The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart

Episode: The Republican Playbook: Democrat Edition with Tim Miller and David Faris

Date: October 2, 2025

Episode Overview

On this episode, Jon Stewart dives into the state of the Democratic Party as the U.S. government is (once again) shut down, and Trump’s administration flexes an increasingly unchecked, lawless style of governance. Joined by guests David Faris (political scientist, The Nation contributor) and Tim Miller (The Bulwark podcast host, former GOP strategist), Stewart explores whether Democrats are making effective use of their rare leverage, what true opposition might look like, and if the party is fundamentally outmatched, both strategically and in connecting with Americans’ real needs.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Democratic Leverage and Strategy in a Trump-dominated Government

• Context:

  • Democrats hold no federal power except a thin Senate filibuster leverage in the shutdown.
  • Republicans have sidelined Democrats for years; this is their rare “moment of leverage.”

• Discussion:

  • Stewart highlights the futility and comedic tragedy of the Democrats’ current position, quipping:
    "The Democrats, people who voted for the Democrats have no representation on a federal level at all... This is the one chance where they need 60 votes in the Senate... Is this the proper use of the one whiff of leverage that they have in this moment?" (05:15)
  • Faris: Supports Democrats taking their stand, forcing attention on Trump's lawlessness via the healthcare fight. He notes Democrats’ leverage is slight but important.
    "This is a huge opportunity for the Democrats to use their very limited leverage...there might not be another opportunity." (06:06)
  • Miller: Skeptical Democrats can “win the PR war”—Trump always sets the narrative, while Dems defend unpopular status quo.
    "Do we think that Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer are capable of winning a public relations battle against Trump? If Trump is good at anything, it’s winning public relations battles." (07:20)

2. Why Are Democrats Always Defending Unpopular Status Quo?

• Stewart critiques Dems for only fighting to “preserve” a healthcare system that people hate:
  "Once again, Democrats are in a position of defending the status quo of policies that most people in the United States think suck." (09:25)

• Faris: Agrees, but says structural inertia and missed opportunities plague the party.
  "What you really need here is a time machine...the failure to address healthcare in any kind of systematic way contributes to the general frustration with our political system." (11:06)

• Miller: Suggests Democrats should at least blame Trump for premium increases—use the opportunity to assign blame, not defend the ACA.
  "It is an opportunity…to just say, hey, that cost on your bill that just went up, that's this guy's fault over here. Right?" (12:49)

3. The Problem of Democratic Messaging

• All agree Democratic leaders are not charismatic communicators—Schumer and Jeffries are liabilities, not assets.

• Faris:
  "Our congressional leaders are not our best communicators...consistently the least popular people in the country are congressional leaders." (14:27)

• Jon Stewart (sarcastic):
  "How dare you, sir? I'm going to show you a video of Chuck Schumer holding hands with...Maxine Waters shouting 'We will fight.'" (14:37)

4. Malpractice vs. Malice vs. Incompetence

• Stewart points out that the real malpractice is Democrats’ lack of vision and creativity:

  • "The malpractice here in my mind isn’t messaging. It’s that they don’t know where they’re messaging us to. They have not created a platform or infrastructure that addresses directly the needs. They are still dancing around the old paradigm." (17:05)

• Miller (counter): Political success does not require vision—opposition and obstruction can work, as with Mitch McConnell.
  "That’s a useful first step, right? Is fighting Trump, doing everything you can to slow him down. And then when bad things happen...the Buck stops with you." (18:14)

• Faris: Dems are still not even doing that—they seek compromise, not confrontation.
  "Congressional Democrats...their instinct from the very beginning was to find ways to cooperate, find ways to moderate...What people in the Democratic rank and file have been screaming for...is that’s not what we want." (20:15)

5. The Trump Media/PR Vortex

• Miller: Trump creates so many crises, the media and public can’t keep up.
  "Trump yesterday talked again about making Canada the 51st state in front of the Generals. No one even mentions that. Like, it didn’t even come up in the news coverage because there was so much other crazy shit..." (23:02)
• Stewart:
  "It does feel a bit like he's, you know, chat GPT 5.0 and we're all walking around with AOL floppy disks..." (24:46)

6. Culture vs. Economics: What Drives the Realignment?

• Miller: Is the Democrats’ challenge economics, or “culture war” backlash? Are “kitchen table” issues really just economic?

