šÆšš” ššš¦š¬š¤š¢Do you think Jon Stewart should run for president of the United States?
It's Maddie!Iād like Seth Meyers or Stephen Colbert better
amniotic druidFor what reason? Heās never held a public office AFAIK. His personal politics are irrelevant with that in mind
ringwraithfishDidnāt we throw that litmus test out the window with 45?
Some people did. The results were less than satisfactory in my eyes
littleblueāØStay in school, kids. š¤¦š¼āāļø
Sure. Why the hell not?
GiganThe last populist TV personality worked out great, so why not?
Is Jon Stewart considered a populist?
I would consider him one, since he hasnāt held public office before. But Iām not sure if thereās a more strict definition.
sabIt's generally defined by a claim to represent some unified idea of the "true people" as opposed to the corrupt elites running everything.
Stewart is not pretending to represent anyone, he's just a guy highlighting problems and making jokes on television. If he ran for office he could decide to use populist or non-populust rhetoric.
āPopularā would probably be more accurate.
populism as an ideology that presents āthe peopleā as a morally good force and contrasts them against āthe eliteā, who are portrayed as corrupt and self-serving ā¦ Populists typically present āthe eliteā as comprising the political, economic, cultural, and media establishment, depicted as a homogeneous entity and accused of placing their own interests, and often the interests of other groupsāsuch as large corporations, foreign countries, or immigrantsāabove the interests of āthe peopleā.
DeceptichumBy that metric, anything that is critical of capitalism is populist.
Really becomes a meaningless phrase.
snooggumsI think Volodymyr Zelenskyy was more recent than Trump but I would need to check the dates.
dezmdWhat kind of outerspace rationalizing nonsense is this?
The Democrats should be forced to nominate him, just to even things out.
Should Jon Stewart run for POTUS? No.
Would I vote for Jon Stewart if he ran for POTUS? Probably.
This says less about my faith in Jonās ability to govern, and more about my lack of faith in current politicians to lead ethically.
Iād rather see Jon make the right decisions but make mistakes, than to see a seasoned politician make the wrong decisions and execute them competently.
I at least have faith Jon is smart enough and with a true compassion in his heart, that heād be able to surround himself with real experts, listen open mindedly to their advice, and regularly make decisions with empathy.
All that said, heās said repeatedly he doesnāt want that job, and I do not blame him.
AndyTo second this, Iād like Jon to keep doing the great work heās doing, and Iād like people with similar levels of integrity and thoughtfulness who are interested and good at political activism to rise through politics and lead.
Itās a sad state of affairs in which we ask these questions, because itās just an indication that weāre myopically focused on people with enough name recognition to discuss them.
You know who would be better considerations for president? Katie Porter. Ro Khanna. Maybe eventually Lina Khan. Despite what weāre told, there ARE people with experience leading political agencies who have shown an understanding of the back doors that have been built into our power structures and show the integrity to fight against it.
The funny thing is that when people think about potential populists for president, we get options like AOC (who I admire, but is famous more than experienced), but we donāt get enough people like Barbara Lee, who is the only member of congress who said āNOā to the PATRIOT Act, the War on Iraq, and the Authorization of Use of Military force that gave us the war in Afghanistan and our whole permanent war in the middle east. The woman is an absolute lion of courage and has decades of experience. Sheās currently running for Senate, and she has my vote because sheās the only one in the race calling with the courage to call for a ceasefire in Palestine.
I love Stewart. But we need to look past the famous towards the people whoāve been quietly doing this work for many years.
That is the problem with representative democracy when each rep accounts for nearly a million citizens. Youāre at the whims of such a massive voting base. Name recognition is pretty much the only thing that matters at that scale.
Itās like modern marketing and advertising. Half the time, they donāt even say anything about their service. They just want you to remember the name and recognize the logo if you see it in a store.
phillaholicJon is a smart man. If he were to become President, he would have to make the same kind of hard decisions that Obama made that were unpopular among the public. Being a world leader is like that ethics question of changing the direction of a train to run over 1 person vs 10.
What about his insane tirade about China intentionally making the COVID pandemic happen? You really want this big of an idiot running our country? Heās a comedian, not someone who should control our military.
So many people only ever listen to comedians. Nothing more insightful than a 5 minute tirade with a little clip show will get through lol
No one that wants that job should be allowed to.
Sometimes I imagine a world where public office is handled like jury duty, picked semi-randomly.
Semi-Hemi-DemigodIf we want to watch him struggle and age while a system designed not to change thwarts him at every turn, sure.
But I like him too much to elect him president.
No, because heās repeatedly said that he has no desire to do it, and that itās a total indictment of our system that we are looking to a comedian for political leadership, lol. (Heās not wrong!)
No. Heās not substantially different than a mainstream Dem.
southsamuraiI dunno, heās a little farther left. Not much, but a little.
