Jon Stewart knows full well that you want him—or Stephen Colbert, or Jimmy Kimmel— to run for office, perhaps even to be president of the United States.
But he also knows that such rallying cries are born of “desperation.”
In the latest installment of “After the Cut,” The Daily Show‘s behind-the-scenes web series, one of the questions Stewart fields from the studio audience plainly asks if he would ever consider running for office.
That implicit casting of a vote does track. In these seemingly forever-unprecedented times, Stewart speaks truth to power on the daily (or at least on many a Monday night). And according to a September 2025 poll cited by The Hollywood Reporter, he is the second-most trusted late night host, trailing only Jimmy Fallon of NBC’s The Tonight Show. (Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld placed third, followed by ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, John Oliver of HBO’s Last Week Tonight, CBS’ Stephen Colbert, and NBC’s Seth Meyers.)
Stewart in answering the audience member’s question said that the notion was “very kind,” but arguably rooted only in “desperation and dissatisfaction… with the status quo.”
“All the folks in the media—like Stephen [Colbert], like Jimmy [Kimmel]—we get this. This is a question that comes up a lot,” Stewart said. “And I think it speaks to… this desperation and dissatisfaction that we have with the status quo.”
“And so then you see somebody on television who’s saying some of the things that resonate with you, and you think, ‘Well, f*ck it,'” he posited. “‘I think you should be president’ is the line that comes right after ‘f*ck it.’ Because most people are like, ‘That guy should [be president], he’s on TV!'”
“But I so understand the feeling.”
Stewart went on to echo that which LateNighter Editor-at-Large Bill Carter has repeatedly observed here, that late night programs offer an “emotionally sustaining” “catharsis” for those drowning in a sea of unbelievable an dispiriting headlines.
“I think we have a shared feeling of helplessness, because we’re all watching the same thing and going, ‘Who are you going to believe, you or your lying eyes?'” And, “How are we going to slow this down?”
Stewart concluded his brilliant non-answer by reassuring the audience that though “the institutions may be wanting and may be failing,” “the people aren’t.” He also suggested that the easily made comparison of the second Trump administration to nefarious regimes of the past aren’t necessarily supported by the beliefs of most U.S. citizens.
“People keep saying, ‘Oh, this guy is Hitler.’ No, he’s not,” Stewart argued. “And I’ll tell you why he’s not. Hitler was popular. This guy’s not.”
Stewart’s case in point: “I live in a town where a lot of people went that way, like, they gave me a lot of sh*t in the deli. There was a lot of, ‘Hey, how’s that autopen?’ I walk in the deli now, and they’re like, ‘What would you like on your sandwich?’ Like, [Trump and his policies] ain’t flying in a lot of places.”
That two of the three most trusted names in late night television, according to the viewers, are the most laughable of fucks, Gutfool and Fuckface Fallon! Is it any wonder why America put that embarrassing turd drumpf back in power again?