Jon Stewart is currently promoting The Daily Show (The Book): An Oral History, which is why he’s been giving interviews in the wake of the election. Jon is more than a year past the end of his Daily Show hosting job, and… it shows. Personally, I think he’s sort of lost his edge, his anger, his desire to call out bulls—t as he sees it. Maybe it’s his age, or maybe he’s just tired of all the yelling, but Jon has been doing a lot of normalizing the past few weeks. In his first interview post-election, Jon tried to claim that Trump voters weren’t racist, and that many of them were just, like, concerned about their health insurance. Which rang hollow, and I said so. It makes me sick to listen to all of this paternalistic white guys try to patronizingly tell the rest of us not to worry, that we’ll all be fine, that we’re still “great,” when there are violent racists and homophobes and misogynists targeting the people who are not cisgendered, white, heterosexual men. So, that’s where we are. A few days ago, Jon participated in a talk with the New York Times and he doubled-down on this idea that Trump voters are not racists, and more. You can read THR’s full coverage here. Some highlights:
Satirists don’t have any real power: “I think of one of the lessons of this book and what we’re talking about is to put satire and culture in its proper place — that controlling a culture is not the same as power. And that while we were all passing around really remarkably eviscerating videos of the Tea Party ― that we had all made great fun of ― [they were] sitting off a highway at a Friendly’s taking over a local school board. And the lesson there is, as much as I love what we did and I liked it, there is a self-satisfaction there that is unwarranted, unearned and not useful.”
He doesn’t believe the mainstream media outlets “caused” Trump’s win: “Trump didn’t happen because CNN sucks. CNN just sucks. He happened because that’s the push and pull of this nation at all times. It’s a push and pull between nativism and a more inclusive multi-cultural approach. It’s a country that writes in its founding document all men are created equal but only white men who own property can vote. That’s the earliest contradiction, and we’ve been fighting that battle ever since.”
Trump voters are not racists: “Not everybody that voted for Trump is a racist. I don’t give a f— what any of you say to me. You can yell it at me, you can tweet it at me. They’re not all racists. Or they’re not giving tacit support to a racist system. We all give tacit support to exploitative systems as long as they don’t affect us that badly.” He pointed to the many people who own iPhones as an example of his point. “Guess how those are made, guess who makes them? … It’s not different, we all do that. All of our sh-t stinks and getting beyond that takes incredible work. This has to stop. This idea that we’re all … that our team is perfect and the other team is demons. And this is not like a Kumbaya, let’s all get along. Let’s f—ing fight, but let’s fight with precision and integrity, and not with just demonization. And I’ll say this, I know a lot of first responders. I spent a lot of time in that community. A sh-t load of them voted for Trump. The same people that voted for Trump ran into burning buildings and saved whoever the f— they could no matter what color they were, no matter what religion and they would do it again tomorrow. So, if you want to sit and tell me that those people are giving tacit approval to an exploitative system ― I say, ‘OK, and would you put your life on the line for people who aren’t like you? Because they did.'”
There will still be an America even after Trump: “We’re still the same country. Obama didn’t change and fix everything, and Trump can’t ruin everything. If we’re that vulnerable to one guy… That guy? That’s how we’re going out? This incredible experiment in liberty and democracy that we fought and died for is going to go out with that guy? That can’t be how this story ends.”
I’m just so tired of this. Do I believe that every Trump voter is some rabid, white-hood-wearing racist douchebag? Of course not. But I believe every person who voted for Donald Trump did so despite the fact that he was endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan. Every Trump voter supported him despite what he said about women and what he himself admitted to doing to women. Every Trump voter should have known what he said about Mexicans, about Muslims, about the handicapped and more. And if those Trump supporters are first responders or veterans, I thank them for their service and bravery… and I still think they’re awful for supporting a racist, misogynist con man. The answer isn’t to shrug and say, “well, every system is exploitative.” Not when you’re looking fascism in the bloated orange face.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Well said. Maybe some Trump supporters didn’t vote for racism, but they didn’t vote against it, either. And that tells the rest of us exactly what they are.
One of my closest friends in the world is a grumpy old Jewish man in his early sixties, and one of *his* closest friends is a grumpy old working-class Black man the same age. Because of our close mutual friend, Cook and I have spent time together hanging out.
My friend voted for Hillary. My friend’s friend, Cook, voted for Trump.
When I asked Cook why, he told me that he was voting Trump because he was old enough to remember when a Black man here in Atlanta could get a job working construction. Now all the construction in Atlanta – including the new billion dollar stadium being built in the middle of a Black neighborhood – was staffed entirely by Hispanic immigrants. Cook said he had recently finished working on a large job where he had been the only Black person on the project. He felt that uncontrolled immigration was bad for Black people trying to find work, and that Trump would do something about that situation but Hillary would just continue it, so he voted for Trump. Does that make Cook a racist?
Anecdotally, I’ve heard that many working-class Black men voted Trump for similar reasons…but since poor Black men’s voices are erased from the public discourse I guess it’s not surprising that nobody is talking about it.
I wouldn’t call working class black men racists for voting for Trump, but I will call them sexists….cause unfortunately a lot of black men (who I know personally) had a hard time with voting for a woman. So, maybe not racist, but definitely short sighted and stupid as fuck. You don’t cut off your nose to spite your face and that’s what a lot of Trump voters did.
You’re wrong. Tip: check your facts before using anecdotal or hearsay information.
Trump won black men by about the same percentage as Romney. It’s just that compared to that election fewer black men voted.
And many of the black men that I know personally didn’t vote at all because they wouldn’t vote for a woman and they despised Trump. Not saying this is true of all, just some of the ones that I know.
The overwhelming majority of black voters chose Hillary. How are voices being erased?
Trump was swept into office by white voters. There’s no getting away from that.
To @Pennylane, and a few others…
Please see @Natalie’s post for a reality check.
In terms of Black voices being erased you seem to be the head eraser because you’re erasing an overwhelming majority – MOST, almost ALL Black people with *your* post.
Let me clarify. I’m black. I have black family and black friends. I live in a predominantly black city. I know black people. Unlike you, they are not just one, singular friend of a white acquaintance or friend. I am them. They are me. I don’t know one person who voted Trump. Not one.
That should tell you something. But I’m sure it won’t because you have an agenda it seems.
The losing out on jobs b.s. Was already tried back in the day when the originator of political racist dog whistling the late Republican campaign operative Lee Atwater featured a pair of white hands crumbling up a job application in a campaign commercial ( he also did the infamous Willie Horton commercial AKA be very afraid of black men) The inference was that black people were taking the white man’s jobs. Affirmative action not illegal immigration was the boogeyman then. It was a twofer, the Republicans got many white people to vote for them, while at the same time being of the group that was helped most by affirmative action.. White women.
Black folk don’t fall for those types of games. They know the 20 Hispanic undocumented men are probably working 80 hrs for under the table slave wages. Blacks know if those workers went away that would not mean blacks would get those jobs that just means they’d hire 10 white cousins, nephews, uncles, neighbors, etc- and have to pay them double or more what they pay undoc’d because when it has to be on the books why give a job to a guy you don’t know when your sister’s boy is looking for a summer gig.
Just stop. We know how the world works.
Where Stewart goes wrong is romanticizing his first responders, assuming they’re the same people they were in 2001. Or that doing your job well as a fire fighter is an inoculation towards not being racist or not lacking in empathy towards victims of racism. It isn’t.
Hating Obama became a past time for a lot of people, especially white men, courtesy fox news, the tea party, hate talk radio and sites like breitbart. The climate we have now didn’t exist in 2001. It’s quite possible you may not have automatically knee-jerk rooted for Zimmerman or every other armed white killer of an unarmed black kid or athlete in 2000, but thanks to Fox News and Obama hatred – a black 12yo getting shot and killed or a black man getting shot in the back and killed while running away, or a black teen getting shot and killed because his music was too loud, might make you just shrug or worse, think they deserved it…in 2012 or 2016.
Crime is at its lowest in almost 45 years.
You wouldn’t know it by these creepy little guys arming themselves to the teeth and finding situations with which to confront black men and get the first shot off. (see Ronald Gasser killing NFL player Joe McKnight) you wouldn’t know it by these Stand Your Ground laws aka ‘if I’m scared i have a right to shoot you…if you’re non-white.’
So sadly. Jon Stewart is no longer relevant. No one considered him the left’s organized well funded political movement like the tea party. He did brilliant social satire and comedy and he was most important as a comedian and media watch dog.
With him gone, we got political surrogates and theater of the kind he famously tore to shreds (see Jon Stewart and crossfire on youtube) run on a loop 24/7 – it was like hourly crossfires. With paid Trump surrogates being paid by cnn to die on a hill and never deviate.
I can’t help but think Stewart’s presence would have/could have shamed them into a modicum of semi decent programming.
He’s entitled to his life and i sure as hell can see how he may have been exhausted. He’s entitled to quit.
But coming back as a fence sitting ambiguous guy about how we got Trump helps NO ONE.
Jon’s very face, like mine, may inspire a hate crime. I shouldn’t have to link to the vast numbers of Jewish reporters harrassed online with images of gas chambers and Trump pulling the switch to get him to see that this is not politics as usual.
This isn’t talked about either- trump literally instructed his voters to vote and “the go watch the polls closely”. I can honestly say that as a female POC I didn’t feel safe going to vote like I love to do. I mailed in a ballot which could have been thrown away due to the signature not matching. If I’m was afraid to vote because if his threat – what about other POC?
Great post @almondmilk.
Men still are pissed at women supposedly taking their jobs. That makes them sexist. Your black friend pissed at Hispanics taking his job? Racist. He voted to remove them because they were Hispanic. Racist. Simple, really.
Great post @almondmilk
I agree with Stewart. Not everyone that voted for Trump is a racist. I think it comes down to class issues in our society.
This article sums it up pretty well:
https://hbr.org/2016/11/what-so-many-people-dont-get-about-the-u-s-working-class?
However, any person who voted with a clear conscience for a clearly racist, sexist con man like Trump is just as bad -if not worse- than any other racist, sexist, misogynist idiot out there. You can call yourself “not racist” or “not sexist”…but you are actually something worse.
I have a question. I remember when Castro died reading comments on here saying that we shouldn’t be so black and white when judging him, that he wasn’t all evil, that he did some good things etc., and for trump the comments here are very black and white about how he’s an evil dictator and such and how we can’t tolerate that and how we can’t normalize that. This makes zero sense to me. If you can say those things about trump -a man who hasn’t taken over the country, murdered people and is just a raging moron – then Castro should be thought of as much worse because he murdered people, raped women, he was racist, he was flat out evil and he was a dictator. But somehow trump is worse? I don’t get it. You all claim he’s a fascist but Castro was a communist and guess what? They all fall under totalitarianism. You all normalized a truly evil man but attack trump supporters. As pathetic as trump is im sorry he is not worse than Fidel Castro. There is some serious cognitive dissonance on these comment sections. Can someone PLEASE explain this to me?
I call BS on the racist issue. Trump supporters fall into Only 3 categories. 1- full on nazis. 2. Closeted nazis living in liberal bubbles – afraid to piss off their yoga friends. – 3 racists too ignorant to self label as nazis.
I’ll explain this to you @llamas, Trump has entertained the idea of appointing both the awful racist Sheriff Arpaio and the awful racist Korbach (sp?) of Kansas – they are both known for racial profiling Spanish speaking/looking/surnames and wanting to enact laws that will make people who like George Lopez or who look and sound like Salma Hayek have to show them their “papers.”
I mention this because your false equivalence and deflection trying to bring up 90yr old deceased Castro, has very real consequences. Castro didn’t cause a crowd at a suburban kids soccer match to shout Trump at the mostly Hispanic visiting team of 12 year old girls.
Castro isn’t responsible to the 300% jump in hate crimes post our U.S. election.
Castro to my knowledge hasn’t admitted to assaulting women like Trump, and unlike Trump has never been sued or legally tried for assault and rape.
Maybe you can link your fidel the rapist stories from what…. 1950? Whatever..
