I am embarrassed that a piece about Jon Stewart’s return to the Daily Show, heralding that event, appeared on this website. I was literally asleep when it did. Had I been awake, it would have been in the trash as fast as I could hit the keys to make it happen. Jon Stewart is a both sider troll. He is an enemy propagandist, in my opinion. My apologies, but I cannot be here 24/7. I had to go to sleep last night earlier than usual to make a morning appointment and this slipped through the cracks.
Mary Trump and I happen to have the same take on Jon Stewart. Her piece is lengthy and well analyzed. Here’s quite a bit of it.
A lot has changed in the nine years since Jon Stewart was host of the Daily Show. One thing that hasn’t – Jon Stewart.
Stewart brought back his 2015 “Indecision” tradition – the both-sides-are-problematic “joke.” Considering this is 2024, the decision is clear, and the stakes are existential: the result is an injustice to his audience, and to the truth.
What Left Me Angry
After some flat jokes about AARP cards and movie discounts, Stewart entered the Twilight Zone of bothsidesism:
“We’re not suggesting neither man is vibrant, productive, or even capable… But they are both stretching the limits of being able to handle the toughest job in the world.”
Now here’s the part where the both siderism kicks in and I completely agree with Mary Trump. And this is the problem with television. Television is a two-dimensional shallow medium. It tends towards broad brush strokes and impressions, rather than substance and depth. That’s why Trump is successful in the medium. If it addressed substance or depth, if actual knowledge or experience in a field was needed, he would have washed out on day one, because he has none of any of that. But in a soundbite, superficial medium where pretense, not productivity, rules the day, Trump does fine.
In what universe is Donald vibrant, productive or capable?? And this statement wasn’t even tongue-in-cheek. Stewart was making a straight-up comparison.
There are no excuses here. Stewart knows who Donald is.
Donald isn’t vibrant. He is compulsive and unhinged.
Donald isn’t productive. He is inept.
Donald isn’t capable. He is a disaster.
Let me be clear: it’s not the comedy that’s the problem—especially since it’s not clear Stewart was even trying to be funny. I don’t even care that he brought up President Biden’s age… The fact of the matter is, Biden is old. It’s absurd to pretend otherwise, so, let’s just own it. It’s that Stewart is pretending, for what possible reason I can’t fathom given his stated politics, that Donald can be favorably compared to President Biden by any metric. This is a serious question: What possible purpose does that serve, especially since it is completely wrong?
So, yeah, Donald and Biden are Both chronologically about the same age. Only Biden’s record shows that he can turn the stereotypes on their head:
The Choice
For an 81-year-old, President Biden’s accomplishments are astounding: record economic recovery; historic climate and infrastructure investment — massive achievements in an era of vanishing bi-partisanship. There is much more to do after the disastrous four years of the Trump administration and decades of Republican governance, but unlike his elderly, fascist, and cognitively impaired counterpart in the Republican Party, President Biden is an elder statesman with experience to get things done that can give American democracy a fighting chance.
The alternative?
A cruel, unfit, rapist who, in addition to being a criminal defendant under four indictments, sides with our enemies at every opportunity.
There is no comparison.
Every single time someone in the corporate media, or a comedian with the reach and influence of somebody like Jon Stewart, wants to highlight “both sides” at the cost of the truth, it’s up to you and me to get out the word.
Because here’s the wave Stewart seems hell-bent on bringing back:
Documented Damage of Stewart’s “Both-Sides” Shrugging
Not only is Stewart’s “both sides are the same” rhetoric not funny, it’s a potential disaster for democracy. Stewart helped wipe out the motivation generation by Obama’s 2008 message of Hope and Change motivation that led to record turnout in 2008.
The damage done by his “The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear,” a DC rally/joke which inspired an entire generation to shrug off politics and ignore the dangers of the right-wing, cannot be overstated. It was, in no small part, responsible, for helping Donald come to power.
It made a mockery of nuance and encourage people to believe that all politicians are the same and that there was no daylight between Democrats and Republicans or Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, In fact, it helped people feel comfortable with their assessment that Clinton was worse. The result?
Voter turnout dropped in 2012 presidential election. Turnout for the 2016 election was abysmal—a 20-year-low.
Now Stewart is bringing back the same bullshit that got him rich in the 2000s, and helped get Donald elected in 2016.
There might have conceivably been some actual humor in both siderism in a pre-Trump era. Possibly. I can’t say as how I believe that there was, personally, because I’ve always seen the Republican hypocrisy for what it is. But absolutely, Mary Trump is right about this. Jon Stewart’s both siderism is toxic and in this particular election year, it is deadly. Our mission here, on this site, is crystal clear: We are anti-Trump, anti-MAGA, anti-both siderism. We are pro Democrats, but pro constitutional democracy above and beyond all else.
Again, my apologies that it slipped through.
Sad to see he has fallen so low that he is indistinguishable from the dolts in the msm. Wonder how long it will be before fux offers him a job?
We are not in a place where both siderism can be tolerated. We simply are not. This isn’t D v. R and hasn’t been since 2016. This is the life or death of this republic. It’s not humorous in my eyes.
