The last populist TV personality worked out great, so why not?
Is Jon Stewart considered a populist?
If we want to watch him struggle and age while a system designed not to change thwarts him at every turn, sure.
But I like him too much to elect him president.
I’d like Seth Meyers or Stephen Colbert better
Should Jon Stewart run for POTUS? No.
Would I vote for Jon Stewart if he ran for POTUS? Probably.
This says less about my faith in Jon’s ability to govern, and more about my lack of faith in current politicians to lead ethically.
I’d rather see Jon make the right decisions but make mistakes, than to see a seasoned politician make the wrong decisions and execute them competently.
I at least have faith Jon is smart enough and with a true compassion in his heart, that he’d be able to surround himself with real experts, listen open mindedly to their advice, and regularly make decisions with empathy.
All that said, he’s said repeatedly he doesn’t want that job, and I do not blame him.
Jon is a smart man. If he were to become President, he would have to make the same kind of hard decisions that Obama made that were unpopular among the public. Being a world leader is like that ethics question of changing the direction of a train to run over 1 person vs 10.
To second this, I’d like Jon to keep doing the great work he’s doing, and I’d like people with similar levels of integrity and thoughtfulness who are interested and good at political activism to rise through politics and lead.
It’s a sad state of affairs in which we ask these questions, because it’s just an indication that we’re myopically focused on people with enough name recognition to discuss them.
You know who would be better considerations for president? Katie Porter. Ro Khanna. Maybe eventually Lina Khan. Despite what we’re told, there ARE people with experience leading political agencies who have shown an understanding of the back doors that have been built into our power structures and show the integrity to fight against it.
The funny thing is that when people think about potential populists for president, we get options like AOC (who I admire, but is famous more than experienced), but we don’t get enough people like Barbara Lee, who is the only member of congress who said “NO” to the PATRIOT Act, the War on Iraq, and the Authorization of Use of Military force that gave us the war in Afghanistan and our whole permanent war in the middle east. The woman is an absolute lion of courage and has decades of experience. She’s currently running for Senate, and she has my vote because she’s the only one in the race calling with the courage to call for a ceasefire in Palestine.
I love Stewart. But we need to look past the famous towards the people who’ve been quietly doing this work for many years.
That is the problem with representative democracy when each rep accounts for nearly a million citizens. You’re at the whims of such a massive voting base. Name recognition is pretty much the only thing that matters at that scale.
It’s like modern marketing and advertising. Half the time, they don’t even say anything about their service. They just want you to remember the name and recognize the logo if you see it in a store.
No, because he’s repeatedly said that he has no desire to do it, and that it’s a total indictment of our system that we are looking to a comedian for political leadership, lol. (He’s not wrong!)
No, because celebrities are not the ideal people to represent America.
Celebrities become celebrities for a reason. Politicians become politicians for a reason.
Just because there is some overlap in the process, requiring popularity in order to be successful, does not mean that there is any overlap in the skill set.
Counterpoint: Volodymyr Zelenskyy has proven that there is a lot more overlap than it might seem if their entertainment included a lot of political elements.
I used to think Stewart would make a decent novelty candidate, but now I’m thinking he might actually be pretty decent.
Even though there are notable outliers, I still believe that the grand majority of entertainers would be terrible politicians.
Just because Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura and Volodymir zelinsky all made for reasonably competent politicians does not mean that by default all celebrities would also make for reasonable politicians. I can’t imagine Governor carrot top, or senator Gabriel Iglesias.
My point was that some entertainers make fine politicians.
The sad truth is that none of us, Jon Stewart included, get to choose. The established elite preselects candidates before the people get to pick them, and they would simply not allow Jon Stewart to run.
You’ll never convince me that Donald Trump was selected by “elites”. His policies might be good for the elites, but he was voted in by the people that think a secret cabal of elites run everything.
Nope, and he doesn’t want to. He would not be a good president. What be would be good at is a cabinet position. Maybe even a legislator, though he’d have to figure out how to pick good staff for that job.
Is Zelenskyy a good president?
He’s their Lincoln.
Honestly? Under the circumstances, I’d say he’s an outstanding president overall.
And what would you say his primary qualifications and experience were before his election?
Well, he’s not a billionaire, unlike his predecessor. I generally view rich people in politics negatively as a rule.
That said: I do think Poroshenko did as well as he could, considering he was elected after Russia invaded the Donbas in response to Ukraine revolting and throwing his super Russia-friendly predecessor (who “won” the election with a lot of Russian help, hence the revolt) out.
Is he younger than 77 years old? Then yes.
(77 is 4 years less than the life expectancy in the US)
Which is what 50% of people should expect to reach…
I grew up watching Jon on The Daily Show. You can love Jon or you can hate him. But that guy used his celebrity status, as well as his own effort, to repeatedly shame, cajolee, arm twist, plead with, and petition Congress to fund medical care for the 9/11 first responders. Many of whom suffered long term health issues due to exposure to hazardous materials.
He went to Washington with a group of said first responders and chased down as many Congressmen/women as they could find. He appeared before Congress to testify in support of legislation multiple times.
He did far more for those people than anyone else would. There are plenty of people in the world with power and influence. But there aren’t a hell of a lot of them that would use that influence like a fucking hammer to pound out some justice for a bunch of people with no expectation of getting anything in return. For that, he earned my respect.
I’d vote for him
From what I’ve seen of him he is very intelligent, I generally agree with his views, he doesn’t seem to have have anger, greed, or vanity issues. I’m not sure his temperament would produce good Commander in Chief decisions but overall he seems like a great candidate.
Good men like Jon don’t seek that kind of power. They don’t want it. That’s why it’s only ever assholes that get it.
You have to step on people to make it up the ladder as a politician. Jon Stewart is not that man.
Go watch the show VEEP and look at literally any character that has some amount of power. It’s a pretty good look at the kind of person you have to be at that level of government.
No, he would only split the votes for Dems and give Trump an easy win
Op did not specify this election
He didn’t specify what election, so I specified this one
That’s not the way it works
Ah yes, the token argument that establishment Democrats use when a reasonable candidate who isn’t theirs comes along
You think Biden running on the democratic ticket, trump on the republican, and Stewart on an independent ticket would have no impact on the election for Democrats?
I would expect him to run against Biden in the democratic primary and not pursue the office as an independent if he lost, like Bernie did.
Not what I’m saying at all. I’m fully aware that the “fringe candidate” would “steal” votes from the establishment candidate, but honestly? I’d take another Trump presidency if it actually lit a fire under the Democratic Party’s ass and got them to start endorsing candidates who voters actually want, rather than minimally focusing on being the lesser of two evils. The Republican Party deserves all the shit they get, but you gotta hand it to them, at least they’re backing candidates that their voters actually want.
For what reason? He’s never held a public office AFAIK. His personal politics are irrelevant with that in mind
Didn’t we throw that litmus test out the window with 45?
Some people did. The results were less than satisfactory in my eyes
