TV talk show hosts, late-night and daytime, have added their voices to the many reactions to Donald Trump winning the 2024 presidential election. Most of these hosts specifically speak to viewers who don’t side with supporters of the president-elect.
Comedian Jon Stewart told his “Daily Show” audience on election night Tuesday, Nov. 5, to not listen to what the pundits and pollsters may take from the results.
“We’re going to come out of this election and we’re going to make all kind of pronouncements about what this country is and what this world is. And the truth is, we’re not really going to know s–t. And we’re going to make it seem like this is the finality of our civilization. And this is the thing.
We’re all going to have to wake up tomorrow morning, and work like hell to move the world to the place that we prefer it to be. And I just want to point out, just as a matter of perspective, that the lessons that our pundits take away from these results that they will pronounce with certainty will be wrong.”
Jon Stewart
Over On ABC’s “The View,” Whoopi Goldberg opened the show Wednesday, Nov. 6, by saying, “So? What happened last night? Anybody do anything interesting?”
Former Trump aide Alyssa Farah Griffin, who announced she had voted for Vice President Kamala Harris, told her fellow co-hosts that the American people have spoken and it’s time to listen.
“What’s important to me is this — tens of millions of Americans, our friends, neighbors, family members voted for Donald Trump. We disagree with him, but they’re good decent people who are patriots and love this country. I can’t speak to what drove them to the conclusion of being with him. I think it’s a moment for us to listen to each other, hear each other, express what our concerns are and listen to people who are with him.
This is a country that there is truly more that unites us than divides us. I know it doesn’t feel like that for many people in this moment. But we need to bring down the temperature, the name-calling, the demonizing.”
Farah Griffin.
Co-host Sunny Hustin said she wasn’t entirely surprised by Trump’s victory. She gave her reasons why she believed it happened.
“I’m surprised by the result, but I’m not surprised. As a woman of color, I was so hopeful that a mixed-race woman married to a Jewish guy could be elected president of this country. I think it had nothing to do with policy. This was a referendum of cultural resentment in this country.”
Sunny Hustin
Turning to late night, “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon stuck with comedy to express his views of the election.
“It was a tough night for Democrats. Today, they turned to Elon Musk like, ‘So tell me more at living on Mars. How close are we?”
Jimmy Fallon
Former “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno appeared on CBS’ “The Talk” to discuss the results. Leno said it was “a great day for democracy.”
“The nice thing about this election is, it was fair. It was honest. OK. I was not a fan, but that’s OK. It’s the president of the United States. Let’s all get together. Thank you very much, you know?”
Jay Leno
Meanwhile, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers, all outspoken critics of Donald Trump, used their platform to try to reassure their viewers, who they suspected were feeling nervous about another Trump presidency.
“How you doing?” Colbert said to open Wednesday’s show.”If you watch the show regularly, I’m guessing you’re not doing great. Yeah, me neither.”
Later in the show’s monologue, Colbert said, “As a late-night host people often say to me, ‘Come on, part of you got to want Trump to win because he gives you so much material to work with.’ No. No.”
“The people voted and this is the choice we made. In January, Donald Trump becomes president and that’s that. He won. It doesn’t mean we give up, but it also doesn’t mean we storm the Capitol because we don’t like the result.”
Jimmy Kimmel
“This is real, and this is something I accept — half the country thinks he’s a good person, or they don’t care that he’s not, because they think he’s a good president. And because of that, he’s gonna be our president again. That’s how democracy works in America, a country that is a privilege to live in even on a morning like today.”
Seth Meyers
The TV hosts agree on this point: the results are final and Donald Trump will once again be U.S. president.
Before ending his opening thoughts, Meyers tried to put a smile on the faces of his viewers by sharing a story about his time at the polling station when a poll worker addressed his 6-year-old son.
“And he looked at my son, and he very sweetly said, ‘Hello, young man! Are you here to see the wheels of democracy turn up close?’ And my son looked at me and he sort of did this thing where he waved me down, and then he whispered in my ear, ‘Is that Donald Trump?’
I think my son is totally fine with how everything went yesterday, ’cause he left that polling place with like 55 stickers and 100 pens.”
Seth Meyers