I wrote in an earlier post that the clip in that post was the first I’d seen of Jon Stewart and The Daily Show. I think I was wise not to have watched the earlier incarnation, and I don’t believe I will be watching in the future.
I don’t like the cynicism of both siderism for one thing. For another, WRT Trump and anybody else, there is no both siderism, period. Trump is a complete fool, he doesn’t belong in politics at all, not even serving on a school board.
TRIED TO OPEN got 404 error. Which is okay.
Here is an old show that is all ANTI PUTIN!
https://www.cc.com/video/zdwkkb/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-2014-sochi-homophobic-olympics
YES THAT IS PUTIN W LITTLE BOY!
Didn’t watch him. Now I’m glad I didn’t. I could never watch chuck Todd for the same reason. Thanks for the heads up. I won’t be tuning in. When Biden’s age comes up, I always say, look at his policies and what he’s gotten done, with an insurrection, a house cult, and two compromised ‘democratic’ senators on his hands. God help us if people don’t vote.
I didn’t know the statistics that Mary Trump showed until she showed them. If this guy, Stewart, is depressing the voting turnout then he’s as dangerous to America as Trump is.
I came back to politizoom today with the express purpose of blasting that crap yesterday on Jon Stewart. I got so mad yesterday, I just left. The only thing that fool said that was worth hearing was at the very end. Democracy is a full time job.
Ursula, you took that guy down far better than I could have as I never watched the fool other than brief clips here and there.
When JS only showed a few seconds of Biden’s TikTok ad I knew he was no friend of America. Shades of FOX propaganda.
watch the whole show from beginning to end with his interview with the editor of The Economist. I get the whole interview on Paramount. a real interview.
Thanks.
We are at a place in our history where there is a binary choice, democracy v. autocracy. Pick a side. They are not the same. Both siderism is poison.
Agree 100%. Both siderism attacking Biden’s age by using censored clips of him is false equivalence MAGAt propaganda for ratings only. As soon as I got to that part of the show, I shut off. Thank you for apologizing.
I watched the Daily show and to be honest I think he was spot on. He wasn’t fox stupid, he was calling out the Biden messaging which has been sh’t so far. The Biden election team has done nothing to make Biden seem competent. You can all blow me up, but Jon Stewart knows more about messaging than just about anyone. He doesn’t want trump, he wants Biden team messaging to be better. He knows the consequences, some of us old folks may miss it, but young folks are not happy with the 80 year old choice that they are not participating in. We need to get them on board and denying that Biden is old is the first step.
“He doesn’t want trump, he wants Biden team messaging to be better.”
I’m another old grey dude who watched the show, and I think you’re engaging in some wishful thinking here. If he really doesn’t want Trump he should have come right out and repeated your sentence verbatim. The fact that he didn’t make this position clear tells me that he’s just rehashing the feeble bothsidesism from his previous stint on the show. IMHO, “denying that Biden is old” would be futile. The more effective stance would be: “Biden is an elderly man who assembled a wonderful team to do amazing things, and that team will stay on the job if you re-elect him. Trump is mentally unfit for the presidency, and his many gaffes, shameless lies and paranoid rants prove it.”
The come back to age queries, in my opinion, should be: “Forget his age, look at his achievements.” And then hammer home what those are. This administration has been impressive. Let’s focus on what it has done and NOT the candidate’s freaking age, over which he has no control.
John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem “Ichabod” was written in 1850 as a protest against Daniel Webster’s support for the Fugitive Slave Act, but I find that it still resonates today. Jon Stewart’s pitiful performance on Monday’s “Daily Show” brought to mind the final stanza:
“Then, pay the reverence of old days
To his dead fame;
Walk backward, with averted gaze,
And hide the shame!”
I can understand that you personally are offended by him, but i think the blanket condemnation of Jon Stewart is unfair, Ursula. What I saw seemed very much more anti-Trump than the opposite. He can make digs at both sides without us needing to get offended by it: it’s sarcastic humour! There’s tons more material to make fun of The Orange One and his henchmen, than of Democrats, so he won’t be able to easily be even-handed over time. He’s got plenty of time to gradually home in on the serious target, while bringing viewers in from a wide political spectrum – why begrudge him some laughs at our expense in the meantime?
You asked a fair question and I’m going to give you an answer: I “begrudge him some laughs at our expense” because the stakes are too high. Trump is an inept fool. The GOP would never have put him on their ticket but for the fact that they were utterly bereft of leadership and at least he was a recognized name. That gamble won and look at the cost? Our allies are all looking at us side-eyed and wondering if we can ever be trusted again. We’ve had our national credit rating lowered — as a direct result of Trump and his MAGA cohorts in Congress.
That’s why my blanket condemnation.
Not to mention he’s playing to the crowd for ratings to line the pockets of the ultrarich. His goal isn’t to save democracy, it’s to be popular. This isn’t a time to seek the approval of the mob. Before Hitler became known for being a mass murder, he was Man Of the Year on a magazine cover here in America! Popularity is no measuring stick for good.
Glad to hear that. I read and commented on that article, and I was the only one who didn’t find it amusing. Thought I was in the Twilight Zone.