Comedian Jon Stewart has long been an outlet for Democrats to turn to when they need a laugh—usually at the expense of the opposing party. As Trump’s odds appeared to continually improve on Tuesday night, Stewart said on The Daily Show that “we don’t really know anything” when it comes to the future of our country.
“We’re going to come out of this election and we’re going to make all kinds of pronouncements about what this country is and what this world is—and the truth is we aren’t going to know shit,” Stewart said on his show. “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.”
Stewart reminded viewers of claims that were made on election nights over the last four cycles. In 2008, when former President Barack Obama won, it was reported that this would be the “election of the future” and moving towards a post-racial America. In 2012, the Republican Party felt that in the next election they needed to do a better job at showing Hispanic voters that the party respected them, but they nominated Trump. In 2016, it was assumed that Hillary Clinton’s loss was chalked up to her age and the Democratic party was looking for someone younger—but nominated President Biden in 2020. And in 2021, after January 6th, it was anticipated that the insurrection attempt would come back to haunt Trump.
At the time of publication, Trump has 247 electoral votes and victories in two of the seven key swing states—North Carolina and Georgia, which the Republican party flipped from the 2020 election.
In a plea to his viewers at the end, Stewart told them this is not the end.
“I promise you this is not the end. We have to regroup and we have to continue to fight and continue to work day in and day out to create a better society for our children, for this world, for this country that we know is possible. It’s possible,” Stewart said.
