On Tuesday night, Jon Stewart had scheduled a virtual interview with Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman for “The Daily Show” live election special. However, just 30 seconds before the scheduled airing of his segment, the politician canceled his appearance.
Stewart announced the last-minute cancellation to his audience. “[Fetterman] was unable to join us,” Stewart said after the show’s first commercial break. “But as a professional and esteemed news show, I don’t have to sit here alone, with no one to converse with or activities to engage in, simply because someone informed us 30 seconds prior to our scheduled guest’s arrival.”
“It’s not happening,” he continued through nervous laughs. Instead, she received a call from Arizona’s Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs, who reported that since the polls closed at 7:00 p.m., the state is just beginning to see the first results. “We will likely need several days to count the results of the votes,” she informed Stewart and the viewers during a video call.
The 2024 election has emerged as one of the most closely contested contests in recent memory, with polls predicting a thrilling conclusion between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris in crucial swing states. As of the publication of this article, media outlets had declared Trump the winner of North Carolina, the first of the seven key swing states in play.
Meanwhile, Harris’ campaign continues to hold on to hope that she will prevail in the “blue wall” states—Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. In a later segment, Stewart tried to find some “good news” to report to his audience as the night’s results continued to look favorable for Trump. “Look at all the little glass half-fulls out there,” Stewart said as his audience applauded a Democratic Senate victory in Maryland.
With Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania pulling out of the scheduled interview, and with little more favorable news to offer by the end of the show, Stewart tried to leave on a positive note.
“Here’s what we know: that we don’t really know anything, and that we’re going to come out of this election and make all kinds of pronouncements about what this country is and what this world is; the truth is, we’re not really going to know [expletive], and we’re going to make it seem like this is the finality of our civilization,” Stewart said.
He urged his viewers to remember that the lessons pundits take away from these results will likely be wrong. “And we have to remember that. But this isn’t the end! I promise you, this is not the end. We must regroup, continue to fight, and work tirelessly every day to create the better society we know is possible for our children, the world, and our country. It’s possible.”