  • References the focus on issues like trans athletes in sports as symbolic cultural battlegrounds.
    "For whatever reason that the Republicans were successful in that, because it animated people...It tickled something in people's lizard brain..." (31:30)

• Stewart: “Diversity” and “economics” are connected, Dems often pitch them as separate and pay the price.
  "I think oftentimes we talk about diversity as though it’s separate from economics...I'm saying it's economics, and within that argument is diversity." (27:22)

• Faris: Dems managed to get the "worst of both worlds" on culture war issues: policies people dislike paired with feeble, half-hearted defense.

7. Learning from the GOP Playbook: Escalation and Counter-Attack

• Stewart: Why don’t Democrats ever "flip the script" and make Republicans own their unpopular policies?
  "Why does the left not use the levers of government power...to demonstrate that that shit can't [stand]?" (37:42)

• Faris: Thought experiment—imagine Dems using Trump tactics: "Like, rename Reagan National Airport George Floyd National Airport...you wake up in the morning, you're like, how can I make the other side angry and miserable and deflate it?” (35:35)

• Miller: Advocates political “hardball,” but not “culture war escalation” or “vengeance.”

  • Suggests Dems threaten to prosecute genuine lawbreakers next time, rather than symbolic trolling.
    "I think there are ways to butch up and play political hardball that is not just kind of appealing to the basest instincts of the most progressive person in Williamsburg." (39:55)

8. States as Counterweights to the Federal Government

• Faris: Blue state governors are stepping in (e.g., vaccine collaborations, filling federal gaps), but Stewart wants more coordinated efforts to actually stem the flow of resources to red states and challenge Trump’s federal overreach. "There has got to be a way to staunch that flow...Even if that mean[s], 'Well, that's not legal.' Yeah, none of this is legal. Legal went out the window years and years ago. Let the Supreme Court catch up." (43:59)

9. Executive Power: Slippery Slope to Authoritarianism or Effective Governance?

• Stewart: Trump's bold executive action redefines public expectations for “decisive government”—will Dems have to adopt the same style?
  "Executive action will be the coin of the realm..." (47:05)

• Miller: Cautious—doesn’t want “progressive kings” swapping places with “MAGA kings,” worries about long-term damage to democracy. "I don’t want kings. I don’t want MAGA kings. I don’t want progressive kings..." (48:03)

• Faris: If Dems inherit expanded executive powers, maybe use them for beneficial purposes, but long-term must "roll back the imperial presidency."
  "In the long run, though, I kind of agree with Tim in the sense that I do think Democrats are going to have to expend some energy rolling back the imperial presidency." (49:56)

10. Democratic Hardball vs. American Democracy

• Miller: GOP base believes Dems already operate lawlessly, which justifies their own aggression. "I think [Republicans] think that the Democrats are already acting lawlessly..." (54:29)

• Stewart: Cites his experience pushing for the PACT Act—Democratic tendency to self-negotiate down to “what’s possible” instead of boldly pursuing “what’s needed.”
  "For the next two hours they negotiated against themselves out of what would solve the problem to what they thought was possible. And that is the point I am making, that we need to stop doing what we negotiating against ourselves to what is possible and start addressing in a forthright and clear minded manner in unison what is necessary." (51:50)

• Faris: Dems must show voters they “know who the problem is and will do something about it”—not focus solely on bullet-point plans. "It's less about like detailed bullet point policy plans and more about convincing people that Democrats have identified the problem and we'll do something about it." (58:46)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jon Stewart, on the state of the Democrats:
  "How did we find ourselves here? ...the Democrats are stuck going, if you just give us more subsidies for the insurance companies who are raising the rates 75 to 80%, won't that be fine?" (11:53)

