Comedian Jon Stewart caught a lot of flack when he began to raise alarm bells about President Joe Biden's potential fitness to run a campaign earlier this year — but perhaps people were too quick to dismiss him, Georgetown professor Jacque Berlinerblau wrote for MSNBC on Tuesday.
"Back in February, Stewart endured his very own digital rinse at the hands of Mary Trump, Keith Olberman, assorted internet randos and, yes, this writer right here," wrote Berlinerblau. "The claim — our claim — was clear: Dude, now’s not the time for symmetrical yucks, or bothsidesism. Train your comedic flamethrower on the unambiguous orange threat to our democracy. Or, make a d--- joke. Those are funny. Do that! And stop, we implored him, stop! likening Biden to Colonel Butters, an oldster who seems to inadvertently shamble onto the set of a 1970s sitcom."
But following the president's disastrous low-energy debate and his inability to clearly communicate to voters and rank-and-file lawmakers about his plan to defeat Trump and save democracy, perhaps Stewart had a point all along to "light up Biden," he continued.
"Monday, an agitated Stewart bristled at the notion that by criticizing Biden he was 'enabling fascism,'" wrote Berlinerblau. "He mocked Biden’s resigned response to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that if Trump wins, he’ll console himself as having done his best. After showing a clip of Biden saying, 'As long I gave it my all and I did the goodest job that I know I can do. That’s what this is about.' Stewart responded angrily: 'THAT’S NOT WHAT THIS IS ABOUT!' Riding that rage, Stewart fumed: 'There are no participation trophies in end-game democracy.'" Stewart didn't definitively come down on the side of ousting Biden, but said this ought to be seriously weighed and worked out at the convention — a sentiment, Berlinerblau wrote, that is "reasonable."
Ultimately, he concluded, the lesson here is that Stewart wasn't trying to downplay the threat of Trump, but highlight its urgency — and make sure Democrats were preparing for it.
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