…we do however, have Trump in 2009 saying he can grab a woman’s crotch because he’s rich, threatening to date 10yr old girls, and being accused as a molester by 14 different women. He was also being brought to court by a woman who claimed she was raped at 12yo by him, she has sworn witnesses and was known to Trump’s friend and business associate who would ultimately be jailed for sex with minors.
But again what does Castro have to do with a middle school in Michigan having to take down a Trump white and colored tagged signs on the school drinking fountains? Or Jewish reporters being sent pics of themselves in gas chambers with Trump pulling the trigger.
Wake up please.
“Castro murdered people, raped women, he was racist, he was flat out evil and he was a dictator. But somehow trump is worse? I don’t get it. You all claim he’s a fascist but Castro was a communist and guess what? They all fall under totalitarianism. You all normalized a truly evil man but attack trump supporters. As pathetic as trump is im sorry he is not worse than Fidel Castro. There is some serious cognitive dissonance on these comment sections.”
Llamas, you are completely right…there *is* some serious cognitive dissonance going on in these comments sections.
Nonsense. Trying to compare commenters reactions to Trump, who is going to affect the lives of everyone here and whose appointments and comments are causing real panic, with dead old Castro who has shaken off this mortal coil and rolled into the history books, is pointless.
Yes you can be dispassionate about Castro because it’s all done and dusted and there is distance to review what damage was done and what was not. With Trump, this is not the case. What we don’t know about him can hurt us. And you seem to be missing the real fear and panic in this comments, although how I cannot imagine.
Who cares about an old, dead guy now? Sheesh.
@Llamas, I ageee, I get lost in conversation around this election. It has been so revealing.
For example, Jon alludes to iPhone manufacturing, which liberals always reference as exploitive labor. But I have lived in China and been in those factories. I understand how factory labor is perceived in China, as well as overall labor conditions. Factory jobs are considered good jobs for impoverished migrant workers. It’s not uncommon anywhere in China to be asked to work overtime, or to live in dorms, or to work 6 day weeks, etc. And as they work, migrant expectations rise and they will quit these jobs and move on (happens every year). They aren’t trapped. They’re moving up the pay scale. They are real people with real aspirations–to me, liberals dehumanizes them by acting as though Chinese factory workers would be better off without the work. They wouldn’t, and they want the jobs. It is actually all very nuanced.
I don’t think outsourcing to China is inherently exploitive–no more so than capitalism itself. But American systems are. America has always exploited black labor and it still is through the criminal justice system, and through socioeconomic inequality. This is what makes the system inherently racist. People who support that are simply blind to systemic racism and their own, by extension.
I don’t even agree with Dave Chapelle. But I totally get why black people aren’t packing it in over Trump. Is Trump an exception? Doesnt he represent what black Americans have always known to be true? Haven’t they always had to operate under this sort of system? Trump isn’t the exception to them. Obama was.
Meanwhile, white people are acting like this is the end of the world. No, Trump is just showing you how it feels to be a black American. Maybe now there will be mobilization for real systemic change.
@llamas, Just to be clear, my point is that EVERY white person gives tacit support to a racist system. Not just Trump voters. And I don’t think Democrats are agents of change–they’re a centrist party as beholden to corporate interests as anyone else. Obama’s reaction to Wall Street after the crash (nothing! No reaction!) is evidence of that. Who disproportionately bore the costs of the crash? Black and brown Americans, of course.
Whether in terms of complacency or outright opposition, the outcome is the same: no change. Everyone wants to demonize those in opposition but I agree–it’s like saying Trump and Castro are the same. My complacency is better than your opposition because your opposition is evil. No, evil is evil. Complacency and opposition are two paths to the same outcome.
Greenieweenie:
This is the thing about globalisation, isn’t it? It has lifted more than a billion people out of absolute poverty in the last couple of decades. It has seen a much-needed transfer of wealth from developed to developing economies, despite workers rights not always being respected.
It’s also true that globalisation has been damaging for sections of citizenry in the developed world. We are now seeing the dissatisfaction about that expressed via Trump and Brexit (with the charming addition of racist scapegoating).
As I see it, from my lefty perspective, the problem is with redistribution within the developed economies. Globalisation is, overall, a good thing. The redistribution of it within the developed economies has been, overall, a bad thing. And exacerbated, contrary to current analysis, for POC, because of historic racist structuring of the economy (which right and left in developed economies did precious little about).
@Sixer ITA, so I don’t think you are merely a lefty! By American standards, I am a radical progressive (Bernie’s conservative for my taste). But not a Marxist…only a European would assign so much rigidity and significance to class. Race! It’s not about race wars but about systemic racism–the global trade system was built by Americans in their own image. American trade and politics has always been defined by race. I see market capitalism as reasonable in theory, fundamentally racist in practice.
Yeah, don’t let them off the hook. They voted for white entitlement. And they’ve unleashed on us a culture of ranting lunatics demanding special treatment because they voted for Trump. This is unprecedented, at least in my lifetime, so I don’t understand any argument that says this isn’t what Trump voters wanted.
And it seems that the whiter and richer you are, the easier it is to shrug and say, “it’ll be fine.” Actually, no it won’t. It’ll set civil rights back by decades. In addition to all Kaiser so eloquently pointed out up top, the POS-Elect is the one who said that unarmed people of color getting gunned down in the street was part of “law and order.” This. Is. Not. Alright. The orange one cannot be normalized. We must continue to call him out and do it every turn. The republicans didn’t tire of trying to sabotage President Obama for 8 years and we cannot tire of calling out Trump and his BS.
Great post @NastyWoman
They might not be racist, but by voting for him, they said racism is OK.
Exactly , They are stating racism, sexism and other adulterated hate are not deal breakers. A lot of people love to pat themselves on the back as not being racist simple because they dont use the nword or plant crosses on peoples lawn
Jon should also know that many Germans didnt hate Jews but they stood by and didnt do anything either .An in the beginning many of them brushed off Hitlers early rhetoric as ” harmless”
I just want to point out that Jon Stewart is Jewish.
I know Jon is Jewish
“many Germans didnt hate Jews but they stood by and didnt do anything either”
Many Jewish did the same…..and we are talking about germans, who were jewish too..it isn’t all black and white…
Hitler was from jewish origin, only for information, so that doesn’t change anything at all, Jewinsh businessmen were working with the nazis back then with the full knowledge what is happening, and i ‘m not talking about the sugarcoated “story “about Schindler……and yes it is possible to be POC and racist.
Saying, but he is jewish is exactly black and white thinking, and naive.
Exactly. Stewart said “they’re not giving tacit support to a racist system.”
That is 100% wrong. The system IS racist, and people who voted for Trump most certainly voted to support that racism (and their own privilege).
And they continue to say racism is ok with their silence. Where is the outrage about the rise in hate crimes? Why aren’t they saying to their PEOTUS, stop tweeting about SNL and address some of your worshippers pushing women down stairs (NY) and other cases. I call BS on Jon.
So instead of using his image for good, Jon wants to promote his book instead, ignore that Muslim women are being attacked for wearing hijabs in public, kids are sexually assaulting other kids because the “President does it”, non-WASPs are being told to “go home.” He is just as bad as the internet trolls claiming that these hate crimes aren’t escalating. His misinformation that fake news didn’t change the tide of the masses is also misleading. A NC gunman was apprehended at a DC pizzeria because he was investigating if it was a front for a Clinton child prostitution ring. I kid you not– the gunman was not found to be insane, just incredibly gullible.
In a capitalist society, you vote with your dollar more than anything else. He’s so right about iPhones.
But you can’t compare Trump Voters, with iPhone owner, that’s a little bit oversimplified and far fetched.
(Maybe) not all Trump voters are racists, but all racists are Trump voters.
No, I wish. I say this as a Democrat: there are plenty of racists and misogynists who consider themselves liberals.
Truth. I’ve seen racists and sexists come in all shapes, shades, sizes and political persuasions. And I’ve also never met someone who admits to being racist or sexist. But sorry…….no one is exempt, no political persuasion is exempt.
And anyone with any diversity training knows that everyone has elements of both racism and sexism and bias, WE all have stereotypes and assumptions that we apply to others. Particularly people we don’t know.
The stats show how democrats — particularly milleniels and people of color–didn’t turn out for HRC but did for Obama, One does have to wonder to what degree did sexism and / or racism play into the decision to not vote?
Oh please.
Everybody wants to call out racism, sexism, etc until it’s their neighbor, family member, friend, or anyone else close. Then, they want everyone to acknowledge that there’s decency behind the discrimination. It’s BS.
+1
+100, and my dislike of Jon Stewart has increased 10-fold with his bullsh*t assessment of Trump voters. He’s such a smug di*k, always was, always will be.
I’ve called my Mom out as being racist, and she has now gone NC with me. In a way, I’m relieved – I don’t have to hear her racist shit anymore.
Good for you
I know that must be hard. Hugs
@ HH, 100% true!
If you voted for someone who says racist things, you voted for a racist. And what is a racist going to do? Try to keep minorities from succeeding.
this exactly
and if it doesnt mean anything to you that you have enabled a racist/sexist/xenophobe/homophobe – then you are one
Exactly.
Super Predators? Hello?
Nope. Different time, vastly different political and social dialogue. And Clinton apologized for using the term years ago. So, no.
Has anyone else seen signs of a right-wing astroturfing push lately? I don’t necessarily mean here: four days ago, I googled, ‘Clinton Trump popular vote’ and all of the ‘Searches related to’: at the bottom of the page were disinforming, pro-Trump results, as though someone was manipulating google. I mean, really obvious ones like ‘Trump won popular vote’, ‘Trump wins popular vote 2016,’ ‘Trump beats Clinton in popular vote.’ I don’t for one minute believe these were the most popular search results, especially not for two days running (I kept the page active to monitor the phenomenon).
Anyone else noticing things like this?
Forgot to add that I live in a blue city in a blue state and don’t search out right wing sites, and these metrics make the search results even less likely.
The restatement has to do with sexual politics as well. Female efforts are often described with words that do not imply success, whereas male efforts are more likely to be positively evaluated, even if the same. The night of the election, the commentators would keep saying, “if Hillary loses this state.. if Hillary loses that state” and in the next breath say “If Donald wins this state, if Donald wins that state”. The language and the attitude involved the assumption of failure, just as it has for centuries for POC in this country.
@Jane’s WAsted Talent,
Oh, the snivelling trolls come on here all the time especially since Trump won. I guess they don’t want to quit snivelling or their lives would be empty.
And yeah, I do believe the disinformation and propaganda are more intense than before. This is what Hitler did. As Hannah Arendt wrote, never mind arguing for the facts, let’s look at the winners’ intent. There is a purpose here.
Exactly. I’m sure not everyone who voted Trump is signed up to the KKK. But everyone who voted Trump chose the ONLY side ALL the racists were on. They – and more importantly we – can’t say it ain’t so.
That bit about satire and the school boards is spot on, though. Actual resistance came too late.
He does have a good message about that. It is very accurate and on point I really wish more people would listen to it. The Republicans have figured out having the office of POTUS is nice but it isn’t the best way to actually make noticeable, meaningful changes in society. It is the “little” races that matter. They turn up every two years vs every four and have been able to dominate most state governments and the federal legislative branch with very little vocal opposition. The Green Party and Libertarians keep focusing on that magical 5% of the popular vote during the Presidential elections but if they really want to establish a real party they need to start by focusing on smaller offices and building up. If they couldn’t get 5% this election, they never will until they prove their ideas can work, are actively engaging the American people all year, not once every four, and create established, experienced candidates by holding other offices. The Tea Party was terrible morally but tactically brilliant.
I agree, Trump voters did not give “tacit” support to racism. They’ve been pretty explicit about it.
LOL!! yes. there was nothing undercover about the racism and misogyny. out in front and proud.
YES, THEY ARE. YES THEY F*CKING ARE. The end. It’s not that g*ddamn complicated.
They looked at every ugly, racist, sexist, hateful thing Trump said and did, and said with a shrug, “Eh, okay. I’m alright with that. At least he’ll bring back 850 manufacturing jobs, amirite?”
And yes, part of the blame DOES lay with the media for reporting all of Trump’s bullsh!t as legitimate, when, from day one, they should have been reporting it for what it was: abnormal, unprecedented, dangerous, and flat-out false.