Hence my qualifier āsubstantiallyā
Fair enough :) please forgive my duslexia driven error
BizarrolandNo, because celebrities are not the ideal people to represent America.
Celebrities become celebrities for a reason. Politicians become politicians for a reason.
Just because there is some overlap in the process, requiring popularity in order to be successful, does not mean that there is any overlap in the skill set.
Counterpoint: Volodymyr Zelenskyy has proven that there is a lot more overlap than it might seem if their entertainment included a lot of political elements.
I used to think Stewart would make a decent novelty candidate, but now I'm thinking he might actually be pretty decent.
Even though there are notable outliers, I still believe that the grand majority of entertainers would be terrible politicians.
Just because Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura and volunteers zelinsky all made for reasonably competent politicians does not mean that by default all celebrities would also make for reasonable politicians. I can't imagine Governor carrot top, or senator Gabriel Iglesias.
My point was that some entertainers make fine politicians.
Normally for a celebrity I would say no.
Jon is the exception, and Iāve often spoken about how he would be an excellent President.
He knows, has been involved, and most importantly is disgusted in that knowledge of how the sausage gets made. He knows how to appeal for public support to tear down the institutional obstructions.
Also importantly, I donāt think he can be bought. Heās walked away from cash cow gigs after he made enough. He isnāt infinitely greedy, and thatās rare in politics because most of them get into politics explicitly to be bought. I think his combination of institutional knowledge, understanding of todayās social ills, demonstrated empathy, and ability to say no to calls of making moooooaaaaaar money make him the ideal candidate.
Thatās also the problem, because I donāt think heād want it, which makes him an even better choice.
Thatās the paradox of power, from police all the way to POTUS, the ones that seek it out and fight for it tend to be the worst possible candidates to possess it.
TalaraineThis. Plus I genuinely think he doesn't want the spot, which makes him singularly qualified to have it.
Whatās that saying that those who desire power are the least fit to gain it?
Is he younger than 77 years old? Then yes.
(77 is 4 years less than the life expectancy in the US)
Which is what 50% of people should expect to reachā¦
Awesome username! Lol
We should be so lucky
Nope, and he doesnāt want to. He would not be a good president. What be would be good at is a cabinet position. Maybe even a legislator, though heād have to figure out how to pick good staff for that job.
Is Zelenskyy a good president?
Honestly? Under the circumstances, Iād say heās an outstanding president overall.
And what would you say his primary qualifications and experience was before his election?
Well, heās not a billionaire, unlike his predecessor. I generally view rich people in politics negatively as a rule.
That said: I do think Poroshenko did as well as he could, considering he was elected after Russia invaded the Donbas in response to Ukraine revolting and throwing his super Russia-friendly predecessor (who āwonā the election with a lot of Russian help, hence the revolt) out.
Heās their Lincoln.
TimwiThe sad truth is that none of us, Jon Stewart included, get to choose. The established elite preselects candidates before the people get to pick them, and they would simply not allow Jon Stewart to run.
EggscellentYou'll never convince me that Donald Trump was selected by "elites". His policies might be good for the elites, but he was voted in by the people that think a secret cabal of elites run everything.
No, he would only split the votes for Dems and give Trump an easy win
OP isn't saying to compete against Biden this year, OP is asking in a future would you want John Stewart to be the democrat candidate for president
I was leaving it open to interpretation. Iām curious about what people think of Jon Stewart and if they would be willing to vote for him in the future.
@[email protected] has a solid point though. There are too many neo-fascists, who are openly and quietly supporting Trump this election cycle. Not to say there werenāt those back in 2016. It just seems like they have been making themselves more well-known among the general populous. Sadly we in the US donāt have a Ranked voting system but instead First past the post. Which has IMHO, perpetuated disdain amongst everyone.
Op did not specify this election
He didnāt specify what election, so I specified this one
Thatās not the way it works
Bobby TurkalinoAh yes, the token argument that establishment Democrats use when a reasonable candidate who isnāt theirs comes along
You think Biden running on the democratic ticket, trump on the republican, and Stewart on an independent ticket would have no impact on the election for Democrats?
chickenI would expect him to run against Biden in the democratic primary and not pursue the office as an independent if he lost, like Bernie did.
Not what Iām saying at all. Iām fully aware that the āfringe candidateā would āstealā votes from the establishment candidate, but honestly? Iād take another Trump presidency if it actually lit a fire under the Democratic Partyās ass and got them to start endorsing candidates who voters actually want, rather than minimally focusing on being the lesser of two evils. The Republican Party deserves all the shit they get, but you gotta hand it to them, at least theyāre backing candidates that their voters actually want.
Hal-5700X
Jonah Jameson - You Serious ? Spiderman
Haha. This still makes me grin to this day.