Jon Stewart: This Is the Moment GOP Ditches Trump for DeSantis

On the same day that Joe Rogan endorsed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for president in 2024, Jon Stewart convened a “special emergency session” of the podcast that seems to have replaced his Apple TV+ show to explain why he believes this week’s bombshell Jan. 6 Committee hearing will be the last straw for Donald Trump in the Republican Party.

“I think the larger development from yesterday,” Stewart said, referring to Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony, “is that more Republicans have decided Ron DeSantis is a better option. This is just too much.”

While there was “nothing surprising” about how we now know Trump behaved on the day of the insurrection, the host said the difference now is that Republicans have a clear alternative. “Now they know where they’re going,” he said. “And they can steer away from Trump feeling confident. He’s lost his utility. They never fucking liked him. But he’s starting to lose his utility.”

“They’re starting to realize they’ve got a guy who they think will do what Trump can do without the revolution part,” he said of DeSantis. “So the game-changer part and the danger to Donald Trump is simply, they’ve got a better option now. He’s no longer the only game in town. And he’s damaged enough that it just doesn’t make fucking sense. It doesn’t make political sense.”

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After a brief detour about how Trump has “always been a man-baby” throwing condiments against a wall, Stewart explained that while everyone in his White House knew they were “making a deal with the devil,” now “the biggest threat to Donald Trump is there’s a new devil in town” who doesn’t have the same baggage.

“DeSantis has the same enemies that Trump has,” he added. “DeSantis has the same policies, he has the same combative style. The only thing he doesn’t have is, DeSantis is educated, he’s been a governor and his toilets aren’t made of gold.”

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