He’s either completely ignorant or trolling. I heard all of these same points from a dude on my Facebook. Sorry for the heated tone, I’m just done with the ignorance. I’m done with being made to feel insane for actually having my eyes open to what’s happening in my country right now.
Exactly. So sick of white Lib men who feel the need to defend and empathize with these people.
You are not at all insane. You are both logical and correct.
The Trump campaign cravenly and cynically invited white supremacists to their table. They manipulated fear of Muslims, BLM, and Mexicans to stir up hate groups and give them a voice that had been rightfully pushed to the edges of society.
It was out there and obvious for all to see. To be fair, nothing was at all hidden in their agenda.
Trump voters either saw that and agreed, or saw that and decided it didn’t matter. Either way, it was a vote for racism.
So I disagree with him on that, bigly . But I do agree about fighting back with precision and consistency. And I agree with him that satire has its place, but it isn’t anything that will challenge actual, real activism. As we have learned.
I get your point and I know that a lot of them thought that way, but that one guy on Facebook is the only one you know? There are more Trump voters out there and they don’t all think that way.
I know a lot of Trump voters. A lot of them. I’m from Georgia.
And every single person that voted for Trump looked at Donald Trump’s racist rhetoric, history of sexual assault, and endorsement by the literal KKK, among countless other things, and said, “ok, I’ll vote for him.”
No matter what Trump supports claim to think or not think, the proof is in the pudding. They voted for him. They were okay with everything he is. The end.
Amen, Shambles. I am really disappointed in Stewart.
Me too. I no longer have a crush on him.
Best ask how Germany felt after “one guy” almost destroyed the entire world.
So yes, it can and has happened. If this election has taught us anything, it’s that the more things change the more they stay the same.
Godwin’s Law! Hehe, jk, you’re absolutely right! I hate this kind of appeasement “one guy can’t ruin everything”. Do people never learn how EASY it is to ruin a whole lot in a really short span on time?
I’m pretty sure the Trump campaign killed Godwin’s Law.
@original kay
Seriously! Powerful men have almost single-handedly inflicted unimaginable suffering on the world by creating the hierarchy of fear, yet we’re shrugging this off as not a big deal? WTF, Stewart. I used to love him so much.
@Shambles- What a perfect way to put it.
@original kay and Timbuktu- I suspect- or maybe just hope- that Jon Stewart is wrestling with the ‘what ifs’ and a mountainload of (undeserved) guilt over resigning the Daily Show just a few months before this shit train appeared on the horizon. Wanting to deny feelings of guilt can often lead to trying to minimize the problem itself. His answer about his limited influence on society as a satirist suggests this to me as well.
Not that this excuses normalizing, just that maybe we’ll get him back.
(ETA: Wow, am I an apologist or what? But this is such a departure from what he’s said up until 11/08 🙁 )
I was just going to say, when in history did it ever take more than one ugly voice to destroy it all? It was never just the people who actively participated who did all the harm, it was also the ones who kept saying “oh but he won’t go any further, calm down”. And then sh*t blew up in their faces. So Jon, I appreciate what you did for 16 years but don’t be one of those people.
Maybe he’s just too jaded or too rich or too white but I will not be lectured by a rich white dude how to feel about the people who voted for a racist/misogynist with shady business ties and who’s one step away from bending over for Putin in front of the General Assembly. And can he stop focusing on the racism? Like that’s ALL (can’t believe I’m typing this) this man has spouted? He hates women, minorities, poor people, veterans, unattractive people, attractive women who refuse to be his toy, the environment, scientists, …. I don’t have that much time. He’s a f*cking hate machine and hired more fellow hate machines. You vote for THAT? Yes, you support it.
I’m sure not every German wanted to gas 6 million people either but gosh they were just so worried about their infrastructure that they accepted it as the price to pay? I guess that was fine? STFU.
I completely agree with you. It’s insane that Jon Stewart is ignoring all the things you mentioned.
This post is everything.
Oh thank you for the “not every German wanted to gas 6 million people” this thing with trump will getting worse, mark my words, and most of you will look at the other direction on purpose because you are more worried about your infrastructure, with jobs food and healthcare for your children you will accept that other will pay the price too, you will even do it for less.
Now the indignation is big (rightly) but it will fade away, when it comes to your existence, Job, car etc. you will go along with it, to save your own comfort.
Most People would.
Jon, I still love you but your assertion is patently false. Trump voters, however they may personally feel about immigrants, minorities, women etc, did in fact give tacit approval to his hateful agenda when they voted for him. And saying it is no different when people buy iPhones knowing that the factory that makes it has shitty labor practices is just the worst kind of false equivalency.
Americans who voted for this fascist while crying about how they’re not racists are the same type of people who believed that Japanese Americans were in internment camps for their own safety in the forties. They’re the same people who lived near Dachau and Insisted it was just a “work camp”.
I don’t love him anymore. He destroyed the respect I had for him in two interviews. Everything he says here goes against what he has been doing with the Daily Show. His analogy about the first responders on 9/11 is such a blatant case of a false analogy. It doesn’t matter if someone saves lives, they’re supporting racism if they’re voting for a racist and we should still speak up about that. Jon Stewart used to be cutthroat about thing like this and ripped news media another one when they used false equivalencies (what he said about muslims in the previous interview) and false analogies.
I agree with you Wilma. It scares me. History has taught us nothing, or may be, it has already told us everything there is to know: many “regular citizens” are very quick to jump on the winner’s bandwagon, just like it happened in Germany under Hitler, and to “normalize” a violent wannabe dictator. I used to love, love Jon Stewart, but nowadays he is acting like a man who has sold his soul to the devil. I am scared.
Yes! I’m sick of the false equivalencies. No Jon it is not the same to buy a phone (or almost any product for that matter), when you are born into an economical-political system you didn’t chose and the only way to fight the injustices on that system is to be part of it and try to change it form the inside (eg. see how the Dakota Pipeline turned when it became viral and people started to help and raising their voices).
That is very different to voting for a racist misogynist bigot con-man and then trying to normalize his speech.
It is similar. You vote with your money. If people would pay $100 more for a ‘humanely’ made iPhone, Apple would get on board. It isn’t like they enjoy having to add suicide nets to their factories. The meat and agricultural industry changed when people proved their was a market for it. That didn’t start out of the goodness of their hearts. The difference is it is only a couple dollars more expensive, not thousands a year (technology, clothes, toys, nick knacks), we constantly see animals and are barraged with messaging about the horror of factory farming, a significant amount of people empathize more with animals than they do with a figurative idea of a person they will never see. Some people can live with one flip phone for a decade and a minimal wardrobe that they try to buy from local manufacturers. Others wait in line at midnight to replace their perfectly fine iPhone with one that is rose gold and storm Target to get the latest collection from a high end designer that sells out in hours. It’s a matter of choices. They overlook how that stuff is made so they can have the material possessions they want at a lower price point. Some Trump voters overlooked his overt horribleness to save money on taxes and health insurance. Both groups benefit by screwing over a group of people they don’t know and are willing to overlook. Granted no one bought an iPhone because Apple is endorsed by the KKK. But not every Trump voter was proud of that endorsement. It’s not a dissimilar as some people would like to make it. People get uncomfortable when you point out that their life is made comfortable by the suffering of others and they could change it by making sacrifices they really don’t want to make.
Agree, Saks. It IS a false equivalency and all the rationalising won’t make this fallacious reasoning anything but. Rules for logic haven’t changed. Nor has the weight and value demanded in reasoning to make a case.
I think it’s driven by the desire to point out hypocrisy, guilting people, and silencing discourse rather than about rational argument. BTW, I don’t own these gadgets but I am sure there is something that I own that would make me a hypocrite and guilty of something.
This actually sounds like something the Bernie fanatics would argue.
@hmmm,
Love your explanation; I wrote something similar downthread, but you put it so much better.
How is it a false equivalency? Millions of people are literal slaves because of Westerners who want cheap fashion and homewares and tech devices and coffee and chocolate.
Almost everyone in the western world tacitly supports slavery. 4 years of Trump is pretty small potatoes compared to generations of slaves.
It’s not actually hard to make ethical purchasing decisions. You can live without every single thing made un-ethically without much hassle. People don’t though. They tell themselves they have to buy the slavery chocolate because they can’t afford the ethical stuff, ignoring that they could just not buy the chocolate at all. They buy the $5 top because it’s an annoyance to save up for a ethical piece of clothing and then take good care of it. They buy the iPhone because everyone else has one and thus they too ‘need’ one.
Kate Lindsay I didn’t have the energy to say this thankfully you guys said it all. Thanks!
They may not be racists but they bought into a racist campaign and they own the whole toxic package — lock, stock and barrel.
Which campaign? Hillary “Super Predator” Clinton’s?
Ah, multiples of six. Is that the pattern?
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. Lots of people are low information voters.
There are tons of videos of people at Trump rallies not being able to correctly attribute quotes back when it was funny and not appalling, when he was one of 11 in the Republican clown car. There is a reason for the phrase “low information voters”. Some are idiots that didn’t pay attention.
No, they are. Liberal white dudes can whimper about how we evil minorities and women were too focused on “identity politics” and lost because we don’t care to sympathize with the poor, uneducated racists who voted for Trump. But here’s the thing annoying, pompous white progressive men…
I’m a black woman. I can’t separate myself from that. When someone like that sees me they think “Oh, it’s a black woman. She must be a ratchet thug with 20 kids and 14 baby daddies!” Doesn’t matter that I have a law degree and my parents were both doctors…I’ll never be anything but black to them. My husband got stopped for speeding the other day and we were both so afraid that we were going to look at the cop the wrong way and he’d shoot us in front of our toddler that I was crying when the guy finally came to our window. Sometimes I think the liberal white guys like this secretly feel the same way about us that the conservative party voters do.
So in short, stop telling me to feel bad for uneducated Trump voters because they never try to muster up any for me.
Kasia (((hugs))
I am so sorry. I know it doesn’t do much, but I hope it helps even a bit to know that people will not stop fighting for you, your family, all minorities.
I posted this on the last thread but I think it summarizes things perfectly: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/02/identity-politics-donald-trump-white-men
Oh, Kasia, my heart. Tears are streaming down my face. We should be celebrating your accomplishments, shouting them through the rooftops, and here you are, here’s your reality—terrified for your child, yourself, your husband over a frigging speeding ticket.
This has got to stop. Enough. Sending you love, Kasia. And a promise to stand witness whenever I see a cop with a black person pulled over.
Oh, my love.
I know I don’t know you, but I love you, truly. I’m with all the other posters, I’m crying right now. I am so sorry. I’m really glad you and your husband and baby are okay. Wishing you guys well. ❤️
You’re completely right, you can’t separate yourself from the fact that you’re a black woman. I’m so sorry that this world we’re living in has the tendency to make you feel like you have to. You’re seem like a beautiful, powerful, intelligent black woman and you deserve to be proud of that.
Preach it, Kasia. I am so sick of upper-income white liberal tears for the downtrodden Trump voters. I *am* an upper-income white liberal, but I grew up in one of the Trumpiest red places in the US, which I escaped from as a teenager like my hair was on fire. The type of people I was so happy to leave behind (not everyone residing there, but a majority of them) will virtually all have voted for Trump. Here’s the thing: in most cases, they didn’t vote for him in spite of his racist tendencies, his religious bigotry, and his patriarchal sexism. They voted for him BECAUSE of it. Trust.
I’m so sorry you experienced such terror during your husband’s traffic stop. I’m even sorrier that it was reasonable for you to feel that way. I think about the shield of whiteness that I carry around with me every. single. time. I see a police officer in the US. It makes me sad and furious that people of color are basically considered automatically suspicious just for the crime of existing. And Trump will make it worse, because his election is seen as a vindication of every pro-white, anti-PoC bias that plays into police brutality against black and brown people. White liberals who want to feel better about living in Trumpland need to stop f*cking kidding themselves about the role of race in this election.
@Kasia, you’re not the only one who suspects that. Read EdgyWhiteLiberal on FB and feel better.
Why does he sound sort of angry when giving his point? He sounds odd here.
