Well, here we are, back on The Daily Show. It’s a new world that’s similar to the old one but a heck of a lot scarier. Still, certain fixtures will always be there. For one, jerks who say things like, “At least comedy will be good when Trump’s in office,” return to that old chestnut. But as annoying as that will be, there’s an even more prominent, richer, and educated class of jerks armed with something worse: Election post-mortem. Returning to The Daily Show following what is easily the most depressing episode of his recent tenure, Jon Stewart didn’t focus on Donald Trump so much as the Democrats’ response to the “shellacking” they took last week. The takes were flying fast and loose as anyone who spent this week Googling, “What does deporting 10 million people look like?” and “Can money protect me from Climate Change?” probably knows. Tonight, though, Stewart allowed the pundits to talk, allowing them to blame their loss on the base they spent the last four months betraying. Stewart cuts to the likes of Joe Scarborough, Jen Psaki, and Scott Galloway, blaming “wokeness” for this loss and their loser son’s station in life.
“I only have one problem with the Woke Theory,” Stewart says. “I just don’t recall seeing any Democrats running on woke.”
It’s not surprising that those in the Democratic establishment would choose to throw undocumented migrants, trans people, and those who think police accountability is a problem worth solving under the bus. As Stewart points out, what’s offensive is that they weren’t running on any of that stuff. Democrats across the country were running on border security and gun rights and against “sex changes.” While Kamala Harris was bragging about her Glock, she was telling pro-Palestinian protestors, “I’m speaking.” While she paraded around with the Cheneys, Trumpworld spent millions on transphobic fear-mongering, leaving one of the Democrats’ most loyal and vulnerable voting blocks out to dry. Maybe if the Democrats weren’t so embarrassed by their voters’ concerns or afraid of what Republicans might say about them, more people would’ve turned out to vote blue.
“They didn’t do the woke thing. They acted like Republicans for the last four months,” Stewart continues. “They wore camo hats and went to Cheney family reunions. Do you know how dangerous it is to wear a hunting hat around Cheneys? Democrats were mostly running against an identity that was defined for them based on a couple of months of post-George Floyd, Defund The Police, #MeToo Instagram posts from four years ago.” ”
Stewart ended his monologue by reminding those concerned about the horrors that await that this isn’t forever. In four years, we’ll get to do all this again (hopefully?), and until then, we’ll all grip our 1984 electoral map a little tighter, chanting the words “Walter Mondale” as a mantra to power through daymares of just how bad it’s going to get.
“What happened was the country felt like the government wasn’t working for them and that Democrats, in particular, were taking their hard-earned money and giving it to people who didn’t deserve it as much as them. And so the Democrats got shellacked.”
It wouldn’t be the first time.