Former White House Press Secretary and current MSNBC host Jen Psaki joined Jon Stewart on Thursday's episode of Comedy Central’s The Weekly Show podcast to try to figure out why Democrats lost in November. On one hand, Psaki claimed the party’s focus on the potential end of democracy is partly to blame, but on the other, she couldn’t let such rhetoric go as she claimed “the threat of fascism is a huge issue” and President Donald Trump is “an aspiring dictator.”
Stewart asked Psaki to consider that what Trump is currently doing is simply what people want, “And now, by going through this real executive unitary, kind of, reordering of constitutional powers? Is he doing the people's bidding? Is he doing this thing that will make democracy? How do you process that?”
With a questionable amount of self-awareness, Psaki replied that:
Well, one of the ways I process it is that I feel like when Democrats, and including people who are on television in a variety of ways, were saying things like, ‘authoritarianism is under threat and democracy is on the ballot,’ I think we were speaking in a manner that was so academic, an ivory tower, it wasn't talking about a lot of the things people actually care about. So, I don't know that people voted against democracy. I think they voted in some ways against protection of status quo and, kind of, the disconnected academic Ivory Tower elite language that is too often used by Democrats, sometimes on cable television.
It is still early in Trump’s term, but thus far, Stewart has loved having guests on The Daily Show that talk about Trump and his “oligarch” friends, but Psaki urged against such talk, “one of my takeaways after the election was ‘cross authoritarianism and oligarchy out of every script. Nobody talks this way.’”
After repeating herself that Democrats were too academic, Stewart asked, “What part in your mind was academic? I want to get—is it they were talking civics when they should have been talking something that was more directly impacting people's lives?”
Despite everything she just said, Psaki still insisted, “Yes, so I think the threat of fascism is a huge issue. The threat of authoritarianism, huge issue. This guy is an aspiring dictator. His words, not mine. All of those are huge issues. I also think Liz Cheney is very heroic…But I don't think closing the campaign with a message about fighting democracy with a former Republican member of Congress was the right strategy.”
Trump was clearly talking about the bipartisan tradition of a new president coming in and issuing a list of executive orders, which is what he has done, and if actual fascists were known for anything, it was definitely not their commitment to bureaucracy cutting.
Here is a transcript for the February 13 show:
Comedy Central The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart
2/13/2025
6 Minutes, 56 Seconds
JON STEWART: And now, by going through this real executive unitary, kind of, reordering of constitutional powers? Is he doing the people's bidding? Is he doing this thing that will make democracy? How do you process that?
JEN PSAKI: Well, one of the ways I process it is that I feel like when Democrats, and including people who are on television in a variety of ways, were saying things like, “authoritarianism is under threat and democracy is on the ballot,” I think we were speaking in a manner that was so academic, an ivory tower, it wasn't talking about a lot of the things people actually care about. So, I don't know that people voted against democracy.
I think they voted in some ways against protection of status quo and, kind of, the disconnected academic Ivory Tower elite language that is too often used by Democrats, sometimes on cable television.
STEWART: What? How dare you.
PSAKI: I'm just being honest. I'm being honest. No, that was one of my takeaways after the election was “cross authoritarianism and oligarchy out of every script. Nobody talks this way.”
I don't think that's the only thing, but I do think looking back at the election, one of the outcomes, I hope people who are not thrilled by the Trump administration, which is a whole lot of people take away, is that Democrats and people running weren't talking to a large swath of the country. They were talking to a small group of people, progressives.
They were talking to people who were primarily focused on things that were, in my view, more academic than they were real issues.
STEWART: What part in your mind was academic? I want to get—is it they were talking civics when they should have been talking something that was more directly impacting people's lives?
PSAKI: Yeah. Yes, so I think the threat of fascism is a huge issue. The threat of authoritarianism, huge issue. This guy is an aspiring dictator. His words, not mine. All of those are huge issues. I also think Liz Cheney is very heroic.
STEWART: Wait, what? Where did that come from?
PSAKI: Here we are.
STEWART: What the?
PSAKI: Here we are. But I don't think closing the campaign with a message about fighting democracy with a former Republican member of Congress was the right strategy. I'm not saying that's why they lost.
STEWART: No.
PSAKI: What I'm saying is there were millions of people who didn't turn out to vote, who, many of whom have in the past leaned toward Democratic issues, toward Democratic candidates and Trump somehow massively won on issues like the economy, even though his primary position is that he wants to lower tax cuts for corporations and the highest income Americans. That reality means maybe something isn't going well.
