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Writer's pictureThomas Neuburger

Why Jon Stewart Should Run for President


Bernie Sanders addresses a crowd of 25,000 on October 19, 2019, in New York City (Getty Images)

By Thomas Neuburger


I’m serious about suggesting that Jon Stewart run for president. Listen to the following clip. I’m not posting this encounter because of its topic, though gender dysphoria is truly serious. I’m posting it because of Stewart’s method and approach.


He cuts through BS faster and better than anyone else in his business. He’s sharp, he’s fast on his feet, and he’s serious. Note his verbal sparring, his deft undercutting, the surprise but modulated pivots to accusations of lying.



This is taken from Season 2, Episode 1 of The Trouble with Jon Stewart. The entire interview, available only on Apple+, is even stronger.


A Bane to Both Establishments


He’d not only do this to Republicans running against him. He’d do the same to Democrats who got in the way of doing right for America. Faux-President Manchin, would get creamed, not coddled and cultivated. Schumer and his despicable cave, for example, to the Senate Parliamentarian on drug price reform would be treated the same. Stewart, through his career, has been an equal opportunity offender.


The arguments for:

  • He has Sanders-authenticity, the real thing, not the fake-authentic variety manufactured by PR firms.

  • He’s more serious about his goals than he is about his career.

  • He would inspire a Sanders-like following (note the image above, from 2015).

  • He’s as good as we would get against Trump on the debate stage.

The arguments against:

  • The Democratic establishment would work to defeat him at every turn. The antidote to that would be the Sanders-style wind at his back. Finally, someone on the left for the real uprising to hook to.

  • He appears not to want to.

Nevertheless, I can’t think of a candidate I’d vote more enthusiastically for than Jon Stewart. After all, the best of the current crowd is getting us almost nowhere.


We need a principled disruptor, Sanders-style. Can you think of anyone better fit for the role?

2 Comments


pearlsroxanna
pearlsroxanna
Feb 16, 2023

I agree John Stewart definitely has the intelligence and qualifications to run for President! Wish he would.

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dcrapguy
dcrapguy
Feb 16, 2023

coupla things:

1) jon stewart is the first one who did not hesitate to call the democraps "pussies". He did it often, as they deserve it constantly. I was not a religious watcher of "The Daily Show" since it was on a cable station I didn't always get and it was on late, but I first heard him use that epithet for the democraps some time early in the obamanation debacle.

2) The Ukraine Jon Stewart was elected president. Working out nicely for them. so... there's a precedent.

3) if it looked like Stewart could upend the democrap party, I'm quite sure someone would "suicide him". The money is not about to let a comedian get in the way o…


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