Where has Jon Stewart been during one of the most divisive years in recent American history? Beyond playing with pigs on farms, helping out at fundraisers, and occasionally showing up on Stephen Colbert's show—what has Stewart been up to? His HBO show—now delayed until 2017—was promised before the election. Sure, his insight might not have changed the results of the electoral college, but it could have provided his unique perspective as another way to look on the terrible decision our country just made.

Possibly in shock after what happened last week, Stewart has been quiet since the election—only making a brief appearance on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. Now promoting his new book about his time at The Daily Show, Stewart sat down with CBS This Morning for a conversation with Charlie Rose about the election. No jokes, no self pitying—just a serious analysis of the situation the Democrats and our country find themselves in.

"I don't believe we are a fundamentally different country today than we were two weeks ago," Stewart began. "The same country with all its grace and flaws, and volatility, and insecurity, and strength, and resilience exists today as existed two weeks ago. The same country that elected Donald Trump elected Barack Obama. I feel badly for the people for whom this election will mean more uncertainly and insecurity. But I also feel like this fight has never been easy."

This is an opinion we aren't hearing enough of. Democrats, reeling from the loss, have a bleak vision of the future of this country. And that's easy to have watching Trump and his staff of bumbling KKK-endorsed staff cluelessly navigate the transition of power. But you can't argue with Stewart's logic that this country elected Obama four years ago. Now is the time to work, as we've heard from Bernie Sanders, who refuses to quit fighting, and we heard from Hillary Clinton today, after she dusted off her defeat.

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Stewart then provided two concise arguments worth holding onto for anyone traveling back to a conservative family this holiday season, the first being an analysis of the Republican strategy. "'I'm going to make sure government doesn't work, and then I'm going to use its lack of working as evidence of it,'" Stewart said. "Donald Trump is a reaction not just to Democrats, to Republicans."

Donald Trump is not a Republican, he's a "repudiation of Republicans," Stewart explained. He added that no one ever asked Donald Trump what it is that makes America great. "What are the metrics?" Stewart asked.

The second point is about making blanked statements about Trump supporters something that's, again, easy to do, but not fair.

"I thought Donald Trump disqualified himself at numerous points. But there is now this idea that anyone who voted for him is—has to be defined by the worst of his rhetoric," Stewart said. "Like, there are guys in my neighborhood that I love, that I respect, that I think have incredible qualities who are not afraid of Mexicans, and not afraid of Muslims, and not afraid of blacks. They're afraid of their insurance premiums. In the liberal community, you hate this idea of creating people as a monolith. Don't look as Muslims as a monolith. They are the individuals and it would be ignorance. But everybody who voted for Trump is a monolith, is a racist. That hypocrisy is also real in our country."

In other words, if we want to fix this, it's not with an us-vs-them mentality. The country is more divided than we've seen in a generation, and maybe it's best to keep some of Stewart's words in mind next time we're talking to someone in a MAGA hat.

From: Esquire US