Jon Stewart has found one surprising way to answer the calls for unity after Saturday’s attempted assassination of Donald Trump. After scrapping plans to broadcast from Milwaukee for the RNC this week “due to logistical issues and the evolving situation,” Stewart will welcome his old sparring partner Bill O’Reilly to The Daily Show tonight.
The former Fox News host was a frequent (and controversial) Daily Show guest during Stewart’s initial tenure. But in a 2020 interview with The New York Times, Stewart candidly referred to O’Reilly’s appearances as the “worst legacy” of The Daily Show.
“O’Reilly pushed it pretty far,” Stewart told The New York Times. “The question was always, ‘Why would you talk to him? Why do you have him on the show if you can’t destroy him?’ If you want to talk about the worst legacy of The Daily Show, it was probably that.”
It remains to be seen how Stewart will handle the Trump rally shooting. On Monday, Seth Meyers opted for a somber approach, lambasting political violence while adding that, “accurately describing the dangers of autocracy and warning of attempts to dismantle our democracy have nothing to do with political violence.”
Stephen Colbert also condemned political violence, but suggested that he still wouldn’t be going easy on Trump this election season. Meanwhile, Jimmy Fallon didn’t address the shooting at all, and Jimmy Kimmel Live! guest host Anthony Anderson simply stated, “We need to chill the f**k out.”
Separately, Comedy Central announced that the Daily Show‘s “Best F*cking News Team” will host Wednesday and Thursday night’s episodes this week, with Thursday’s episode airing live after Trump’s speech at 11:30 p.m. ET.
Aside from the elephant in the room, there are still plenty of other possible topics for Stewart and O’Reilly to disagree over tonight: the RNC, the dismissal of Trump’s classified documents case, and Trump announcing J.D. Vance as his running mate, just for starters. Whatever happens, there’s certainly not a lack of material to draw from.
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