Da he is again: After almost ten years of absence, America's sharpest political satirist Jon Stewart has picked up the thread again. “Where was I?” he began his comeback show, which was all about what’s in store for America in the next nine months leading up to the presidential election – and beyond.
The old people fighting for the White House
There was an aged Stewart with a white beard sitting there – a fact that Stewart was not above pointing out, especially in view of his ruthless dismantling of the two old men fighting for the White House. But it was clear from the first few minutes how much Stewart's clarity and humanity were missing in a society that seems to have largely given up on debate and reflection.
“We have a lot to talk about,” said Stewart: “The election, maybe China, AI, maybe something easier like Israel and Palestine” – a swipe at his former employer Apple, according to media reports on Stewart’s show “The Problem with Jon Stewart”. because he didn't want to be disciplined on issues like China and AI.
He now wants to host the show every Monday until the election on November 5th, with which he has become a fixture in the American political debate since 1999 and which has hardly been worth mentioning since his departure in 2015. The election campaign was at the center of Stewart's “Daily Show” comeback: the doubts about Biden's mental fitness, his description by Republican special counsel Robert Hur as a “well-meaning old man with a poor memory” and Biden's disastrous press conference afterwards in which he just underlined the concerns about his age.
What is the cause of Trump's early dementia?
Stewart also referred to Donald Trump's increasingly bizarre statements and his politically stupid forgetfulness (“the leading cause of early dementia is apparently a court summons”). Neither of the two is “dynamic, productive or even suitable”. So the question, says Stewart, is: “What the hell are we actually doing here?” If the barbarians are at the gates, “we need Conan at the fortress, not Cookie Monster,” said Stewart, referring to Biden’s Tiktok appearance in which he praised the legendary cookies of the mother of football star and Taylor Swift friend Travis Kelce “and managed to look even older,” as Stewart exclaimed in disbelief.
Critics had previously complained that Stewart's return was a return to the old story. In fact, it was as if he had never left. But as a viewer you had to remember what makes Stewart indispensable: he calls a spade a spade, skewers the absurdities of politics and points out the seriousness of the situation. “The work of making this world resemble one you want to live in is a damn hard job, with thousands of smart and courageous people banging on locked doors and picking up those who have fallen and working their asses off until something Positive things come out of it. And even then you have to keep going so that the result lasts.”
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