Daily Show host Jon Stewart

Daily Show host Jon Stewart addresses Democratic criticism, Tucker Carlson’s Vladimir Putin interview
02/25/24


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Daily Show host Jon Stewart addresses Democratic criticism, Tucker Carlson’s  Vladimir Putin interview
Daily Show host Jon Stewart addresses Democratic criticism, Tucker Carlson’s Vladimir Putin interview
© Provided by ClutchPoints
Jon Stewart returned to his familiar role hosting Comedy Central’s The Daily Show on Monday, February 19, for his second episode of the 2024 election season. In this episode, Stewart addresses Democratic criticism of his commentary in his first episode back, along with breaking down Tucker Carlson’s recent Vladimir Putin interview and Trump’s claims that he is being targeted by the legal system. Let’s take a closer look at what was discussed in this episode.

Jon Stewart addresses criticism from Democrats
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Jon Stewart explains his return to The Daily Show
Jon Stewart explains his return to The Daily Show
© Provided by ClutchPoints
Stewart began the episode by addressing criticism he had received from Democrats in the past week over his critique of President Biden as a 2024 presidential candidate. In his return to The Daily Show, Stewart discussed concerns that voters have about Biden’s age, which elicited furious responses from prominent Democratic voices including Keith Olbermann who called Stewart a “bothsidesist fraud.”

First, the comedian sarcastically said that reactions to his first episode back were “universally glowing.” After showing several comments from his critics, he jokingly commented, “Well, maybe not universal.”

Stewart didn’t appear too bothered by criticism he received on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter), saying that X hates everything and he has “even seen Twitter tell Labradoodles to go f**k themselves.” In a brilliant play on words reminiscent of his prior stint on The Daily Show, Stewart repurposed the Washington Post’s iconic “Democracy dies in Darkness” motto to mock his critics by saying, “Democracy dies in Discussion.”

He goes on to explain his stance that, “It’s better to deal head-on with what’s an apparent issue to people.” He then sarcastically says, “It was never my intention to say out loud what I saw with my eyes and then brain. I can do better.”

Related video: Jon Stewart mocks liberal critics upset over him pointing out Biden's age: 'Democracy dies in discussion' (FOX News)
OK, maybe not universal.
FOX News
Jon Stewart mocks liberal critics upset over him pointing out Biden's age: 'Democracy dies in discussion'
The difference between journalists and entertainers
Stewart pointed out that his job is to call out issues as he sees them, not to blindly defend one side or the other. He sarcastically said he needed to improve his ability to spew propaganda, saying “Where do I go to study the particulars of unquestioning propaganda? I would need mentorship.”

The host then mockingly looked to Tucker Carlson for advice, eviscerating the former Fox News host for his recent interview with Russian president and dictator Vladimir Putin.

In the Daily Show episode’s next segment, Stewart methodically examined Carlson’s interview with Putin. He pointed out how Carlson refused to challenge any of Putin’s wildly inaccurate claims, and how Carlson obediently went along with what was obviously designed as an extended propaganda session carefully curated by the Kremlin.

After the interview, Carlson posted a video of himself at a Russian subway station. In that video, the former Fox News host compared the subway station in Russia to a subway station in New York, with an obvious favorable tilt towards the Russian station. He described the Russian station as clean and beautiful while saying how disgusting the New York station was. Stewart humorously mocked Carlson by saying the New York stations didn’t look bad for being “constructed in 1904 out of urinal cakes.”


Daily Show calls out Carlson; provides a lesson in basic economics
Stewart then broke down Carlson’s tour of a Moscow grocery store. Again, the Comedy Central host showed clips of Carlson praising the Russian store for its cleanliness, innovation, beauty, products, and prices. One clip Stewart plays shows Carlson describing with amazement how the Russian store features a system where shoppers deposit $0.10 to secure the use of a shopping cart and are refunded their $0.10 deposit upon returning the shopping cart.

Stewart shows Carlson praising this system as one that encourages personal responsibility and allows shoppers the convenience of using carts while deterring the homeless from keeping the carts, to which Stewart mockingly says “I didn’t realize America’s homeless problem was caused entirely by easy access to grocery carts.”

Right here in the US, Aldi has the exact same deposit and refund system for using their grocery carts. However, Carlson is an entertainer, not a real journalist who asks tough questions and provides context.

Carlson also provides a brief economics lesson. He shows Carlson claiming that the price of groceries for a week was $104 USD in Russia and that seeing the cheaper prices “would radicalize” you against the US government.

Without even addressing the problematic nature of encouraging “radicalization” against his own government, Stewart notes that the former Fox News star conveniently ignored the context, which is that Russians earn less than $200 USD per week.

Putin’s wild claims about World War II
While discussing Carlson’s interview with Putin, Stewart pointed out several moments where Carlson failed to live up to journalistic standards, as well as aspects that served as pure propaganda for the Kremlin.

Stewart first discussed Carlson’s odd behavior during the interview, including his lack of pushback when Putin claimed that Poland started World War 2 by refusing to give into Adolf Hitler’s demands, thereby “forcing” Nazi Germany to invade their country.

Putin said, “After World War I, this territory was transferred to Poland, and instead of Danzig, a city of Gdansk emerged. Hitler asked them to give it amicably, but they refused.” To this, Carlson responded, “Of course.”

This is another example of Carlson passing up an opportunity to push back against Putin’s wildly inaccurate claims. Stewart points out that the look on Carlson’s face shows that he knows exactly what Putin is doing and how absurd the claim is. However, Carlson is unable or unwilling to push back against the Russian dictator.

The next scene features Stewart portraying his brain and his body fighting each other, saying that is what it must feel like to be Tucker Carlson in that moment.

Next, the Daily Show host asks why Carlson is so supportive of Russia. He describes the old “civilizational battle” between communism (the Soviet Union) and capitalism (the West), which drove the world order since the end of the Second World War. Now, it is “woke” versus “unwoke” and in that battle, “Putin is an ally to the right. He’s their friend.” Stewart then sarcastically says “I mean, liberty is nice, but have you seen Russia’s shopping carts?”

Stewart’s guests discuss the Supreme Court
Towards the end of the episode, Stewart introduces his two guests for the evening: Law professors Melissa Murray and Kate Shaw, who host the Strict Scrutiny podcast. The three discuss Trump’s immunity claims and the implications these arguments may have for American society as a rule of law moving forward. Kate discusses an argument Trump’s lawyer infamously made in front of a federal judge, claiming that if Trump were to order the U.S. Navy’s elite SEAL Team 6 special operations unit to assassinate a political rival, he could only be criminally charged if he had first been in impeached in the House and convicted in the Senate. Stewart correctly notes that this would mean relying on a political process to hold a president legally accountable.

Stewart goes on to argue that, despite Trump’s claims of a multi-tiered justice system, the former president is actually being afforded more due process protections than the average person would be, humorously saying Trump is being afforded “the duest of processes.” Stewart then skewers Trump’s attempts to compare himself to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who recently died in prison under suspicious circumstances.

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