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Liberals should — so America's jambalaya of FDR bosses, radicals in name only, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers organizers, and even normcore Democrats — are you trying to get Jon Stewart to run for president?
A positive response comes from Jeff Cohen, founder of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting and former director of the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College. Stewart rose to fame as host of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, and after stepping down in 2015, he returned to television in 2021 with “The Problem With Jon Stewart” (which Apple TV recently canceled). Cohen argues this in a column here and in an interview with Salon here.
Regardless of whether Stewart will run for president or not, Cohen convincingly explains why he should. His arguments on this point go beyond Stewart's specifics and suggest that Democrats really need more funny celebrities running for office.
First of all, this type of brainstorming should be the norm, not the exception, in US progressive politics. For a society that produces a new, crucial form of social media every month, it is remarkable how stultifying our politics are. Not only is it never thinking outside the box, but the box itself is a cube with 2 inches on each side. You can still go to protest rallies and hear people chanting, “The people united will never be defeated.” That may be new and attractive to younger activists, but it is 50 years old, from another country (Chile), and rhymes not in English – all a sign that there hasn't been much new work in this area recently.
Second, let's face it: America loves celebrities. Republicans understand this and are taking advantage of it. Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump could never have become president without first achieving their cheesy fame. When Reagan was asked why being an actor was appropriate preparation for politics, he astutely observed that he did not understand how anyone who was not an actor could be an effective politician.
Other Republican candidates who came to office with pre-existing standing include George Murphy (Senator from California), Arnold Schwarzenegger (Governor of California), Tommy Tuberville (Senator from Alabama), Sonny Bono (Representative from California), and even Fred Grandy, star of “The Love Boat” (representing Iowa). There will almost certainly be more soon, like Tucker Carlson (TV rep for White Migrance).
Whatever the reason, the hearts of Democrats seem to be crying out against it. In fact, there are examples of Democrats taking this route in reverse, such as Jerry Springer: an extremely talented speaker who parlayed the mayoralty of Cincinnati into a lucrative career in trash television. Many regular Democrats would apparently prefer if there were no people involved in politics at all and it was just a battle of lengthy position papers available online in 10-point format. (An unusual Democrat here is Al Franken, who started on “Saturday Night Live” before being elected to the Senate from Minnesota in 2008.)
In the United States, there is hardly a culture in which people can play a prominent role beyond the corporate entertainment culture.
However, it is time to accept that we are the country that we are. In the United States, there is hardly a culture in which people can play a prominent role beyond the corporate entertainment culture. Although there has been a small upsurge in union culture recently, we generally do not have a political culture. (When is the next political party meeting in your neighborhood? You probably don't know unless you live in Iowa or New Hampshire.) We hardly have a non-corporate music culture. (Maybe in Austin?) We have a culture where normal people operate in a city. (Chicago.)
Filmmaker Michael Moore (whom I once worked for) has been trying to make this case to Democrats for decades. When he once implored Matt Damon to run for president, he said, “If you want to win, the Republicans have certainly shown it: If you run someone who's popular, you'll win.” Sometimes you even win if you Actor directs. … I want us to start thinking like that.”
Third, being funny is an underrated superpower in politics. In Reagan's first debate in 1984 with Democratic candidate Walter Mondale, he appeared shockingly confused. For the next debate, his writers gave him a perfect line, which he hit on immediately: “I will not make age an issue in this campaign. I will not exploit my opponent's youth and inexperience for political purposes.” He remained noticeably confused, but the problem evaporated.
Both Trump and Barack Obama were successful in the presidency thanks to their comedic appeal. Trump is essentially an insult comedian, a Don Rickles who genuinely hates the objects of his cruel taunts. As Obama's speechwriters noted, his grasp of comedic performance – which he demonstrated every year at the White House Correspondents' Dinner – was impeccable, so perfect that he could have hosted “The Daily Show” himself if his life had taken a different path .
So why not just hire a real host from The Daily Show? The reasons why the 2024 Democratic nominee should be anyone other than Joe Biden are obvious, so obvious that it's boring to go through them. Biden is too old. He will be 82 years old on election day. For comparison: in the early 1980s, the Soviet Union was called a gerontocracy, when the average age of its members was 69 years.
Biden is unpopular with an average approval rating of 38 percent, even though the US economy is in good shape by normal standards. Trump is ahead of Biden in most swing state polls. As recently as last year, before Biden fully supported Israel's actions in Gaza, which likely cost him some votes, 94 percent of Democrats under 30 wanted another presidential candidate.
Why Cohen thinks Stewart, of all the funny celebrities, would be an ideal replacement is more subtle and intriguing, and you should read it for yourself. The short version is that Stewart is not only famous and popular, but also has a genuine passion for public life and instinctively understands why Americans are so angry about it – because he is angry too.
Whether there is any chance of this happening is unknown. Eleven months before a presidential election is pretty late to start a campaign, even with an enthusiastic candidate. Most importantly, Stewart has shown no signs of being interested in being an enthusiastic candidate, or even being a candidate at all. Cohen acknowledges that this idea is “a Hail Mary,” but “these are desperate times,” considering we are currently headed toward a second Trump presidency.
This concept is frightening because it could plausibly mean the collapse of US democracy. The paradox of our current predicament is that the people shouting loudest – the corporate Democratic establishment – have shown by their unwavering support for Biden that they don't really take this threat seriously. As Cohen puts it, they would “rather lose with Biden, someone they can control and have known and used for 30 years, than win with someone they can't.”
That's no joke. But maybe we should start taking famous people who tell jokes more seriously.