In his latest episode of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart has this to say—several times—about the Democrats caving on the government shutdown: “I can’t fucking believe it!” Except, of course he can. On his own podcast after the left’s decisive electoral victory last week, Stewart wondered, “How will they squander it? How will they piss this away?” The only organization better at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, as the comedian pointed out, is the New York Giants.
On Sunday, eight members of the Senate Democratic Caucus voted with Republicans to reopen the government, getting nothing that the politicians claimed to be fighting for except an agreement to hold a vote about health care sometime in the future. “You sold out the entire shut down not to get what you wanted, but for a promise to not get what you wanted later,” Stewart addressed the senators. He pointed out that not only were the election results a sign of public support, but the shutdown also seemed to be opening people’s eyes to the lies and callousness of the Trump administration. Yet with all that momentum on their side, the shutdown ended with a whimper. “Where in The Art Of War…?” Stewart mocked their strategy. “Sun Tzu said, ‘Never press your advantage. It’s unseemly! Fighting’s hard. How ’bout a snack?'”
Don’t get Stewart wrong, he does recognize there was some strategy at play. “Either all eight senators who voted to capitulate coincidentally are not up for reelection in 2026, or Chuck Schumer worked behind the scenes to give in to the Republicans, while still protecting vulnerable Democrats, including himself,” the host observed. He likened the Democrats’ “world class collapse” to “being up 10 points with three minutes left to go in a game and still finding a way to miraculously lose it for the fourth time in just one month,” à la the Giants. Democratic leadership is so aligned with New York’s losing football team that Schumer’s speech punctuating the end of the shutdown is nearly indistinguishable from Giants’ head coach Brian Daboll’s post-game press conferences, as The Daily Show demonstrates. The biggest difference is that when Daboll proved to be an ineffective leader for a uniquely losing team, he got fired. That might be a strategy Democratic voters wish to emulate. You can watch the full Daily Show segment below.
