the daily show

“We were the destroyers of men and creators of empires. I think that generally is satire’s role and has always been: the rise and fall of civilization at our whim,” Stewart said facetiously, jokingly adding, “I would have probably allowed Hillary to come a little closer in the Rust Belt, but I still think I would have given Michigan to Trump. I had a little something going on where I was going to give [Al] Gore Florida. There was a bit we had planned that was going to hand Florida to Gore.”

But in all seriousness, Stewart says he doesn’t think satire has that much influence, something he hopes the book [The Daily Show (The Book) An Oral History as Told by Jon Stewart, the Correspondents, Staff and Guests] illustrates.

At a NY Times discussion on the recently released Daily Show oral history, Jon Stewart tried to inject some reality and hope in talking about Trump’s win. Stewart heartily believes that this isn’t the end of America and that it is still the same country with the same people as it was before the election.

Along those lines, Stewart explains, as seen above, that the idea of him staying on as host of The Daily Show wouldn’t have changed the outcome despite some people’s finger-pointing saying otherwise. 

Jon also went on to precisely dissect the media coverage, which was always a central focus of his run at The Daily Show, of the election and their obsession with the ratings grabbing headlines and failing to focusing on the actual policy issues. 

All of this should inform Jon Stewart’s upcoming animated cable news parody on HBO, which will be more relevant than ever when it premieres.