‘The lessons that our pundits take away from these results will be wrong’: Jon Stewart’s searing criticism of the media hits hard
In the aftermath of the 2024 election results, people are saying and will say all kinds of things. Some words will be of healing or solace, some will be rallying cries, and some will be filled with malice. But there’s a particular reaction that we can always count on happening: the premature lesson. Before we even begin to process our feelings—our grief, our pain, our anger—there’s this impulse to try to Make Sense Of It All.
Over the last few days, I’ve seen plenty of immediate attempts to provide takeaways and analyses on social media—some wise, some not. But news pundits are particularly guilty of the most groan-worthy strain of this trend. And before election night was even over, Jon Stewart called them out on The Daily Show’s live election broadcast.
“I just want to point out, just as a matter of perspective, that the lessons that our [news] pundits take away from these results, that they will pronounce with certainty, will be wrong,” Stewart said.
He provided plenty of evidence to back up his claim. After Barack Obama won in 2008, George Stephanopoulos opined we’re “moving towards a post-racial America.” If only it were true! When Obama won again in 2012, Bill O’Reilly posited to the conservative base that Republicans needed to “send a powerful signal to Hispanic voters that the party respects them,” and yet their candidate in 2016 wasted no time to begin talking about how when “Mexico sends its people” to the US, they’re sending “rapists.”
And so on, for every election, including this one.
Revert your focus, for now
Because the media has learned nothing since Donald Trump appeared on the political scene in 2016, the same bad habits are happening all over again. For what it’s worth, far too few of the “takeaway” and “lessons learned” articles I cruised to write this even mentioned the word “Gaza.” Anecdotal as it may be, Biden and Harris’s policies toward Israel and Gaza were far and away the most important issue that I heard caused people in my extended community (including swing states!) to question their vote.
But the reason to point this out isn’t so much to throw suspicion on people, nor is it to blame anyone. That’s the exact same impulse that leads to the “immediate takeaway.” It’s wanting to find someone to blame or wanting to find logic where it seems absent. But if I may play armchair therapist for a moment, trying to point fingers like that is infinitely easier than sitting with our own emotions on the matter.
For instance, trying to immediately solve for an answer when looking at the results is easier than sitting with the nauseous feeling that arises when you wonder, in a post-Roe vs. Wade America, exactly why Trump got markedly more popular with men across the board. I’d caution everyone to sit with that nausea and take care of yourself and your community first.
That’s where we go from here—our communities. As Jon Stewart says at the end of his speech, creating a better world is possible. That feels hard as hell to accept right now, which is all the more reason why we have to start with ourselves, then our immediate circles, and work out from there. Theories be damned. The force that can make America a place we want to live is people.
So grab an indulgent dessert. Binge a cozy series. Play an aggressive video game to work out that frustration. Check on your friends and loved ones. Take care of yourself and those closest to you right now. Burnout comes from taking on more than you can manage all at once, and that isn’t sustainable for any movement.
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