Jon Stewart Doesn’t Want To Agree With Tucker Carlson Either

Most of yesterday was spent doomscrolling. I couldn’t help it! I’m a Dad, and while I’ve regularly made the joke that I wouldn’t blame my kids if they decided to ritualistically sacrifice my wife and me atop the dunes of Albany to celebrate their thirtieth birthday and curse us for dragging them into this hellscape, but yesterday was the first time it felt like a real(ish) possibility (it’s still unreal cause I think/hope they’d leave their mother alone, but who knows what the radiation fields of Philadelphia will have done to their brains at that point). Eventually, we all went to the home of some family friends (which included a kid), got to swim in a pool, and despite trying to forget about the world’s events, still ended up talking about them.

It’s almost impossible not to! At one point, one of our friends asked how we were “dealing with the chaos,” and it went without saying that she was referring to the U.S. committing military strikes against Iran. We’re getting dragged into a new forever war, despite Trump specifically running on not doing that. That being said, I’m going to say something that may shock you. It’s breaking news, even. So, gird your loins, because I’m just hoping to say it. The President is a liar who lies. Constantly. Insane, right?! And a buncha rubes suck up his lies like slop from a trough. It sucks, but it’s expected. What wasn’t expected was how some of his most loyal supporters, who often make excuses for his lies, were going to handle his latest time going back on his word.

Let me make it clear that I am no friend of Tucker Carlson, and he is no friend of mine. We may both appreciate the bow tie, be overactive laughers, and think that the United States has no business attacking Iran, but that’s where our similarities end! But I’ll admit that the latter example caught me by surprise. It’s not that I assumed Carlson wanted to attack Iran. I don’t give two f***s what he thinks about foreign policy or his other beliefs (racism, bigotry, wanting to f*** a green M&M). Still, I was amazed to see a clip of Carlson laying into every politician’s least favorite politician, Ted Cruz.

Carlson interviewed Cruz for I don’t know how long because, while I’m in doomscrolling mode, I don’t hate myself enough to watch the whole thing. However, a clip that showed Carlson giving Cruz grief for America helping Israel attack Iran made the rounds, and I saw it, and I liked it. It felt strange to like it, and Carlson still represents most of what’s wrong with humanity. He also embarrassed the Texas Senator by asking Cruz relatively simple questions about a country he wanted to invade and their people; They were questions Cruz did not have the answers to. Watching Carlson’s insane laugh be used for good felt strange, and Jon Stewart, who once called out Carlson’s bullshit to his face, agrees.

“We’re in such a bizarro world, you’ve got me nodding my head to Tucker Carlson videos,” Stewart said with a laugh on his Weekly Show podcast. “You got Tucker Carlson going, ‘Why are we going to war with Iran again?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, you tell him, brother!’ Like, that’s how fucking upside down we find ourselves in this moment.” It’s true! I refuse to give Carlson credit for being slightly less than sub-human for two minutes, but it was still weird to watch and feel … good about. It could be my naivety, but it gave me hope that Trump’s grip on his party was loosening. It doesn’t make what is happening any less horrific, but it fills me with a minuscule amount of hope.

Not a hope for humanity. Not hope that the world may be spared from its increasingly likely fate. Hope that the people speedrunning us into oblivion will tear each other apart long enough to lose focus and succeed a little less. Maybe there will even be an opposition party that will capitalize on their infighting, but I don’t have that much hope.