Because a lot of white men are really angry that a Trump Presidency is holding a mirror up to them.
YES, Shamby, YES!!!
*kisses emojis*
Well said, Kaiser!! 👏🏻
Put aside the blatant racism and sexism for a moment…. these people voted for an unqualified, unhinged egomaniac and for that alone they all suck.
Jon Stewart has become so deeply disappointing post election. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t have a team of researchers developing and backing up his statements and this is his true uninformed self.
These comments he’s been making show a lack of understanding about the very nature of racism, as well as a willful denial of historical patterns that have destroyed freedom, democracy and human rights in other nations in the past.
He is sweeping the red flags under the rug. He is doing the opposite of what America has claimed to represent — defending freedom, democracy and opportunity for all. Without strong defenders of these principles they will be lost. It will be because of these attitudes that the country slides into decline, and the rest of us (who are now being told to stop worrying so much) will be having to say “I told you so”. Shame on you, Jon Stewart.
I agree completely…so disappointing.
That was so eloquent, SilentStar. Kudos.
+1
Why is jon stewart doing this? I don’t get it. How is it helpful to voice support and make excuses for Trump voters? Its almost like he’s playing dumb, because I don’t for a second believe that he wasn’t as devastated as many of us were at the Trump win. He has to know how much danger this country is in as a result of this. Does he think it makes him the special voice of reason to argue this Trump-not-so-bad nonsense? I don’t even get what he is doing.
He’s trying to get more book sales?
Jon Stewart has been a smug crapsack for a long, long time. His insistence on false equivalence marred the end of his Daily Show run for me – Colbert had a character to slip into, but Sam Bee has shown a good deal of accuracy, fairness and passion with Full Frontal. Stewart’s a coward who is into adulation, and I’m f%cking sicker of him and his bullsh%t than he is of the completely coherent, honest argument that Trump supporters did sanction and condone the worst of the rhetoric. He doesn’t care because he’s rich and so is his entire social circle, and money insulates you from the worst things generally speaking. Full stop.
I don’t really care about his thoughts on anything. But I do agree that not everyone who voted for trump is racist.
You are right; they are bigots instead. Do you honestly think just because they are not frothing at the mouth with hatred that they are less guilty or outright innocent of what happened. They aren’t. What you and everyone who thinks like this does not seem to understand is that voting in people who openly say bigoted or outright racists (like Trump actually did) things makes you just as responsible as the racists themselves. Those voters will be responsible for every last horrible appointment to the government, for the dismantling of the ACA, people losing medicare, and even so small as me breaking a nail because I slammed my first against a desk too hard in anger while watching the news.
Every law that he signs in that negatively affects a women’s right to chose or healthcare, or shipping out jobs to other countries will be the Trump voters fault because people like you and them continue to rationalize hate. Trump voters are afraid of progress of competing with others on a genuine level, of hating to share the American dream with everyone instead of just for themselves. This will backfire on them and I will not shed one tear or give one damn.
Well said, Aiobhan.
It’s really not that simple. But I am not going to argue with everyone here about it.
What I have seen is that everyone wants to pigeonhole everyone that voted for trump. People vote the way they do for all kinds of reasons.
A lot of people have gotten a bit too comfortable with calling everyone a racist or sexist that does something they don’t agree with. And being called a racist and a sexist used to bother a lot of people. It really doesn’t bother me anymore… Because I am neither. Maybe the left should think up a better tactic if they want to win the next election.
@Lalu
People voted for HATRED. Trump is starting to implement that hatred now, starting with his Cabinet picks. YOU voted for hatred. Hope you’re proud. Oh, wait, you’re not. You can’t even own it.
They are not racist, but they voted a racist into the office of President of the United States. What is the distinction exactly?
@Lalu. Yes, it really is that simple. If you can listen to his incoherent ramblings and outright lies and only hear messages that you can twist into thinking they will help you, you are delusional. If you can hear and either agree with his racist, sexist rhetoric or can ignore it you are complicit in keeping up the status quo. I get that you don’t want to believe that because no one wants to be the villain, but you are a villain if you can ignore what he said. If you are on the same side as the KKK then you are a racist/bigot or an enabler.
Yes, we are getting way more comfortable calling people exactly what we think they are. Somewhat Ironically enough, we are doing the same thing that a lot of his puppets said he was doing “telling it like it is”. I get that you don’t like it, but I am done coddling people who enable racism or are racist. If you or someone else cannot handle being called that, and you are being called that on a regular basis, then the problem is not from the person who is saying it to you, but it is you who is the problem, Welcome to being a non-white person, where no matter where you go and what you do, people will always find a problem with you. Not a part of you, all of you. The main difference is there is nothing wrong with being a non-white person or even a white person, but there is everything wrong with being a bigot and racist.
Maybe you should actually do some research on racism and bigotry in the US from a non-white perspective. Just because you can recite two lines from “I Have A Dream” does not mean you are not a racist or racist enabler. Just because you have one non-white friend does not mean you are not a racist. Just because you have had one non-white sexual partner does not mean you are not a racist. Racism and sexism does not mean what you think it means. There are multiple layers to racism, sexism, etc that a lot of people miss: casual racism and sexism being two examples.
Also, it does bother you because you actually took the time to mention it. If it did not bother you, you never would have thought it was important enough to mention it to me at all.
By the way, your technical win is not a real win when we have the popular vote on our side. And if you actually do a bit of research on “Trump regrets” you will start to see a growing number of people who are regretting casting their vote for him. He did not win on policy, he won on fear mongering and pandering to the lowest common denominator from all socio-economic levels: racist/bigots or just plain dumb people who don’t have an ounce of understanding on how the government actually works.
You know nothing about me. And I didn’t “technically win” anything. The man that I wanted to see elected president didn’t get his party’s nom. No big surprise there to me though.
I had to settle. A lot of people did. Just like I would love to have a Libertarian president but we probably won’t get one. I don’t sit around calling people names that don’t agree with me. I don’t assume the worst of my fellow man.
Here I am feeling the need to defend Jon Stewart and I cannot stand him. But I don’t think he’s a secret trump supporter. I just think it’s strange how you guys chew up everyone that doesn’t fall right in line with your beliefs. I am surrounded all the time with people that don’t have the same beliefs as me… We get along. You guys must all live in a bubble.
This ‘you don’t know nothing about me’ is getting boring. Sorry, I don’t care to know much about you. But the smack-in-your-face fact is that you voted for a virulent racist, so, at best , you’re a racist enabler. With your vote, you created a climate that endangers my non-white friends. Obviously, you couldn’t care less.
And I don’t see how anybody who lives in and embraces cultural and racial diversity could’ve voted for Trump.
@Lalu
First, no one is forcing you to do anything. No one is climbing into your body and forcing you to defend Jon Stewart or the racist/racist enablers who voted for Trump. You are choosing to type out a response to your response. You did, not someone else. Please stop with the melodramatics. Also, you don’t actually mean what you are saying given some of the responses that you have given in other posts on this very site.
Actually I do know a little about you. You like to defend Trump supporters. You could possibly be a libertarian, which is just a closet republican in my book. You also like to believe that you are taking the high road in an argument by writing out a cliche comment that is meant to keep misbehaving children in check. That comment is not something that you say to another adult. There is no factual evidence that Trump is a good man and that the people who voted for him are good people. You cannot be a good person when you spout the garbage that came out of his mouth or vote for someone who says the garbage that came out of his mouth.
What do you honestly expect anyone to do when you disagree with them? Ignore them and hope for the best. Not on my watch. That is not how things are done in this country. Did the og tea partiers just sit on their hands and hope that the British government would stop messing around with them? Did the people who marched in the Civil Rights movement sit in church and hope and pray that white men and women would stop killing them en masse? Did some rich white women sit by and continue to let rich white men tell them what to do with their bodies?
The answer is no, they did not. They wrote letters, the protested, the marched, they did whatever they could to try to stop oppressors from oppressing them. Change does not happen by ignore the obvious. Real change is made through talking, yelling screaming, criticizing others. You want people to stop talking so you don’t have to think anymore. Real change hurts. This country was founded on fighting back against oppressors (or so the white men and women who wrote my hs history books told me to interpret what happened). That is what we are trying to do. Trump, his supporters, and their enablers are our oppressors. You all drew that line in the sand, not us.
@Lamdba
Your comment is perfect.
@Lalu,
Cry victim. Yeah, that works.
Jon-be quiet. Just because you say something doesn’t mean it’s true. You want to do something useful? Get Trump voters to speak up about the hate crimes that occur in his name every day. Oh yeah, I forgot, they don’t care.
“Just because you say something doesn’t mean it’s true.”
Oh, that’s brilliant. *eyeroll*
Do something useful Nat. I know you can.
Either ‘Nat’ is being paid by the Russian government or his trite hatred is subsidised by his parents.
Facts don’t matter to ‘Nat’. Nat wants to see people crushed and the country destroyed. Like Drumpf, he think it’ll be fun.
No they are not all racist…they voted for their bottom line. They r worried about their taxes.
The world is not black and white it is shades of grey.
What tax bracket are they in to be worried about their taxes under Hillary but not Donald?
If you voted for money against a person’s basic civil liberties, you are a racist.
Okay but by that logic they still decided their bottom line was more important than people of color, gay and trans people, women, critical thinking, human decency, and equal rights for everyone. Still not something to be proud of, imo.
Exactly. Why is this so difficult to understand??
Yes but one only cares about higher moral ground when their own needs are taken care of. They might not agree with one side all the way but they agree on the parts that are most relevant to themselves and their families e.g. how much money can i save on taxes.
If you’re middle class, Trump as president is not in your economic interest. Anyone who voted for Trump based on their taxes will never be able to care about *basic* rights for other people or “higher moral ground” as you put it.
@natalies. Trump would decrease taxes for all groups including the super poor.whether this happens remains to be seen, but this iswhy people voted for trump.
https://www.google.com/amp/www.forbes.com/sites/garrettgunderson/2016/10/13/clinton-versus-trump-how-their-tax-plans-will-affect-you/?client=ms-android-verizon
@Hfsni
The Forbes link is bushwa. The fact is that others may get a small cut but the super rich, the 1%ers will get MASSIVE cuts. And you wanna talk trickle down? With such massive tax cuts for the super rich, the rest will bear the burden- cuts in health, education, SS, etc. etc. Winner- super rich.
Puhleez. This is pure propaganda.
Late reply.
@Hfsni -Your link is a bit misleading because that is not Forbes endorsed content. The author wrote an opinion piece and there’s a disclaimer that Forbes does not endorse his content. *I* could write anything and get it up there with Forbes in the url.
Here is a link discussing what the Trump plans mean for people with sources and quotes and debate: http://www.npr.org/2016/11/13/501739277/who-benefits-from-donald-trumps-tax-plan
My point strongly stands. If you are not wealthy, your taxes are going up.
If Trump’s racist message had actually been subtle, I think he’d have a point. But that wasn’t the case. A huge portion of Trump’s campaign revolved around racism. His most well-known promise consists of deporting everyone and building a wall around Mexico. I heard Trump talk shit about minorities and women a lot more than I ever heard him say anything about healthcare. So his argument makes very little sense.
You could NOT vote for Trump without knowing he’s an incredibly loud racist. You either supported that, you were indifferent to the fact, or you’re way to obtuse to even notice. There’s varying levels of ignorance and hatred within Trump supporters, but none of them show any sort of support.
A friend of mine asked his step-dad why he joined the communist party at the end of the sixties in France for a little while. He answered “because I wanted to be on the good side”. I never got this until now (mostly because of what we then learnt about communism in Russia etc. since then). There are certain things you cannot be associated with and others you just have to stick up for.
Racists and misogynists can do kind and good things. Doesn’t mean they’re not racists and misogynists.
Jon should look at his own argument and realize that of course those first responders are not going to uniformly assault POC and women but it doesn’t mean they won’t support a system that is racist and misogynistic towards those same people they save and guess what? That makes them racists and misogynists.
Strom Thurmond was apparently a caring father towards his daughter, Essie Mae Washington-Williams, but he still was a Dixiecrat.
