats, but to Republicans,” says Stewart. “He’s not a Republican, he’s a repudiation of Republicans, but they will reap the benefits of his victory.” Stewart clarifies, “I will guarantee you that Republicans are going to come to Jesus now about the power of government.”
Most importantly, Stewart tried to express the dangers of viewing people as monoliths, whether you supported Trump or are one of the groups of people his policies would impact the most. “I thought Donald Trump disqualified himself at numerous points, but there is now this idea that anyone who voted for him has to be defined by the worst of his rhetoric,” Stewart empathizes. “There are guys in my neighborhood that I love, that I respect, that I think have incredible qualities who are not afraid of Mexicans and not afraid of Muslims and not afraid of blacks, they’re afraid of their insurance premiums.”
Read more about Stewart’s interview over on CBS. Let us know what you miss most about Stewart hosting The Daily Show in the comments below.
[H/T Variety]
