Jon Stewart returning to The Daily Show will help us win in 2024—No joke!

He's back!!

Jon Stewart is back! At least every Monday night that is, as Stewart returns to host Comedy Central’s The Daily Show starting Feb 12. However, Stewart will also serve as the executive producer of the show for all episodes, meaning his comedic fingerprints will be everywhere. That is great for us—and bad for Donald Trump.

Many of us—including myself—were truly disappointed when Stewart stepped down from hosting The Daily Show in the summer of 2015, just a short time after Trump announced his run for President. And after Hillary Clinton lost, many—again, including myself—had wondered if the election results would’ve been different if Stewart had hosted throughout the 2016 campaign.

Well, now Stewart will be back hosting weekly through the 2024 campaign and will very likely play a role in helping defeat Trump. I say this not just because Stewart’s comedy was insightful, cutting and hilarious. But very importantly, it’s also because Stewart had a history of getting under Trump’s pathetically thin skin causing the orange beast to lash out publicly.

For example, just a month before Trump formally announced his 2016 presidential run, we saw Stewart comically discuss the GOP presidential candidates. When he got to Trump, Stewart joked, “They’re all very colorful characters, but for me there can only be one F**kface von Clownstick.” Stewart then did an impression of Trump merciless mocking him for saying he had secret, “foolproof” plan to defeat ISIS.

How did Trump respond? With a series of angry tweets calling Stewart “a wiseguy with no talent,” “the most overrated joke on television” who delivered “dumb clown humor” and more.  For a comedian, having a person like Trump respond angrily on social media to your jokes is better than a standing ovation.

True, there are other late-night comedians who mock Trump. And Saturday Night Live’s parody of Trump so triggered Trump that in 2019--as President--he publicly demanded the Federal Communications Commission investigate the iconic comedy show. Trump even bemoaned that there was no form of “retribution” against SNL for ridiculing him.

But Trump is especially triggered by Stewart given their feud spanned years. In fact, Stewart got so under Trump’s skin that his angry comments about the comedian veered despicably into outright anti-Semitism. That happened back in 2013, when Trump tweeted in response to Stewart again telling jokes at his expense: “If Jon Stewart is so above it all & legit, why did he change his name from Jonathan Leibowitz? He should be proud of his heritage!”

The reason behind Trump posting Stewart’s real name was not lost on the comedian. As Stewart explained in 2016, "So I start to think to myself, oh, I think this guy is trying to let people know I’m a Jew.” He added, "It would be funny if it wasn’t so toxically crude and horrible."  

We very well could see Trump again openly traffic in hate in response to Stewart’s jokes—which excites his base—but is something moderate voters dislike.

Add to that, Stewart recently criticized Trump’s use of anti-Semitic tropes in 2022 when Trump posted on social media that Jewish people don’t appreciate him enough for his accomplishments in Israel and that “Jews have to get their act together.” In response, Stewart stated that Trump’s “crazy statement” wrongly implied that Jewish Americans have to be loyal to Israel. He added, “It’s one of the most explicit expressions of just pure, ‘Jews have only loyalty to Israel’,” dubbing it “antisemitic bullshit.”

So, yes, for Stewart this is also personal. We can expect him to slice, dice and filet Trump—all from a comedic pov.

There’s also something else Stewart has on his side even more now than when he left The Daily Show in 2015.  That comes from his effective and inspiring work over the past few years on behalf of 9/11 First Responders and military veterans. Who can forget in 2019 when Stewart confronted members of Congress to their face slamming them for not helping 9/11 First Responders who were sick and even dying. And then in 2022, he again took members of Congress to task for not passing legislation to help veterans who contracted illnesses after being exposed to burn pits during their active service. 

Stewart also amplified the stories of these veterans—and their families--in 2021 on his Apple TV show which was covered not just in mainstream media outlets but also publications like The Military Times which meant his efforts were reaching a wider group that includes Republicans.  Consequently, it’s likely Stewart now has credibility beyond just people on the left but also many in the middle and even some on the right.

Stewart’s work on The Daily Show not only addressed political issues but also one of the banes of our existence: Corporate media bias. I’m especially looking at you Fox News but who can forget his famous comments on CNN’s Crossfire battling with then co-host Tucker Carlson. Stewart is the perfect person to call out the corporate media bias throughout the 2024 campaign.

And Stewart also covered issues before they were often popular on the left, laying the groundwork for changing opinions. One place in particular was his speaking out in support of Palestinian humanity. While today we see that as a mainstream issue on the left, it wasn’t always. In fact, I wrote an article for The Daily Beast back in 2014 titled, "How Jon Stewart Made It Okay to Care About Palestinian Suffering" that detailed how Stewart had called out the way that Palestinian civilians in Gaza were being killed by the Israeli military action at the time in a segment called, “Gaza Strip Maul.”

Putting that all aside, Stewart also provided us with a much needed comedic cathartic release—or a “Moment of Zen” if you will as he called a reoccurring segment on his show.  I, for one, can’t wait for Stewart’s jokes Trump — or as Stewart called him, “F**kface von Clownstick” —driving the orange wannabe dictator to freak out even more!

Stewart is one of the rare comedians who makes us laugh and makes us smarter. Given that, Stewart couldn’t be returning at a better time!

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I interviewed award winning director/actor Rob Reiner on my SiriusXM show this week who shared his views on Jon Stewart returning to helm The Daily Show:

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