Jon Stewart has lent his voice to the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump, offering a profound perspective during his return to The Daily Show following the weekend's shocking events.
The Comedy Central host reflected, painting a vivid picture of the nation's collective relief. "Our nation narrowly escaped a catastrophe," he declared, likening the jarring sensation of witnessing the Trump shooting to the chaos of 9/11.
"It was a moment of sheer terror and confusion," Stewart confessed to his audience. "I confess, with no sense of pride, that I, too, was scrolling through social media, desperate to discover the identity of the perpetrator. This has become our nation's new norm. When faced with such horrors, we anxiously await news, praying that the perpetrator doesn't belong to our ideological tribe. We sit there, thinking, 'Please, not a Democrat, or a liberal, or a progressive.'"
He continued, "We all do this. We all seek to understand our own reaction to the tragedy — whether it's a triumphant 'I told you so' or a cautious, 'Let's not jump to conclusions, let's not generalize.' And then, it turns out, the shooter is a complicated figure — a bullied loner, a white man, a registered Republican, yet a donor to a blue PAC, arguing for conservative ideals. We're left scratching our heads, unsure of who to blame, who the victor is in this chaos, and what will happen next. All we know is that there will be another tragedy in this country, self-inflicted by us, and we'll feel this same sense of disorientation all over again."
Recalling 9/11, Stewart said, "I remember that disorienting feeling of 'holy shit, stop the world, I want to get off.' But, in the midst of that chaos, there were always those incredible Americans who, for reasons unknown, ran towards the danger, restoring some semblance of balance. We rely on those individuals to hold us together. And it serves as a reminder that, by a narrow margin, we escaped a catastrophe. But, make no mistake, it was still a tragedy. One of those first responders, Corey Comperatore, a retired fire chief, gave his life in service to his community, shielding his family. He is a testament to the fact that, in moments of crisis, there are heroes among us, and we all have a choice to be one of those heroes. Or, we can be like the shooter."
Stewart then played a news clip of a Forbes article with a distasteful headline, "Will Surviving Gunfire Be Donald Trump's Next Appeal to Black Voters?"
Initially scheduled to host The Daily Show live from Milwaukee on Monday, Comedy Central postponed the show a day and broadcast Tuesday's episode from New York instead. The Daily Show will air again on Wednesday, hosted by the News Team. Furthermore, Thursday's show, following the closing night of the Republican National Convention where Trump is expected to accept his party's nomination, will be live and hosted by the News Team, deviating from the previous announcement of Stewart's hosting.
