Jon Stewart has words for us.
Donald Trump is the winner of the 2024 election, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris with wide margins that still have not been fully tabulated yet. He's on his way to becoming the 47th President of the United States after his third attempt at running for president.
During "The Daily Show's" election special on Tuesday evening, Jon Stewart calmed the nation as results leaned heavily towards a second Trump presidency. Stewart even called out pollsters who misjudged the race between Trump and Harris: "Blow me," he said. The host acknowledged that regardless of who the winner is, people would project many different outcomes attached to them.
“We’re going to come out of this election and we’re going to make all kind of pronouncements about what this country is, and what this world is,” Stewart shared with the late-night audience. “And the truth is, we’re not really going to know s**t. We’re going to make it seem like this is the finality of our civilization.”
Stewart stressed after the election is over and a winner is unanimously decided — there is still more to do in the U.S. He urged that change doesn't just begin and end with an election.
"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. And I just want to point out, just as a matter of perspective, that the lessons that our pundits take away from these results, that they will pronounce with certainty, will be wrong. And we have to remember that,” he said.
The comedian pulled receipts to back up his statement, including archival clips from pundits like George Stephanopoulos's blanket statement on former President Barack Obama after his 2008 win. At the time, Stephanopoulos had said with certainty, "There is no question this is the beginning — this is the first election of the future. I think we are moving towards a post-racial America."
"That lasted a day," Stewart noted.
After Obama won again in 2012, Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly said that the GOP needs to show "Hispanic voters that the party respects them."
That message was highlighted against Trump's 2015 campaign, racially profiling Mexicans. But needless to say, years of definitive statements led pundits to claim that Trump would “never be allowed to step foot in the Capitol again" after the Jan. 6 insurrection, and on Tuesday evening — they were proved wrong.
"My point is this: F**k!" Stewart yelled.
Despite the Trump win, Stewart ended the episode hopeful. He stressed, “This isn’t 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.”
"The Daily Show" airs Monday through Thursday at 11 p.m. ET on Comedy Central and streams on Paramount+.
