Yves here. I don’t mean to be mean to Tom Neuburger, but this post gives the strong impression of overexposure to PMC/blue cities types.
First, I don’t even remotely see Stewart as sincere. He comes off as a sometimes smarmy performer. By contrast, Sanders has all the charm of your cranky Jewish uncle telling you to take your feet off the coffee table. The reason Sanders is popular is that he is finger-wagging on behalf of your and the general good. And he’s acted on his beliefs for decades, staring with being a civil rights protestor in college.
Second, Stewart was a Boomer fixture. I question whether he has any pull with the under 40 crowd. By contrast, Sanders enjoyed very strong support from young people.
I’d bet on Joe Rogan over Stewart in terms of followership, but Rogan has been so often (and usually unfairly) criticized that he’d be too polarizing to get very far.
The one bit of good news is I don’t see the promotion of Oprah or Michelle that we did in past election cycles.
I have no doubt readers will pile on.
By Thomas Neuburger. Originally published at God’s Spies
His Sanders-authenticity would draw Sanders-style crowds and make him a welcome bane to both parties’ establishments.
Bernie Sanders speaks to 10,000 people in Wisconsin, July 2015.
I’m serious about suggesting that Jon Stewart run for president. Listen to the following clip. I’m not posting this encounter because of its topic, though gender dysphoria is truly serious. I’m posting it because of Stewart’s method and approach.
He cuts through BS faster and better than anyone else in his business. He’s sharp, he’s fast on his feet, and he’s serious. Note his verbal sparring, his deft undercutting, the surprise but modulated pivots to accusations of lying.
He’d not only do this to Republicans running against him. He’d do the same to Democrats who got in the way of doing right for America. Faux-President Manchin, would get creamed, not coddled and cultivated. Schumer and his despicable cave, for example, to the Senate Parliamentarian on drug price reform would be treated the same. Stewart, through his career, has been an equal opportunity offender.
The arguments for:
- He has Sanders-authenticity, the real thing, not the fake-authentic variety manufactured by PR firms.
- He’s more serious about his goals than he is about his career.
- He would inspire a Sanders-like following (note the image above, from 2015).
- He’s as good as we would get against Trump on the debate stage.
The arguments against:
- The Democratic establishment would work to defeat him at every turn. The antidote to that would be the Sanders-style wind at his back. Finally, someone on the left for the real uprising to hook to.
- He appears not to want to.
Ummm…No thank you
— Jon Stewart (@jonstewart) July 9, 2022
Nevertheless, I can’t think of a candidate I’d vote more enthusiastically for than Jon Stewart. After all, the best of this crowd is getting us nowhere.
We need a principled disruptor, Sanders-style. Can you think of anyone better fit for the role? Neither can I.