Jon seemed to admire John McCain and it took Jon a really long time to grasp how craven McCain can be, and I feel like that’s what’s happening again. He admires the strength of character in first responders and maybe he feels like it’s a rejection of these people to label them as racists because racism is bad and these people aren’t wholly bad.
@Kaiser, you hit the nail on the head. Jon is very disappointing.
“We all give tacit support to exploitative systems as long as they don’t affect us that badly.”
False equivalence. Also arguing that everybody does it so everyone is complicit in something. Jon has learned nothing from history. Never figured him for a dolt. Another normaliser. Where will it end???
“I think of one of the lessons of this book and what we’re talking about is to put satire and culture in its proper place — that controlling a culture is not the same as power.” And he says it’s not useful.
Hello? Satire has the power to give the now forgotten REST OF US heart and strength. Way superior to rallies. What is he saying about the rest of us? That we are not worthy?
This is what gets to me- privileged white guys (and women) feeling guilt over the baby men and baby women who voted for Drumpf and making them the centre of the universe. Meanwhile, what about the ADULTS in the room? We just get excoriated for not doing enough, not doing the right thing for these snivelling winners. The whining obviously is working because Jon’s handing out pacifiers aplenty. Dummy.
Jon Stewart. You are a major disappointment. Man up, toss the faux guilt, and stop being their Daddy. Come back to the ADULTS in the room and stop grovelling, and stop apologising for your existence and dismissing and abnegating the rest of us ADULTS of every colour, creed, gender, orientation etc., etc.
You’re becoming an apologist for their side, the dark side. It’s unseemly. And dangerous, because you have the power to influence others. Snap out if it!
It’s comical how you refer to Trump voters as “baby men and baby women” when the Clinton voters ’round here are behaving like pouty little babies themselves.
Nice day to come out from under the bridge huh?
This is all you’ve got? Fail. Time for a new sockpuppet.
Yes, how pouty and babyish of us to be infuriated that an entitled, willfully ignorant sexist orange Cheetoh could roll into office (DESPITE the popular vote) over an intelligent, inclusive woman who has dedicated her life to politics and didn’t go into it on a boyish whim. That’s OK Nat. Just remember, be careful what you ask for. You just got it.
If “Nat” actually lives in America and not, um, Russia?
I expected better from you Jon Stewart, but I also expected better from America as well. Complacency is complicity. 2016 has really exposed everything.
“Complacency is complicity.”
Yes, I totally agree.
Lots of Trump voters do not THINK that they themselves are racist. That’s because they are unable to understand their own biases and refuse to listen when called out on them. They want to continue forever to bask in the delusion that they’re not racist because of having their one black “friend” (who is usually actually only a co-worker that they don’t even know that well). And I say this as a middle-aged white woman who has to check myself constantly.
“That’s because they are unable to understand their own biases and refuse to listen when called out on them.”
This is what Stewart is saying about YOU! Helloooooooo! Wake up, ladies!
I’m increasing convinced that Jon Stewart voted for Trump. His excuses sound pretty personal. Plus, he’s a rich white guy. He voted his best interest. Gross. He’s embarrassing
I am starting to think the same thing.
Eye roll. No, he didn’t.
Agreed. I’m guessing that he might be suffering from acute cognitive dissonance though. It’s hard to make sense of abomination especially if you’ve never been the target of said abomination.
I can’t get anything across to my mother. Every time I try to tell her something negative about Trump, she just says “That’s out of Hillary’s playbook. Hillary’s people were saying that.” Like anything any Democrat says can’t possibly be true. I’ve given up. (The only thing she hasn’t argued with me on is his anti-Muslim stance, although she has more vaguely said “This phobia, and that phobia, that’s Hillary’s label…”
My mom is not at all racist, though. She’s just a devout Christian who is really, really against abortion, and that is the only issue she cares about.
Christians have been indoctrinated for the last 40 years to vote on a single “issue” such as abortion and delude themselves that it’s all they need to do. (I know this because I grew up in the church and sat through many sermons to this effect) They are now completely desensitized to the fact that if their vote dehumanizes their fellow man in any way, that it’s against what they profess to believe.
I grew up that way, and voted Republican for long after I figured out I disagreed with them on everything else. I finally switched parties two years ago with the Senate elections. Bernie and Hillary are the only two Democrats I have ever voted for for President. I’m still struggling with my conscience about it. I know that must seem odd to people, but when you’ve spent your whole life believing one way and that voting pro-life is your religious duty, it’s hard to shake off. My journey started with believing that abortion is wrong and should be illegal but that we need much better options and social services to support women and children, and better access to birth control. Then I came to the conclusion that my belief of life beginning at conception is rooted in my faith, and I can’t force my religion on people; what if a Muslim in charge decided it should be illegal for me to drive a car? Finally, I decided that abortion would happen anyway, but there would be much less of it if we tackled those social issues like unwanted pregnancy (better birth control access) and poverty (better social services for women and children). Plus if it were illegal, women would die from illegal abortions. Still, I wrestle with my choice and hope I’m doing the right thing. I just think the Democrats support many more of my values. I consider myself Christian Left. Plus, there was no way I was voting for Trump. If I were still as vehemently pro-life as I ever was, I would have written in McMullen (and I tried to influence my parents that way, but it didn’t work).
I admire you, Amy, for your self-reflection and, from my limited perspective, evolution in thinking.
The voters who voted for Trump because of abortion really puzzle me. There have been numerous republican administrations since Roe vs Wade and none of them have pushed to overturn it. Most Republican politicians probably don’t really care about the issue either way (and afraid of female backlash if they did overturn), but have used it to keep evangelicals happy and in the Republican Party fold. Amazing that the religious right could justify voting for this serial sexual abuser on his third wife, who was proven to never give to charity and who says terrible things about his fellow human beings. I guess he kept evangelicals happy with anti choice statements, the white middle class with his anti-immigrants rantings and the rich with TAX CUTS (it’s all they need to fall in love).
That was another thought I had. We’ve had several Republican presidents and Republican congresses, sometimes at the same time, since Roe v Wade, and nobody’s seriously even tried to touch it, so I figured Trump probably wouldn’t have either
Listening to some Trump voters, I honestly think they weren’t voting for a president, they were voting for a wizard or a messiah.
These people really believe he has the solution to all the country’s problems and he’s going to wave some kind of magic wand and put them all into effect.
What a rude awakening they are in for. They thought they were voting for Dumbledore and instead they got Voldemort.
There’s a Facebook group called The Deplorables (almost half a million members) that I’ve been lurking on in an attempt to understand “the other side”. While there are a few reasonable people that I’ve come across, there are a few of them who refer to Donald Trump as “God and Emperor”, because he is going to do some kind of magic and fix everything for everybody.
I hope it was tongue in cheek.
“…they were voting for a wizard or a messiah.”
Yeah, or voted for “The One.” Change we can believe in, right?
Why is his comment about the iPhones a “false equivalence”?
It isn’t. It’s just something people say when they have no real rebuttal.
Wrong place.
The term false equivalence is overused lately in politics. THe liberal posters here use it in response to most alternative viewpoints quite dismissively. That is a bad enough and frequent enough occurrence that even the NYT did an op ed piece entitled (I think) “the fallacy of false equivalence.”
The problem with throwing around the term false equivalence too haphazardly is this……it is too often applied to matters that are completely subjective. (The importance of HRCs private email server, the importance of DTs tax returns, and here the Chinese iPhone analogy). As humans we simply differ in priorities and value judgments. What is important to me isn’t necessarily important to you (and vice versa). These differences in importance can prevent us from coming to 100% agreement on anything. Just because something is deeply important to you doesn’t make that issue weightier than something different that is deeply important to me.
But you want me to treat the most important thing to you as the most important thing to me. And ditto that which you find inconsequential.
So when we as humans do assign weights of importance to matters ….whipping out the” false equivalence” term when we disagree on importance has become a too often used standby deflection. Blaming our political disagreements on “false equivalence” when we are discussing matters of opinion-based, subjective importance deludes us into thinking that our opponents are illogical and that we are intellectually superior.
And since when has that attitude ever been successful in furthering dialogue or mutual understanding ?
The term ‘false equivalence’ needs to be used more, so people learn what they are and stop falling for them. (To be fair, perhaps it could be used more carefully, I haven’t read every article. I haven’t seen it misused too often here, though.)
Likewise, they need to start teaching logic and rhetoric again. Fact based opinions hold more weight than opinions formed by emotion or authoritarian instincts. Everyone should know this, as it’s one of the bedrock laws necessary for functioning public discourse, let alone democracy.
As for differences in subjective importance, the one common denominator uniting the people here in post after post is that equal rights are important to us. Just to fill in what’s between the lines.
I have a very different opinion, I’ve seen it used here constantly ….with and without merit and almost always to stake some unearned pseudo intellectual superiority. When the NYT feels the need to discuss its overuse…….yeah it is OTT
Symptoms of a Trumpista/astroturfer- Anti-intellectual? Check.
Rofl. You are so funny in your responses! And how much fun you are going to have over the next 4 years~~~
The happiest of holiday seasons to you!
Look it up.
Regarding the first responder comment – oh man, where to start…
I work with first responders all. the. time. I also work with disenfrancised populations. I can assure you I have come across MANY that while they’ll pull you from a burning building or drive you to a hospital they don’t have to be nice about it or treat you with respect. It’s their job and they do their job. Same thing with doctors. They might have to treat all people but they don’t have to be respectful about it. In my field there are plenty of people that will counsel someone who is opiate dependent because they have to, but post awful stuff on facebook about “dirty junkies”. How many police shootings are there against unarmed black men, but white mass shooters are taken to McDonalds in bulletproof vests? Just because someone is in an “admirable” field does not make them an “admirable person” who is above racism, classism, mysogyny, etc. Just like there are some wonderful drug sales reps I’ve come across who really want to help people and not push unnecessary meds for vacations, or collection agents who are kind and compassionate on the phone. A profession does not equate moral high ground, and first responders are absolutely capable of being awful human beings while still adhering to their professional duties.
As a side note, I’m not anti-police, medics, etc, but I think it’s important to be honest that no one is above being a POS despite what their profession might suggest. I have wonderful run ins with first responders all the time – many more than negative. But trust there are negative ones and they’re UGLY.
“Just because someone is in an “admirable” field does not make them an “admirable person” who is above racism, classism, mysogyny, etc.”
This, so much this. I live in Chicago and a lot of guys I grew up with became first responders. And you will not meet a more bigoted bunch. It’s awful.
Something to cheer us up: My BF (a paramedic) said he and the guys were watching TV yesterday and the SNL clips of Trump came on. He said it got reeeeallly uncomfortable in there and he loved every second of it lol.
He calls them The White Male Nation and is constantly telling me stories about their misogynistic, xenophobic or racist comments. Not all first responders are bigots of course (my BF and his partner(s) are not) but they’re not all saints either. American society gives the same treatment (OTT reverence) to people who chose to serve in the military. Not all people in the military or in law enforcement pursue those careers for noble reasons.
“He calls them The White Male Nation…”
Wow, that’s clever. He sounds like a really sharp, creative fella. LOL.
@Nat–I don’t think his intent was to be “sharp” and “clever” but precise. It’s a pretty accurate descriptor for self-interested white men who are offended by everything women and minorities do.
But I get that you’re just here to troll and as usual, are incapable of contributing anything intelligent or interesting to the conversation.
@Esmom I’m south side Irish, so I have first responders in my family. They’re my family and I love/tolerate them, but they are as racist as the day is long. God knows they do an important job that I don’t want to do, and probably am not capable of doing, but that doesn’t make them above reproach.
Meredith, I’m from the north side (although I was born on the south side). Two different ends of the vast city…but the same closed, intolerant mindset. Those guys are all cut from the same cloth, and each generation passes the ignorance down to their offspring. So depressing.
sunnydaze, if you can identify who these physicians are, who are posting about “dirty junkies” please report them to their employers and to the state board of licensure. Especially if they are posting anything that might remotely identify their patients, they are engaging in HIPAA violations. As a matter of professionalism, they have absolutely no business posting like that.
