As Democrats continue to ask themselves what went wrong, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart came up with a new idea: they are simply too soft. Stewart made the puzzling claim on Monday, asserting that while Republicans “don’t give a [bleep] about your norms,” Democrats are busy running “to the nearby Kinkos.”

Stewart was not happy with the Democratic response to the idea that Donald Trump may use recess appointments for some of his more controversial cabinet picks and mocked them, “Yeah, you can do it, and it is legal, but, whatever, guy. We’re going to think you are a dick.”

Some state-level Democrats tried to keep Trump off the ballot and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court just rebuked four Democratic counties for counting illegal votes despite an order forbidding them to do so, but Stewart still claimed, “Republicans exploit the loopholes. Democrats complain about the norms. Over and over and over and it has ghastly consequences.”

Stewart then recalled the Senate not voting on Merrick Garland’s Supreme Court nomination, “Now you could make a case that Obama could violate the norm, say the Senate failed their advice and consent, and appoint him anyway, and see what the [bleep] happens. Fight. But they just went, “Well, we’ve never heard of that rule, but okay!” Smash cut: Two months before a presidential election, Trump nominates Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court after the completely unforeseeable death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And as you can imagine, the Democrats went right to the nearby Kinkos.”

The Senate declining to give its consent is not a “loophole,” but nevertheless, Stewart then played a clip of Sen. Dick Durban, who once filibustered Miguel Estrada because he was Latino, rather dully explaining, “Behind me is the McConnell rule. On February 13, 2016, when Justice Scalia passed away, Senator McConnell said, and I quote, “This vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”

Again, Stewart was dismayed, “So, Amy Coney Barrett was forced to head back to her homestead, never to be heard from—oh, they didn’t give a [bleep]?” Oh, right, I forgot! They didn’t give a [bleep]!”

Stewart then had some advice for Democrats, “Look, let this show be the utterly ineffective hypocrisy finders. I can tell you from experience, it does nothing! You guys be the loophole guys that figure out how to get shit done. Because they don’t give a [bleep] about your norms! They will exploit any loophole, even if they have to go through clearly closed windows to do it.”

The ever distraught Stewart then recalled, “You would think after Trump’s presidency, Democrats would have learned. But they doubled down. When Biden tried to get immigration reform into the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Senate parliamentarian told him he couldn’t, did he respond to the rule with a loophole or did he—”

After patting himself on the back and playing a clip of President Joe Biden deferring to the parliamentarian, Steart ranted, “No! That’s for—you take the parliamentarian and you put them in a locker and then you bring Grimace in and have him—that’s what you do!”

Later, Stewart welcomed professor and author of The Emerging Democratic Majority, Ruy Teixeira to discuss his more recent book, Where Have all The Democrats Gone? And asked him:

I’ll say something that I feel like resonated with the audience and has resonated with them in a while. My idea of what happened with the Democratic Party is, it was a rejection of a status quo, a feeling that, not just in the working class movement but in many movements, that democracy is by nature analog. We are living in a digital world, we’re, you know, terminally online. The outrage and the anger and confusion is much elevated, and the distance between those two points becomes untenable. Especially, if the Democrats insist on, ‘Well, we have to keep, I would love to get the help you need, but the parliamentarian has been really up my ass all night.’ I feel like that’s a real problem for them.

Teixeira concurred, “Yeah, I mean, the sense that the Democratic Party isn’t responsive to the needs of, sort of, ordinary, the common man and woman, the working class, and they are too caught up in other issues or they are too afraid about sort of government regulations and parliamentarian stuff and they’re not laser focused on getting stuff done.”

Here is a transcript for the November 18 show:

Comedy Central The Daily Show

11/18/2024

11:16 PM ET

STEWART: “Yeah, you can do it, and it is legal, but, whatever, guy. We’re going to think you are a dick.” Republicans exploit the loopholes. Democrats complain about the norms. Over and over and over and it has ghastly consequences. Remember when President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to give that a vote, saying, well, it’s only one full year before the election. It’s too close. Now you could make a case that Obama could violate the norm, say the Senate failed their advice and consent, and appoint him anyway, and see what the [bleep] happens. Fight. But they just went, “Well, we’ve never heard of that rule, but okay!” Smash cut: Two months before a presidential election, Trump nominates Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court after the completely unforeseeable death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And as you can imagine, the Democrats went right to the nearby Kinkos.

DICK DURBAN: Behind me is the McConnell rule. On February 13, 2016, when Justice Scalia passed away, Senator McConnell said, and I quote, “This vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”

STEWART: “So, Amy Coney Barrett was forced to head back to her homestead, never to be heard from—oh, they didn’t give a [bleep]?” Oh, right, I forgot! They didn’t give a [bleep]! Look, let this show be the utterly ineffective hypocrisy finders. I can tell you from experience, it does nothing! You guys be the loophole guys that figure out how to get shit done. Because they don’t give a [bleep] about your norms! They will exploit any loophole, even if they have to go through clearly closed windows to do it. You would think after Trump’s presidency, Democrats would have learned. But they doubled down. When Biden tried to get immigration reform into the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Senate parliamentarian told him he couldn’t, did he respond to the rule with a loophole or did he [Pats self on the back]—

JOE BIDEN: That’s for the parliamentarian to decide, though— not for Joe Biden to decide.

STEWART: No! That’s for — you take the parliamentarian and you put them in a locker and then you bring Grimace in and have him—that’s what you do!

 …

STEWART: Now, and I’ll say something that I feel like resonated with the audience and has resonated with them in a while. My idea of what happened with the Democratic Party is, it was a rejection of a status quo, a feeling that, not just in the working class movement but in many movements, that democracy is by nature analog. We are living in a digital world, we’re, you know, terminally online. The outrage and the anger and confusion is much elevated, and the distance between those two points becomes untenable. Especially, if the Democrats insist on, “Well, we have to keep, I would love to get the help you need, but the parliamentarian has been really up my ass all night.”

RUY TEIXEIRA: Right. Right.

STEWART:  I feel like that’s a real problem for them.

TEIXEIRA: Yeah, I mean, the sense that the Democratic Party isn’t responsive to the needs of, sort of, ordinary, the common man and woman, the working class, and they are too caught up in other issues or they are too afraid about sort of government regulations and parliamentarian stuff and they’re not laser focused on getting stuff done and you know, even in places like New York City where you have, you know, very Democratic governance there’s a sense that they aren’t pulling out all the stops to make sure everyone gets good services and everything runs well and, you know, effective government is what people want to.