• Tim Miller, on PR wars:
  "If Trump is good at anything, it’s winning public relations battles. And so, I don’t know...there’s not gonna be a strategic victory." (07:20)

• Jon Stewart, on continual crisis:
  "It’s like secondhand ADHD. Like, he very clearly has...He’s the statement president. He likes proclamations. He’s not a big fan of follow through, but we’re all getting that secondhand adhd and it’s discomforting." (22:16)

• David Faris, on democratic strategy:
  "What people in the Democratic rank and file have been screaming for months and months...is they want confrontation rather than cooperation." (20:15)

• Tim Miller, on negative partisanship:
  "Mitch McConnell did pretty good for a few years as the opposition to Barack Obama. Just saying, you will do nothing, and I will blame everything that bad happens on you." (18:14)

• Jon Stewart, on executive power:
  "Executive action will be the coin of the realm, because I think you’re starting to understand...that’s the way." (47:05)

• Tim Miller, warning against escalation:
  "I don’t want kings. I don’t want MAGA kings. I don’t want progressive kings. Sorry." (48:03)

• David Faris, bottom line on communication:
  "It's important for Democrats to communicate to ordinary working people who are struggling that we know who the problem is and we're going to do something about it. And that's not like I've got a bullet point plan...It's more: These are the villains. We're going to get them. And we will deliver for you." (58:46)

Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:40 – 05:15: Stewart sets the stage—shutdown, Trump’s “lawless” proposals, Democrats’ rare leverage
• 06:06 – 08:51: Faris and Miller debate the value and limits of Dems’ government-shutdown strategy
• 09:14 – 12:49: Stewart rips Dems for defending the “status quo,” Miller talks reframing blame
• 14:06 – 16:29: Why Schumer and Jeffries can’t “sell” the message; party-wide messaging issues
• 17:05 – 19:34: Should Dems focus on a positive agenda, or just full opposition?
• 23:02 – 24:46: Trump’s endless chaos and media overload
• 26:05 – 32:42: Is the real driver economics or culture? Panel dissects populism and identity
• 35:35 – 37:42: Faris’s “Democrat as Trump” thought experiment; discussion of trolling, escalation, and strategic hardball
• 42:42 – 46:10: Can blue states play hardball in return? Block grants, state resistance, “water wars”
• 47:05 – 49:56: Is bold executive action the future—or a step towards authoritarianism?
• 51:48 – 54:29: Stewart’s PACT Act anecdote, the “malpractice” of self-limiting negotiation
• 58:46 – 60:11: Final thoughts—messaging, villains, and how Democrats might actually win

Tone and Style Notes

• The conversation is fast, witty, sometimes caustic, but fundamentally substantive and honest—punctuated by Stewart’s comedic skepticism, Miller’s insider savvy, and Faris’s low-key wonkiness.
• Some moments verge on despair with comic relief (“Is my tax dollars…funding a sex trafficking ring in a pizza restaurant?" [42:42]), frequently lampooning the absurdity of the current political moment.
• Frequent friendly ribbing—Stewart's playful jabs at Schumer and the party’s “timidity,” Miller’s self-mocking about being a “bad poker player,” and the final joking sign-offs about real/imagined political hardball.

Takeaways

• Democrats have a fleeting moment of power—are they using it effectively? Panel is skeptical.
• Messaging and vision remain critical weaknesses—stalemated by lack of imagination and uncharismatic leadership.
• There is no appetite or plan for true “hardball”—either becoming GOP-style obstructionists or populist visionaries.
• Culture and economics cannot be separated in voter minds, but Dems do so at their own peril.
• Unchecked executive power, pioneered by Trump, may tempt the next Democratic regime, with unclear results for democracy.
• Ultimately: The party’s problem is not “going higher,” but failing to identify what (and who) they’re fighting for.

Memorable Episode Quip:
"Three people who fundamentally agree on most things have come to a fundamental agreement on most things within this podcast. Job well done." (59:48 – Jon Stewart)