I don’t think he’s wrong though. I’m black and Latina and right after the election I had lunch with a white demale co worker and she explained why she voted Trump. She’s worried about the economy, she listens to tal radio (where they hilllary bashed 24/7) it made sense to her. After I explained my pint of view. She was dumbfounded, my worries and fears are things she’s never thought of before. Ever! My co worker is not racist, she was just doing what wa best for her. And that’s also a problem we are no talking about. We all act like we are the center of the universe.
This is my experience of Trump voters, too, Di. I don’t personally spend that much time with flaming idiots, yet I know that people in my life have voted for him. Their priorities are so different. Still, they HAVE to understand that voting for him has unleashed and emboldened the bigots and that they are partly responsible for this. They worry so much about “preserving culture” (and no, it’s not always about preserving white culture but DEF. about preserving “Christian” culture) and yet I believe they helped make our culture so much worse with this f*cking maniac’s election.
Oh for sure!! I told her, we’ve had tropical dictators like Trump in South America. You just wait and see….
If you voted for “economics” and are ok with hate crimes against people, that means you’re ok with racism as long as you get ‘paid’. @Di, your coworker is deluding herself because here’s the bottom line, Trump could have run on an economic platform which didn’t include racism at all. There’s a reason why he did, and there’s a reason why your co-worker responded to it.
Yes, HK9.
The, “not racist, just worried about the economy” line does not fly with me. Because what that really says is that you decided the economy was more important than the fact that your candidate admitted to sexual assault and was loudly endorsed by hate groups.
If, during this specific election, the only issue you had to worry about was “taxes,” you’re coming from a place of privilege.
I agree with you 100%. They are deluded, that’s sort of the point Jon is trying to make. They listen to talk radio the way we listened to Jon and J Oliver and all the ppl we trust to bring us fair reporting on the news with a bit of Humour. And believe it, facts don’t matter to the Christian Right.
This is what happened to ppl like my co Worker.
It’s narcissism at its best, it only matters when they are affected. Well we are all going to be affected. I keep telling her. Wait and see….
Why is he acting like first responders are the only people who’ve ever helped others who aren’t like them? Did he somehow miss BLM or NoDAPL??? Maybe he should talk to some of those people.
But I do agree with him that one man alone isn’t going to ruin America. No, it’ll be Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, Paul Ryan, Mitchell McConnell, Jeff Sessions, James Mattis, Betsy DeVos etc. etc.. I’m sure Putin will also be there giving aid in any way he can…
the more people make excuses, the more convinced i am that all trump voters are piles of human garbage. i cant even look people in the eye because im wondering what they really think about racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia.
The problem is with you, not them. Get help.
LOL are you tired yet? Seems like it might be time for your nap.
Kitten,
Needs another injection of bile.
I am scared.
Sorry, everyone. I’m a pretty big liberal and I still agree with Jon that not all Trump voters are racist. I don’t think many people understand just how despised Hillary was on the other side of the political spectrum. I am sure that my husband’s family voted mostly for Trump, and these are people that I love, despite the fact that our political views couldn’t be more different. They help people in their community, and not just white people, and not just people in US but globally. Unfortunately, they fall for fake news, too, so I’m not going to claim they’re completely discerning and thoughtful, despite the fact that all of them have four-year college degrees. At the end of the day, they are good, decent people who HATED Hillary. In fact, my FIL whose wife passed this year, actually said that he didn’t think he could vote for Hillary because his wife really despised her, and he felt like his hands were tied. I almost threw up when he told me.
That said, I do think all Trump voters, whether they voted for him or against Hillary, are complicit in his racist, misogynistic agenda. They cast a vote in his favor despite his hateful rhetoric and only history will tell now. I think the only way they can redeem themselves is if they help stand up against the horrifying policies and rhetoric that may occur during his presidency because they helped make it happen. The fact is that most of them are white and they have the privilege of thinking that his hateful rhetoric isn’t his number one disqualification. It makes me so sick.
I guess *their* baseless hate for Hillary was more important than *Trump’s* avowed baseless hatred for millions of the Other in the US and the world.
We understand how, we don’t understand why. Most reasons I heard have been thoroughly debunked. If you cling to your hatred in spite of facts, I’m not sure I can be understanding of that.
If you don’t mind a bit of salty language by Jimmy Dore at The Young Turks – and if you’re not offended when a liberal hasn’t been impressed with neo-liberalism, or by many things Obama – there’s a fascinating, succinct explanation given at a panel discussion discussing the global economic-socio factors behind ‘Trumpism’ and its worldwide ilk.
It’s here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K8bf6dbYt4
Without the salt or extra commentary, same conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD5vJrFsGVI
Mark Blyth, an economist from Brown – whose track record includes correctly predicting Brexit, Trump’s victory, Italy’s refusal (this was taped before yesterday’s vote), Greece’s disaster and the rise of the right wing in France, all by using economic models – makes a compelling argument explaining some (not all… some) of the increasingly economic, systemic reasons behind these related events.
(This clip is also useful if you are open to, wish to know more about – or are already a fan of – democratic socialism vs. the current distribution of wealth in the predatory capitalism of the global economy.)
Regardless of endless intellectual analyses, people simply voted for HATRED. Period. That is the intent of Trump and his Cabinet, to concretise that hatred with the will of the electorate.
BTW, economists don’t care about people. They are bean counters, not social scientists. No one with a grain of sense listens to them when it comes to humanity.
@hmmm:
I did not cite “endless” intellectual analysis; his analysis is concise, well-explained, and quickly understood – and has been proven 100% correct in predicting the related outcomes and events discussed in this thread.
What a carpet generalization about economists! But then, you seem so threatened by thinking about a topic, phenomenon, emotion, motivation or event in more than a one-declarative-sentence sort of way, from any angle other than your own.
Perhaps he – like many of us – can chew gum and walk at the same time… by understanding BOTH the human motivations and expressions of hatred, as well as the economic patterns behind accurately predicting such expression and results.
Gosh, I have such a hard time with this…not what you said, but with the idea ” I don’t think many people understand just how despised Hillary was on the other side of the political spectrum”. I agree with you, but here is where I get salty.
My mom said the same thing – people fall for fake news and a lot of them were educated people. My issue is that voting for the POTUS is a huge responsibility – one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. I expect educated people to know they should get news from a reputable source and not Facebook. I expect people to take ownership over their education on such matters. I don’t think it’s acceptable to plead ignorance over something so important. Take a few minutes out of your day to verify news stories. If something sounds fishy, look into it. My mom mentioned she knew a few people were terrified she would overturn the 2nd amendment and they voted for Trump strictly because of his affiliation with the NRA. Ten minutes of research will tell you the POTUS can’t just walk into office and say “Gimme all your guns!” That’s not how the government works. People said Obama would do the same thing and look what has happened….NADA. My other issue is a lot of people kept harping on the emails and Benghazi. 5 minutes of Googling will tell the real story. And yet they continued to support Trump whose shortcomings were blatant, observable and even measurable. They willfully decided to believe sketchy information and support overtly reprehensible behavior. It just doesn’t make sense. In that sense I think they fall into the category that their mind was already made up because trump spoke to something inside of them, they just needed an excuse – no matter how flimsy – to hate the other side and justify their position. When people want to believe something it takes nothing to put up a meme claiming something horrible (and fake) and people will bite – conservative and liberal. It’s just how we’re wired, which is why we need to be more diligent in following up.
But alas, I know I am expecting way too much from my fellow Americans. I just wish more people had taken this seriously and looked into the facts – ESPECIALLY those educated folks I keep hearing about who supported him. I absolutely read up on Benghazi and the email scandal from numerous news outlets to get a fair and balanced opinion – I mean, I don’t want to vote for someone based on taking the word of writers who appeal to my political views. If there was a republican running who was getting railroaded I would absolutely speak up. We as a society need to take ownership over our education on political matters.
Jon is Jewish. His kids are half-Jewish. I assure you that – with the rise of Neo-Nazis in America following Trump’s election – he has much to lose in this country right now as anybody. It’s totally unfair to say that Jon is living in some privileged bubble where he fails to see the racism of Trump supporters due to his social status/whiteness.
We tend to “conveniently” forget the sheer number of hate crimes committed on an annual basis against Jews in this country. The great majority of anti-religious hate crimes committed are committed against Jews. https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2013/topic-pages/victims/victims_final
But, he is living in a bubble in which he fails to see the racism of Trump supporters, because that’s literally what he said. The fact that he is Jewish makes it all the more disturbing.
Yeah, sounds more like appeasement to me. I’m Jewish and what was he thinking?!
A Jewish friend voted for Trump because Trump’s son is Jewish and she is certain that he’d never hurt Jews. Jon isn’t just Jewish, he’s friends with Trump’s son-in-law for all I know: they are both sorta-New Yorkers and probably run in similar circles. I think Jon knows he’s not going to be the first victim and he’s wealthy enough to run far away if things start getting dicey. So, sorry, no, I think it’s fair for us to call him out on it.
That’s malignant speculation, IMO, unless you have any evidence.
To me, the question of how many Trump voters are racist is not an interesting one. Or how actively or subconsciously racist they are. Maybe sociologists would be interested, but I’m not. But voting for Trump was a momentous act of racism. And the consequences were over night for my POC friends and coworkers, threats, insults, fear. Racist or not, Trump voters ought to take responsibility. If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas. More like anthrax, actually.
Normalizing again! I am more fearful and disgusted at Trump voters than I am at Trump himself. Without these people, he would have been nothing. America failed to make a beautiful statement of kindness and goodness to the world. Instead, his voters overlooked and/or condoned dog whistles and overt racism, veiled and not so veiled sexism, extreme ignorance, daily lies and extreme exaggerations, meanness and fanaticism. Trump voters and apologists sicken me. They scare me and show me why America is not the great experiment. It shows me why democracy can keep people in chains just like any other political system.
Nice comment. People keep positioning Trump as the grand puppeteer, an architect of this political direction—but what you wrote is more accurate. Trump’s a business man and knows how to sell a product, he recognizes the demand and THAT is the ugly and terrifying reality. Trump was made into the U.S. President by a lot of people who were not only okay with the message but desperate to get it out there—the psychological panic and desire to say and do racist and misogynist things is deep in this country. “Democracy can keep people in chains” absolutely, but especially when it is a democracy that is rooted in a nation BUILT on inequality. Laws, economy, real estate, education systems and entertainment–all institutions built on racializing hierarchies of people and violence against women.
I loved Jon Stewart. But I am extraordinarily disappointed in this notion he has, that we’re all to blame for something, to let’s let the Trump voters off the hook. Um, NO. They voted for that man, and now we all have to suffer with his bigotry, his incompetence, his misogyny. I am just depressed.
I love how he has the nerve to say that CNN and the media had no sway in this election considering that he was the guy who raked CNBC and Mad Money Jim Cramer over the coals regarding the harm caused by the 2009 financial crises. I guess media only plays a part in bigger issues when it works for Jon Stewart’s narrative.
Its stuff like this that makes me SO GLAD John Oliver got his own show and doesn’t give up on his convictions. Jon Stewart’s greatest fault was that he always believes he knows better than every other person and doesn’t reflect to make sure that he’s not in the wrong. Remember that story where he went off on a daily show writer/comedian because he told Stewart that one of his jokes was racially insensitive? That’s the real Jon Stewart.
Jon is trying to shift the blame away from himself and the folks who say he wasn’t there for America when it needed him. In truth, the comics did amazing work and were better truth tellers than cable news especially. John Oliver, SNL, Seth Myers and Trevor Noah are my heroes now. Jon is a big disappointment and I guess he did depend a lot more than I realized on his writers.
I think many of you guys are overlooking Jon’s analogy though. People who voted for Trump must all be racists, or at least compliant with it. Okay. And all of us who have iPhones? Many of us would probably be against using factory slave workers from third world countries, and yet we buy products that exploit those people all the time. Who cares when our iPhones are so nice and pretty. Would you consider yourself a bad person? Probably not. If every single Trump voter is going to be pigeonholed as terrible people, then the same can be said about everyone who has an iPhone, that we’re horrible because we’re enjoying conveniences at the expense of others who have no power. That was the point.
Good point and absolutely true. However, two wrongs don’t make a right. This was happening right here on our doorsteps and should have been much harder to ignore. There are no excuses for a single Trump voter.
