Comedy Central’s The Daily Show might have the month off, but its The Weekly Show podcast is still pushing the far-left’s agenda. On Wednesday’s show, host Jon Stewart battled Democratic Sen. John Fetterman on a variety of issues where the latter has claimed the party is going too far left. On the issue of Israel specifically, Fetterman has threatened to leave the party if the DSA types take over, which led Stewart to claim such a threat is “weird” because “that is not our country.” After the interview, Stewart told his producers that the interview was like watching a traumatizing movie.
At one point, Stewart tried to sum up Fetterman’s position, “So for you, you could agree with them 90 percent, but Israel is the red line?”
Fetterman affirmed that it was, “Absolutely, Israel for me, like I can't ever turn my back to Israel after where it's at.”
Jon Stewart argues with Sen. John Fetterman about leaving the Democratic Party if the anti-Israel people take over, "So, and I mean no disrespect on this, but that is not our country." He also claims "It seems like a weird line to draw."
(1/2) pic.twitter.com/eoJ9ai3EQw— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) August 6, 2026
Stewart wasn’t happy, “So, and I mean no disrespect on this, but that is not our country.”
Pro-Israel people, whether they be Democrats like Fetterman or people outside the Democratic Party, are simply reacting to anti-Israel people making it an issue. In an attempt to boost his party credentials elsewhere in the interview, Fetterman criticized Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed’s leading role in the 2024 uncommitted movement. One doubts that Stewart would ever tell El-Sayed that Palestine isn’t his country.
A short time later, Stewart wondered why one issue would cause Fetterman to abandon the party, “And I'm assuming there's probably things in the Democratic platform that you might disagree with, but you don't disavow the entire thing. You're literally saying we can all have discussions except when it comes to Israel, which is not America. It seems like a weird line to draw.”
The argument that what you think of a foreign country reflects what you think about America is not controversial. Stewart himself has used it himself, and, as it turns out, the far-left Israel haters also tend to hate America and the West generally.
However, after Fetterman touched on the need to not turn on the Jewish people, Stewart rebuked him, “Jewish community in Israel are not the same thing, brother man. They're not, that is not the same thing.”
Later in the show, Stewart joined his producers to react to the interview. After an exaggerated four-second pause, Gillian Spear asked, “How are you?”
After the interview, Stewart reacts with his producers, "That was interesting. I'm not really sure what to think here. He definitely feels very strongly about certain issues...I feel like we all just got out of one of those movies—you know those movies where it's like sort of,… pic.twitter.com/YeRNWJT0zB
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) August 6, 2026
Another five seconds later, Stewart quipped, “That was interesting. I'm not really sure what to think here. He definitely feels very strongly about certain issues.”
After Spear observed there was “one in particular,” Stewart continued, “I feel like we all just got out of one of those movies—you know those movies where it's like sort of, it's, like, there was like a weirdly traumatizing scene in the movie. And now we're all just like, ‘Uh, you guys. Do you want to go get something, I guess. I'm just going to go get a slice and maybe go home.’”
Stewart also confessed that “I'm weirdly thrown off right now.”
By contrast, Stewart was not thrown off by Graham Platner. Speaking of movies, Stewart told disgraced former Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner that he was like Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and thought the Nazi tattoo discourse was a distraction from the real issues.
Here is a transcript for the August 5 show:
Comedy Central The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart
8/5/2026
JON STEWART: So for you, you could agree with them 90 percent, but Israel is the red line?
JOHN FETTERMAN: Absolutely, Israel for me, like I can't ever turn my back to Israel after where it's at.
STEWART: So, and I mean no disrespect on this, but that is not our country.
…
STEWART: And I'm assuming there's probably things in the Democratic platform that you might disagree with, but you don't disavow the entire thing. You're literally saying we can all have discussions except when it comes to Israel, which is not America. It seems like a weird line to draw.
JOHN FETTERMAN: Well, I don't think that's weird. I think, I think what history demonstrates is, is that when people, or a government, or people turn their back to the Jewish community, things, and really badly and it’s a dangerous—
STEWART: Jewish community in Israel are not the same thing, brother man. They're not, that is not the same thing.
…
GILLIAN SPEAR: How are you?
STEWART: That was interesting. I'm not really sure what to think here. He definitely feels very strongly about certain issues.
SPEAR: One in particular.
BRITTANY MEHMEDOVIC: Yeah.
STEWART: Yeah. I feel like we all just got out of one of those movies—you know those movies—
SPEAR: Yes.
STEWART: —where it's like sort of, it's, like, there was like a weirdly traumatizing scene in the movie.
MEHMEDOVIC: Yes.
SPEARL Yeah.
STEWART: And now we're all just like, “Uh, you guys.”
SPEAR: So I'm going to take the C Train.
STEWART: “Do you want to go get something, I guess. I'm just going to go get a slice and maybe go home.”
MEHMEDOVIC: Just sit in the quiet together.
STEWART: And yeah. But it, I'm weirdly thrown off right now.
