Would Jon Stewart consider running for office? It’s a question The Daily Show host was recently asked during a post-show Q&A, which has since been posted to the show’s YouTube page.
Stewart didn’t dodge the premise, but he also didn’t really indulge the fantasy. Instead, he used the moment to dissect why people keep asking that question of late-night hosts in the first place. “This is a question that comes up a lot,” Stewart said, joking that it usually follows an exasperated ‘fuck it’ from viewers who watch television and assume anyone outspoken commenters such as himself, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel must automatically be more competent than elected officials. “It speaks to this desperation and dissatisfaction that we have with the status quo.”
“I so understand the feeling,” Stewart continued. “I think what’s happening right now with all of us, myself included, because having the ability to have a catharsis, or talk about it, or work with people every day is emotionally sustaining, but I think we have a shared feeling of helplessness. We’re all watching the same thing and going, ‘This is, some of the show? Fuck it.’ Who are you going to believe, you or your lying eyes? And where we’re at is sort of that: how are we going to slow this down?”
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But despite the dysfunction in political institutions, Stewart said he still finds hope in people. He pointed to his own home town, where he said Trump supporters would once greet him with taunts about Biden. Now, he joked, “they’re like, ‘What would you like on your sandwich?’”
“People keep saying, ‘Oh, this guy is Hitler.’ No, he’s not… Hitler was popular. This guy’s not,” Stewart noted, arguing that voters have been the true “bulwark” against democracy’s backslide. “It ain’t flying in a lot of places where you think it might be flying.”
To be clear, Stewart didn’t give an explicit answer about whether he’d run for office, but he has ruled out on several occasions possibility in the past, including in response to a viral op-ed in 2024 encouraging him to run for president. He also recently re-uped his deal at The Daily Show to remain as anchor for another year.
Here is Stewart’s full answer:
“It’s very kind of you. And by the way, it is, I cannot tell you how wild it is to have people even think that having the power over their lives is something they would appreciate that you have. But I do know, like all the folks in the media like this, like Steven [Colbert], like Jimmy [Kimmel], we get this. This is a question that comes up a lot. And I think it speaks to, if I may, and I don’t know the motivation, it speaks to this desperation and dissatisfaction that we have with the status quo.
“And so then you see somebody on television who’s saying some of the things that resonate with you, and you think, well, fuck it. It really is, ‘I think you should be president’ is the line that comes right after fuck it. Because most people go like, ‘I’m watching this. I’m doing this. These guys aren’t doing that. You know what? Fuck it. That guy should, he’s on TV!’ It’s almost like you’re cursing me with, like, a Twilight Zone. Like, make him!
“But I so understand the feeling. I think what’s happening right now with all of us, myself included, because having the ability to have a catharsis, or talk about it, or work with people every day is emotionally sustaining, but I think we have a shared feeling of helplessness. We’re all watching the same thing and going, ‘This is, some of the show?” Fuck it. The show tonight is sort of like—you’re here on a good night. Who are you going to believe, you or your lying eyes? And where we’re at is sort of that: how are we going to slow this down?
“But I’m telling you, the one thing that I will say is the institutions may be wanting and may be failing, but the people aren’t. You know, people keep saying, ‘Oh, this guy is Hitler.’ No, he’s not. And I’ll tell you why he’s not: Hitler was popular. This guy’s not. Because the people, and I’m talking about people, like, I live in a town where a lot of people went that way. They give me a lot of shit in the deli. I walk in the deli, and there’s a lot of like, ‘Hey, how’s that autopen? How’s fucking Biden’s autopen?” I walk in the deli now, and they’re like, ‘What would you like on your sandwich?’
“It ain’t flying in a lot of places where you think it might be flying. So the one institution that I think has been the bulwark in a way that nothing else has has been the people. And that’s been really heartening to me.