Jon Stewart wants the mainstream media to take a breath and wait to see just how a second Donald Trump administration is going to be before throwing the country into a full-on panic.
At the top of a new episode of his Weekly Show podcast, which included a long discussion with Sen. Bernie Sanders, Stewart noted that America is in a “transitional period where we are not sure about whether the ground we are standing on is solid.”
“Although the news media seems convinced that we are the Roadrunner and the Coyote and the Coyote has run over the cliff, and we just looked down and realized there’s nothing under our feet and now we are plunging to our deaths,” the host continued, employing an elaborate Looney Tunes metaphor. “Because the news media is always very circumspect,” he added sarcastically.
Contrary to what he is hearing from the political press, Stewart insisted, “We don’t know what’s going to happen when Donald Trump takes over.”
While we should be “prepared for all outcomes,” Stewart said, “I don’t know how helpful it is to get us s--tting our pants this much, this early.”
With that, Stewart proceeded to echo his guest’s cautious optimism about Elon Musk’s plan to slash the federal budget with his Department of Government Efficiency.
“It must be such a strange thing, it is for me, to be someone who has kind of complained about wanting government to be more efficient and more responsive and making fundamental changes, to see that mantle being carried out by a group of people that I don’t necessarily trust to do it in a manner—” Stewart said, before stopping himself. “But I guess that’s what losing elections is.”
Trying out one more metaphor before welcoming Sanders onto the show, Stewart joked, “In the joint custody agreement that we now have in America, the kids are going to live with Dad for the summer and you just have to f---in’ eat it.”
