“How authoritarian is we?” was the cheeky title of a new “Daily Show” segment introduced by Jon Stewart during the show's Monday night episode. The host was pondering the refusal of the Trump administration to return a wrongly deported man to the United States from El Salvador. After reviewing Trump’s recent body of work, Stewart now appears to believe we “is” pretty authoritarian.
If that’s the case, then Stewart is going to have to think long and hard, as are all popular artists and entertainers who engage in political commentary, about his next steps. The term “comedic resistance” sounds kind of absurd to me. But it may be what this moment calls for. And if we are, in fact, lurching toward authoritarianism, then the influential and well-respected Stewart is the most likely candidate to lead the charge.
The term “comedic resistance” sounds kind of absurd to me. But it may be what this moment calls for.
The need is urgent — just two months ago, Stewart had a different view about the threat at hand. “I did not think,” the comedian sighed Monday, that President Donald Trump “would get this authoritarian this fast, I really didn’t.” The host continued: “Maybe if somebody out there had yelled at me on Bluesky about this, I would have known. But no one did.” Stewart then impishly conceded that people were, in fact, yelling at him on Bluesky “every day. In all caps.”
I’m not sure which Bluesky thread Stewart was referring to, though he may have meant the digital beatdown he endured after his Jan. 27 episode, in which he chided liberals for being hysterical. That show has not aged well. Hysterical liberals were, he charged, too quick to affix the term “fascism” onto Trump’s every provocation. He even posited “The First Law of TrumpoDynamics,” according to which “every action is met with a very not equal overreaction, thus throwing off our ability to know when s--- is actually getting real.”
To make his point back in January, Stewart screened countless clips of Democrats freaking out about the firing of inspectors general, or Trump’s pardon of Jan. 6 insurrectionists, etc. Libs, he cautioned, needed to calm down. ”We must be vigilant,” he Solomonically intoned, “but part of vigilance is discernment.”
Then the commenters had at him. And they were right. On Monday, Stewart seemed to concede that he was wrong. Good on him for acknowledging an error. Comedians are at their ethical finest when they self-correct, when they acknowledge mistakes, apologize, etc.(Ditto for comedy critics.)
Authoritarian governments, however, are not self-correcting. They do not acknowledge mistakes — and even if they do concede an “administrative error,” they do nothing to fix it, as demonstrated in the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. Now that “s--- is actually getting real,” what’s an anti-authoritarian comedian or artist to do? Stewart can’t really avoid this question anymore.
One terrible answer was offered by Bill Maher last week. The host of “Real Time” made a career-defining error by dining with Trump at the White House. Falling headfirst into the world’s most obvious, narcissist-scented man trap, Maher spoke of the president during their visit as “gracious and measured.”
Another insipid form of resistance might be the “bothsidesism” which Stewart has been criticized for in the past. Promisingly, there was none of that in Monday’s episode. After screening a montage of Trump officials commenting on Garcia’s incarceration, Stewart glumly observed “they’re f------ enjoying this.” The host then called attention to the “forced uncomfortable laughter” of those who serve dictators (listen carefully to comedians when they talk about laughter — they know all about its sinister dark registers).
Stewart is no longer mocking Sen. Chuck Schumer’s crimes against the English language, as he did in January. Monday’s episode was all MAGA (plus some Anna Wintour). Monday’s episode fretted at the specter of Trump sending American citizens to his Salvadoran gulags. This “one-sided,” unbalanced focus suggests he’s acknowledging we’re staring authoritarianism in its towering, smirking, granite face. Freaking out might be warranted.
Stewart could also perform comedic resistance by breaking character. He could speak directly and sincerely to the camera without turning his comments into a gag (as comedians invariably do every single time they get serious). He could take a page from John Oliver and try to enlist viewers in democracy-enhancing causes.
Of course, Stewart might simply one day decide to strike, or stop broadcasting “The Daily Show” altogether. If he did, I wouldn’t blame him. “Comedy = Tragedy + Time,” the humorists are fond of saying. We’re in the tragedy stage at present. It’s hard, and maybe irresponsible, to make any of that funny.