Comedian Jon Stewart accused the Democratic Party of putting its voters between a “rock and a hard place” by failing to prepare them for any doubts about President Joe Biden’s health before the 2024 election.
“What do I do with my anger at a Democratic Party that honestly has put us in this rock and a hard place position?” he said. “That wasn’t honest over this past year about what was happening internally in the White House, was not in any way preparing the public for Kamala Harris.”
Stewart and his podcast guests discussed the possible outcomes of Biden losing the election due to concerns about his age and health.
Their key worry was that fascism in the US would rise if former President Donald Trump returned to the White House. Stewart is a regular critic of Trump.
“I don’t know if it was complacency or deceit, or whatever it is,” Stewart said. He slammed the Democratic Party as having “missed all of the threats” and leaving itself vulnerable.
Biden has been facing calls to abandon his 2024 reelection bid after a disastrous debate performance against Trump, where the president frequently mumbled and sometimes appeared lost.
Some key Democratic figures, including 16 House lawmakers, have asked that he step aside in fear that he now cannot muster the voter support to beat Trump.
If Biden were to acquiesce, Vice President Kamala Harris would be one of the most prominent potential candidates to replace him as Democratic nominee. His team has been researching whether she might fare better in polls compared to Biden, The New York Times reported on Thursday.
But Biden has appeared adamant in his decision to stay in the race, saying in an interview after the debate that only “the Lord Almighty” would compel him to step aside.
Even if he does, the Democratic Party would only have four months to gather momentum for his replacement before the November election.
Support for Biden among the Democratic Party’s highest echelons is also rumored to be disintegrating. Former President Barack Obama, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Chuck Schumer have been reported to be doubting behind the scenes that Biden is the man for a reelection bid.
In public, however, they’ve stopped short of calling for Biden’s withdrawal, with Schumer declaring his support for the president.
Meanwhile, Stewart has been among several major celebrities voicing concern about diminishing voter confidence in Biden. The “Daily Show” host has often fretted since the debate that the president could lose to Trump.
His comments come amid reports pushing back on the Biden campaign’s description of his debate performance as a one-off. Several aides are alleged to have said that his mental stamina has seriously deteriorated in the last year.
Hollywood star George Clooney stoked the furor even further when he wrote an op-ed for The New York Times on Wednesday, saying that he had seen Biden at a fundraiser looking as shaky as he did during the debate.
Representatives for Biden’s campaign and Stewart did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.