To add to my previous thought: All those people who say, “if you’re not happy that Trump won, move”. I say the Trump voters should, instead, do the moving to some country where there is a dictatorship since they are so in love with the authoritarian Trump style. Go away and stop ruining the country with your love of guns and every man for himself. It’s in third world countries that I see every man armed to the teeth shooting their rifles up in the air like maniacs. Go for it, Trump voters. Get your tickets and go now.
Honestly, the thought has crossed my mind more than once- what differentiates Trumpistas from the likes of ISIS? There’s a fundamentalist flavour and there’s hate. There’s a lust for guns, controlling women, beliefs, religion, eliminating the Other, starting wars, terrorising people. Sure, it’s not as radical. Yet. But the intent is there, IMO.
I agree with you hmmm. And someday it could get that radical. But because it’s “western” their version of terrorism will be rolling back people’s right here in the US and warmongering abroad.
“They want to destroy ISIS and spread democracy throughout the Middle East.”
And here we have another example of the deep, DEEP delusion on the part of Trumpsters. Keep drinking that Kool-Aid, pal.
I know they say don’t feed the troll, but you are doing a great job in your replies to this person, Kitten.
Yes, Kitten, here we have a very lazy TROLL whose reasoning is very, very below par probably in part because it’s suffused with hatred. Fail.
You, on the other hand, are brilliant.
It’s still a fallacious argument so remains invalid.
While I understand where his analogy comes from I disagree with his use of it as I think it’s an excuse to not take a stand against the injustice many people will face because of this election.
Yes, most of us use iPhones made in sweatshops without openly supporting this abuse, however I do believe that many of us don’t see a way out (do other phone companies have better standards for their production?) other than to vote for politicians that they think will change these abuses. For instance one of the main reasons I voted for Hilary Clinton was because she planned to help in overturning Citizens United which in turn would help keep corporations from bribing politicians into ignoring abuses.
Trump, through his comments and actions, made it IMPOSSIBLE to ignore his discrimination, yet people chose to ignore it (those who aren’t openly racist) with their vote. They used their most important responsibility as a citizen to support a candidate who supports and incites intolerance. To me, this is just as bad as supporting racism itself as the effect is the same on the people who will suffer from their choice.
The way out would be not buying a phone until it’s not a product of slavery.
If everyone who wasn’t pro-slavery just didn’t buy the products of slavery, we wouldn’t be waiting around for politicians to do something. If everyone just stopped buying iPhones and Galaxies until things changed, that change would come in a matter of months.
But it would be a hassle not to have a phone for a few months, and people don’t actually care enough to inconvienence themselves, so they support slavery.
My heavens, since when did we all become adolescents without a clue?
The thing most white people seem to not wanna do, Jon Stewart included, is face the fact that so many chose their own personal interests over what is morally and ethically right. That is a big deal. And that is not ok. But I don’t see many discussing it or why.
White privilege is an inconvenient truth for white people. For people of color, white privilege can be a death sentence. It needs to be discussed. Confront your issues or it won’t get any better anytime soon.
I think all humans are racist to some degree… some to black, others to browns, asians, whites…
Often is classist prejudice disguised as racism…
And most often is rage, desperation… of not having much and fear of losing that little you have
I guess Trumps team knew how to connect to people who are struggling.
And as much as I like gossip and celebrities I really think artists always have a toxic influence when they surround democrats. Most of them are a toxic symbol of priviledge and luck. Even if they were once poor and strugled… they have very well paid jobs and have lifes I could never dream of. Sometimes they dont even have talent and are quite embarrassing. I might like to look at them but I dont like them to give me lessons. I think it has the opposite effect that Clintons team are looking for.
Stats show that a lot of Trump supporters had incomes higher than average. There are LOTS of people struggling but many didn’t vote for Trump, so I don’t think that’s a valid assessment. Trump was elected on a platform of hatred. Period. Economic anxiety is the big lie.
I know we should not feed the troll, but the economy angle actually is a decoy. Stats do show that many people without monetary/economic struggles voted Trump. And this is not a singular effect in the US, it is the same in Europe. It’s just that those voters are mainstream and probably blend in more, so the media and right wingers focus on the ones who struggle and more loudly voice their xenophobic/racist/homophobic etc. attitudes. But very many people who struggled did NOT vote Trump. Not that that is a fact you will care about.
Oh, and Jon Stewart: You have really totally lost me, sorry to say. Actually not sorry. He clearly falls into the white rich privileged all-will-be-good-don’t-worry-y’all category. Yeah sure, for you it will be, no doubt.
“And I’ll say this, I know a lot of first responders. I spent a lot of time in that community. A sh-t load of them voted for Trump. The same people that voted for Trump ran into burning buildings and saved whoever the f— they could no matter what color they were, no matter what religion and they would do it again tomorrow. So, if you want to sit and tell me that those people are giving tacit approval to an exploitative system ― I say, ‘OK, and would you put your life on the line for people who aren’t like you? Because they did.’”
I’ve actually been thinking about a variation on this idea for some time. I know a lot of men that are complete and utter misogynists, but it’s true that if you get mugged in the street or need a tire changed, they’d do it for you. I sort of struggled with that dichotomy and went back and forth on whether actions matter more than words, etc. But the thing is, even as they helped me, they were often mean and dismissive: not looking me in the eye or talking to my husband instead of me, even though I was the one asking questions, for example. So, after some thinking, I came to the conclusion that helping others does not come from a place of caring, it comes from a mix of duty and machismo. It’s not about those they help, it’s about them. Part of it is, I suppose, the way they were raised, but part is about who they are: strong big men who know how to fix everything in the world if only silly women stay out of their way and recognize their superiority. I admit that I even see traces of that in my father and husband, and they are fantastic men who treat women with all the due respect.
Of course, one can always count on a good thought to not be original. 🙂 Just the other day, I read an article on feminism and how to deal with misogyny, and sure enough, it mentioned exactly this phenomenon, I now forget what they called it, but something along the lines of benevolent misogyny: when people do something nice to you as a way to show that they are better/stronger/faster and that you need their protection.
Anyway, far be it from me to claim that ALL first responders are like that, but I know at least 2 who are absolutely, 100% benevolent misogynists, and I’m sure there are more of them. So, basically, I call Jon’s BS on that “proof” (I know he never said they weren’t sexist, just that they aren’t racist, but my larger point is that, amazingly enough, people can do pretty heroic things without being nice people).
I posted on this above as well – just because someone is in an admirable field does not make them an admirable person.
If someone rushes into a building to help me or pulls me out of a burning car, I really don’t care what their motive is. I think it is pretty disgusting for someone to write an article in the name of feminism that questions the reasons behind a man being a hero. Just wow.
I love men. They are incredible. They are also flawed in certain ways. And that is ok.
No one is perfect. We all have certain prejudices. I see lots of them here.
@Lalu,
I think it’s pretty disgusting to always add “I love men” any time anyone brings up feminism, further perpetuating a myth that feminism is hating men.
Furthermore, the article that I quoted (and that you deemed disgusting without reading) didn’t question reasons behind a man being a hero, it question reasons behind a man changing a tire, the rest was my extrapolation, but I guess here you rushed in with your own prejudices.
Finally, I wouldn’t care either why someone saved me from a certain death. That person would have my eternal gratitude for sure, but it doesn’t necessarily mean I’d agree with them on everything. However, I find nothing wrong with reflecting on the motivations of heroism. I thinking denying benefits to 9/11 first responders or paying firemen a pittance is far more disgusting than idle musings on the subject of why do some misogynists like to help women.
Is there anything wrong with someone wanting to help people so they can feel good about the work that they do and thereby feel worthy and proud? I think not. Obviously, we are grateful such folks exist. Our very lives depend on them and they deserve respect for the job that they do. Do people have shared biases who choose such careers … not all, but perhaps for a large part that is true. In fact, some detachment is required to protect and defend or it would be impossible to survive emotionally.
That is such a cliched, empty statement. A bot could have posted this.
@Lalu, you do know that women also work as firefighters, EMTs, and police officers, right? So, why are you only attributing heroism in such situations to men?
My father was a firefighter. In 2008, he voted for Hillary Clinton during the primary. He loved Hillary Clinton and always thought she should have been president instead of Bill. When she lost the nomination in 2008, he was sad, but he had absolutely no problem voting for Obama. (He died in 2012 but would have voted for Obama that year too and he would have proudly voted for Hillary this year.) He didn’t work as a firefighter out of any sense of machismo. Yes, there was an interest in public service but that came from caring. My mother’s father and one of her brothers were also firefighters. I know her brother voted for Hillary because he has a Hillary sign on his lawn and two Hillary bumper stickers. Can we not stereotype based on professions, please?
@ timbuktu, please see my comment below, around #60-62-ish. You are bang on with what you say here. I could copy and paste this to my disgust with his granting first responders a complete pass with regard to possibly being assholes. Many, many of them are.
Before anyone yells at me, read my comments. I was a cop for twenty years. Twenty years of being the victim of and observing HORRIBLE acts and treatment by your men in blue.
This may be a dumb question, but this whole “I was worried about the economy” line just seems stupid to me. Unemployment is at a 9-year low. Exactly what has Trump said or done that indicates he is going to fix anything?
It’s from people who think they’re owed a lifetime guarantee. They think that they’re entitled to keep the same job forever. They think that old institutions, no matter how outdated, should stand. They get scared, angry, nostalgic when dinosaur stores close.
The world changes. Times change. Technology changes. Life evolves. Most people learn to change with the times. Most people learn new skills and adapt. Most people don’t insist on clinging to industries that are outdated and harm the planet. Most people have to learn new skills and change jobs several times during their working lives.
I understand that the middle class (of which I’m one) is being screwed. That’s a real problem.
Okay, thanks–so I didn’t miss any promises or plans. Just people continuing to whine because their jobs left town or became obsolete. You know, President Obama had plans that could have helped those people, and the GOP blocked him at every turn. And yet, they re-elected them over and over and now, we have Trump. I just thought I was maybe missing something, since everyone always seems to go, “oh, yes, the economy.” As if that is a reason that somehow makes sense or that excuses a Trump vote. But really, it doesn’t. Okay, I just wanted to check.
@RedWeatherTiger
“You know, President Obama had plans that could have helped those people, and the GOP blocked him at every turn.”
There are some depressed areas that are, legitimately, hurting. And, yes, they need retraining and help. And, yes, they could have been revitalized and helped…but, not by putting moribund factories, stores, industries on life-support… just putting off the inevitable.
Just my 2 cents.
The Babying/coddling/justifying/ excusing of Trump Voters by their fellow Caucasians continues apace I see…. How so very comforting
Caucasian speaking here, there are a lot of us horrified by the election outcome and make no excuses for anyone voting for Trump. You can’t always see color through people’s words.
But without a doubt white folk is why this bigot tyrant won.
There’s plenty of blame to go around.
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/09/politics/clinton-votes-african-americans-latinos-women-white-voters/
Yes there is. Like the 4.8 million who showed up to vote for a black man, but did not show up to vote for a white woman or against a racist. It’s the non voters who gave this election to Trump.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/omribenshahar/2016/11/17/the-non-voters-who-decided-the-election-trump-won-because-of-lower-democratic-turnout/#42bb78a440a1
And…….they tended to be milleniels and people of color. Is their not showing up to vote for Hillary considered sexism? Is their not showing up to vote against a racist considered to be supporting racism?
“…they’re not giving tacit support to a racist system.”
No, they’re overt.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-kkk-parade-north-carolina_us_5844eb97e4b017f37fe5591c
I am a muslim and i didnt vote Trump but I didnt vote Hillary either,The thing is as crazy as Trump is Hillary is just worse.Election of DT is just a FU to the establishment.I am actually happy that Hillary lost but I am not completely satisfied with his election but those were the only two choices and she seems worse.
@asdf- “Hillary is worse” is just not true. Not even a little.
Why do you think Hilary is worse? Am curious.
That is the irony and the idiocy of Hillary hate. She is not only better but qualified and superior. Her plans were more productive and inclusive. More lies were spread about her while Trump could literally go out on the street and shoot somebody … as he said.
I actually think Trump had no idea how good Russia’s influence would be and he had more faith in the American people than they deserved. He was as shocked as anyone that he won.
I’m frankly amazed that Hillary became the Democratic nominee. She has practically been swiftboated for the past 25 years. She has the most amazing resilience and fighting spirit, not to mention the concrete qualifications to be president, but she carried so much baggage with so many people.
No offense, but you voted against your self-interest. Election of DT is NOT an FU to the establishment, since pretty much every guy he’s hired IS the establishment. Can you explain to me why Hillary is worse? Don’t tell me something vague about e-mail servers and Benghazi and foundation stuff…give me well-researched out specifics that show that that she was worse than DT, or honestly, any run-off-the-mill politician out there. You won’t be able to. You fell for the media’s false equivalency.
So, all these hate crimes against Muslims that Trump will NEVER denounce and will become more and more acceptable, the Muslim registry, the fact that DT truly believes that ALL muslims are aware of who the terrorists are and has proposed that they be forced to help the government find them…THAT’S what should scare you as a Muslim.
There are lots of trolls who are happy to parrot your perspective. Given Drumpf’s blatant hatred of Muslims, I don’t believe you at all.
As a non-voter – this is fun to watch. The only thing that scares me is our current status quo. I personally welcome our orange overlord and his squinty sidekick.
Forgive me for wondering if you also like to watch cats torment the mice and the birds.
This is fun? Wow.
Oh yes, the current status quo is truly scary. Low unemployment, a decent economy, healthcare for most of us, public schools, safe cities, workplace safety and anti-discrimination laws, clean air and water in most locales, trains and airports that function. Social Security for our pensioners. All so very frightening. I can see why you are scared and want to end all that.
Hear! Hear!
Based on the comments Stewart has made I feel as though The Daily Show was also satire in the same way The Colbert Report was. We all got punked.
Yeah….I can’t with the white mansplaining thing. However, I think the biggest problems on both sides of the electric barbed-wire fence that divides this country are (a) fear, which in my experience is a damn cancer that will take everyone down faster than the actual problems we face as a nation and (b) the difficulty a lot of people have with the fact that opposing realities can co exist; they don’t necessarily invalidate each other because these realities are pretty much a matter of differing perspectives.
I’ve been very depressed at the outcome of this election and the storm clouds that continue to build as we all start to get a fair idea of what this man will do based on the team he’s putting together. I just hope that I can get out of fear, do my best to feel compassion for people on the opposite side who cast their votes out of fear, and try to focus on whatever good there is that I share with the people I know who, for whatever reason, cast their lot in with this dangerous man.
I can also hope that in two years when America hasn’t magically been made great again in response to all the fear (and let’s face it, when does greatness ever emerge out of fear), that the mid-term elections will tilt us at least a little bit back towards sanity.
The people who voted for him out of fear would take you down in a New York minute. They have no compassion, consumed with hate as an antidote to some *baseless* fear. You fight evil, not try to understand it.
Well, I’m not talking about fraternizing with KKK members, people who believe in playing fast and loose with semi-automatic weaponry or whoever you think it is that would “take me down.” Charity starts at home, so I’m talking about attempting to understand the many misguided people who aren’t those things, among them friends and family members who may try to take me down verbally, although I can handle myself okay in that arena. At any rate, IMHO, hate is just fear wearing a really ugly mask.
I’m worried about Jon in the same way I’m worried about Shelly Miscavige and Richard Simmons. Is somebody hurting you, Jon?
And where are all your first responders going to get healthcare when Affordable Care is dismantled?
“Is somebody hurting you, Jon?” I love it. Other possibilities: Head injury? Possessed by the ghost of Antonin Scalia?
After 8 years of Democratic leadership in the WH, I am not surprised that the US voters wanted to shake things up a bit. It happens all the time.
Bush – Clinton x2 – Bush x2 – Obama x2 – Trump… Doesn’t surprise me.
Trump connected better with the people than Romney did who always came off as a massive boob. And one of the big reasons why Hillary lost was because most people were and still are disappointed in the Obama presidency.
Obama had a 54% percent approval rating last moth.
But good try.
@bbb
“…I am not surprised that the US voters wanted to shake things up a bit. It happens all the time.”
I agree. People get bored. There, really, is/was no drama or scandal with the Obamas. They’re pretty low-key. I do believe, too, that many wanted Obama to take on Wall Street, go in harder for the middle/working-class.
Also, never forget the media. Almost all of it, except for a few liberal/left news outlets, enabled this atrocity. And, they’re still doing it.
People were willing to accept hatred to “shake things up”. No excuses.
The idea that people retaliated at the Obama presidency is laughable.
However, there is clear intent for this commenter and the Drumpf monarchy to destroy fellow human beings bit by bit. It has begun and this commenter is okay with it.
Nice try. Now go check out Obama’s approval ratings.
“he doesn’t want to see that the US isn’t what he thought it was…”
its like he doesn’t want to feel the full implications of this, because than he would be terrified like the rest of us, so he’s putting his head in the sand. And for him, thats fine. He is a rich white guy, so there is no risk for him personally. Others will pay dearly, but Jon wants to feel okay, so the rest of us are over-reacting and being mean to trump voters. And what is with his firemen stories? Anecdotal stories about paramedics prove what exactly? How the hell does he know all these guys, I doubt any of them could afford to live near him, or hang out anywhere he does, so what is he even going on about?
He is wrong because while all Trump supporters may not be verbally racist, they also didn’t care about the massive amount of racism and bigotry that Trump screams. Passive racism is real.
Passive racism is real indeed, however, the Trump voters weren’t passive as they actually pulled a level for this bigot who enjoyed humiliating all but one group … the folks who came to his rallies to cheer.
+1
What’s even more mind-boggling is he actually DID insult his supporters. Remember when he said he loved the poorly educated? Or when he said he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and he still wouldn’t lose voters? The education system in this country has been eroded to the point that he was able to insult these people without them even realizing it. Couple that with racism, xenophobia, etc. and here we are.
They voted for him knowing he was endorsed by the KKK, knowing all the wolf whistles and innuendos. In spite of all of that, they voted for him. They are rightfully being called racists. They knew Trump meant bad things for minorities and they voted him in anyway. Spare me their widdle feelings on being called out on their terrible decisions. I, as a black woman, have no choice but to live in a world that places a lesser value on my life than theirs.
My admiration for Jon Stewart is slowly dying.
Are we living in an upside down parallel universe or something? I find myself agreeing with Glenn Beck and disagreeing with Jon Stewart. Who would have thought that that would ever happen?
About first responders, isn’t it their job to help people regardless of their race or religion? I thought it was against to law to discriminate. So I don’t see why that’s a plus when accessing their moral character?
And about smartphones. Yes, we don’t need to go out and buy the latest model every time one is released. We could simply not buy one, but someone of us need it for jobs that traditional dumb phones just won’t do. And it’s not like clothes where we have to option of spending more to avoid sweatshop products. It’s not like Apple, Sony, Samsung, Google, etc offers a sweatshop free model at a higher price. If they did, I would buy one, as I’m sure a lot of people would and some wouldn’t. We had a choice when electing a president, one that was packaged with racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and other forms of hatred, and one without those qualities. One was backed by hate groups and one was backed by pro-equality groups. The majority of the people voted for anti-hate, but the minority won.
Slowly dying?? A big giant bus came rushing past and crushed any semblance of admiration I had for Jon. Stranger Danger!!
I agree that saying it’s purely racism oversimplifies the issue, but if you voted for him, it doesn’t reflect well. Either you actively supported his racially charged rhetoric or tacitly supported it because you didn’t care, and the latter is worse to me because it’s so privileged. If you don’t consider yourself racist but support people who are, then how can you argue the former? Actions speak louder than words, something a lot of my coworkers who are frustrated by the anger getting thrown their way forgot.
This being said, he makes a VERY good point about needing to tend our own gardens. Living in an industrialized nations inevitably means you benefit from the exploitation of others. The extent to which we allow awareness of that has significant implications.
I agree with Jon on this issue. I can’t say that all Trump voters are racist. There are all sorts of racist people and they support any one they want and then there are also good people who are NOT racist that support whoever they want to support. Let’s not judge all people just because they voted for whomever.
I recall once upon a time Hillary Clinton was a racist who labeled every black man a “Super predator” and said they are out of control and must be stopped but then once she wanted to run for president, decided to change her tune.
More accurately she was not labeling black youth specifically as super-predators but was speaking about youth murderers and other violent crimes. I think the time for anyone to stay silent and let racism in its many forms fester is no longer acceptable. Trump was enabled by millions who voted for him whatever name you wish to give them.
Funny how they don’t have Hillary to kick around anymore, but they kick her ghost around still. Aw, they can’t let go of their only punching bag, because she’s the only argument they have. I can hear them 20 years from now, “But, Hillary”. “Benghazi”. “Emails”.
I was a first responder, for twenty years I put my life on the line for other people as a front line police officer. I did my job with courage and with pride.
What Jon Stewart is saying, I think, is that my career choice PROVES I am not racist, or sexist, or an asshole of some sort. That is patently NOT TRUE!! So many of the people I worked with were horrible humans when they weren’t showing off how brave they were. They made my career a lonely, living Hell. I did my job mostly alone because I was (am) a Black female. I sought out friends in the community to have coffee with because I wasn’t welcome as One of the Boys.
Jon S ‘spent some time’ with people who did their jobs and therefore anoints them as saints who could NEVER be racist? WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK???
Some of them voted for Trump for the very reason that they will be able to shoot unarmed Black people with impunity under his dictatorship.
I am sick to fucking death of First Responders getting a pass for doing our jobs. We have to be good people ALL THE DAMN TIME, not just when people are watching.
The sad thing for me is that I thought JS would be one of the fearless leaders of the resistance. Or at least not forward specious arguments in support of our turning a blind eye to this travesty.
**whew, rant over.
Thank you so much. Such an amazing viewpoint that is the result of real world experience instead of anecdotal bullshit. Well said.
Thank you, I have kept this opinion under my hat for a long time, people rabidly support first responders without question, it’s tiresome really.
And I call out all the people who ‘voted with their conscience’ for a 3rd party candidate or [soulfully clutching pearls] didn’t vote at all because the choices were both too terrible; you enabled a Trump presidency and so you are as responsible and as racist as anyone who purposefully pushed the button.
Reading all of these comments, I wonder do many of you actually know any white middle class from somewhere other than the big city or the coast? I grew up in a very white rural midwest America area that traditionally votes blue for unions and farm subsidies. Not this year. For the vast majority, it isn’t because they are racist or sexist, it was real issues that affect their real lives. Talking to friends and family, the (un)affordable care act sealed the vote for Trump for a lot of people. Premiums for health insurance are over $1000 a month when their mortgage is only $500 a month. Not to mention the feeling that as white middle class who doesn’t prescribe to the far left agenda you are getting lumped in as “deplorable”. Considering Hillary spent little time talking about their issues or campaigning in their areas, is it really only racism or sexism that could have guided the decisions of white middle class in rural America? To hear so many people call all republican voters racist (or sexist or xenophobic or etc) is just so elitist and frankly, un-American. People didn’t have to vote for HIllary just because she seems more sane if they don’t believe her policies will be in their best interest. We never know what is actually in the hearts of our candidates and I find it hard to believe that Hillary is ‘pure of heart’ (because who is?), just in better control of herself. Personally I voted for Hillary to keep the supreme court from skewing far right (as a kinda-maybe-republican I can never understand why the one thing we go big government for is legislating women’s bodies and to put the religious right’s beliefs on others), but really in a two party system I didn’t love the choices I had to chose from. No one spoke to all of my concerns so I picked the one issue that felt most important to me and went with it.
All she did was talk about those issues. ANd if you think under Trump the ‘white middle class’ as you call it will do better, you’re in for a rude awakening.
By voting for someone that is an obvious racist, misogynist, and insane.. someone endorsed by the KKK… that is the definition of tacit endorsement to that ideology.
Jon Stewart has close friends and/or family who voted for Trump. That’s all. Seriously, that is what this is about. Moving along.
Jon Steward is right. And, no, I did not vote for Trump.