The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart

The State of Things with Ali Velshi

February 25, 2026

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  • The political climate surrounding immigration in the US is distinct from the general American public's view, a distinction Canadians are making regarding the Trump administration's policies. 
  • The erosion of the American middle class is attributed to systemic policies, particularly taxation, that favor capital over labor, contrasting with the government-engineered middle class of the post-WWII era. 
  • The media landscape suffers from a flawed incentive structure, driven by financialization and the pursuit of attention/outrage, leading to a crisis of public trust that requires a shift toward prioritizing reliability and holding power accountable. 
  • The media risks numbing audiences to consequence by constantly running on a 'dopamine rush' of outrage, which erodes public trust. 
  • Restoring a flourishing American middle class and rebuilding media trust requires shifting incentives away from short-term financialization (like shareholder value) to include broader societal externalities like workers, community, and the environment. 
  • The failure of democracy is currently rooted in citizens lacking the necessary contextual information to make sound decisions, necessitating an 'education piece' in media coverage that goes beyond partisan outrage. 

Segments

Avocado Mattress Sponsorship Read
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(00:00:03)
  • Key Takeaway: Avocado Green Mattress uses certified organic, non-toxic materials and offers sleep trials up to a year.
  • Summary: The sponsor read humorously compared the shape of a cut avocado to a comfortable sleeping shape. Avocado Green Mattress sells mattresses, pillows, and solid wood furniture made without harmful chemicals. They provide sleep trials lasting up to a year to ensure customer satisfaction.
Michael’s Appliance Center Ad
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(00:01:27)
  • Key Takeaway: Michael’s Appliance Center curates high-end appliance brands like Sub-Zero and Thermidor in Middletown, New York.
  • Summary: Luxury in appliances is defined by how one lives, not just labels. Michael’s Appliance Center features brands such as Sub-Zero, Thermidor, GE Monogram, and Fisher & Paykel. They can be visited in Middletown, New York, or online.
Podcast Return and Winter Olympics Digression
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(00:02:05)
  • Key Takeaway: Jon Stewart returned to hosting The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart after attending the Winter Olympics.
  • Summary: Jon Stewart welcomed listeners back to The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart after a week away attending the Winter Olympics. He humorously characterized the Winter Olympics as a series of dares performed on ice. The show was scheduled for the same night as the State of the Union address, making commentary purely speculative.
Introduction of Ali Velshi
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(00:03:22)
  • Key Takeaway: Ali Velshi hosts ‘Velshi’ on MS Now and co-hosts ‘It’s Happening with Velshi and Ruhle’ on MS Now’s YouTube channel.
  • Summary: Jon Stewart introduced guest Ali Velshi, host of ‘Velshi’ and co-host of ‘It’s Happening with Velshi and Ruhle.’ Velshi was scheduled to cover the State of the Union for his news organization. Stewart expressed enjoyment for Velshi’s informative and passionate weekend show.
US-Canada Relations and Trump’s Impact
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(00:03:58)
  • Key Takeaway: Canadians are angry at the US government’s policies under Donald Trump, leading to economic boycotts, but they generally do not hold animosity toward American people.
  • Summary: Ali Velshi noted that Canadians are withholding spending in the US due to anger at the Trump administration’s actions. He contrasted the government’s stance with the general American public’s lack of animosity toward Canadians. The Canadian political landscape shifted rapidly following Trump’s election, leading to a surge in support for Justin Trudeau over the more ‘Trumpy’ conservative candidate.
Canadian Political Response and Economic Resilience
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(00:06:45)
  • Key Takeaway: Canada’s economy is heavily reliant on the US market, making it vulnerable to US policy shifts, despite efforts to diversify trade routes.
  • Summary: Mark Carney’s concept of ‘middle powers’ gained traction in Canada as a response to US instability. Canada’s economy is structured around exporting two-thirds to 70% of its goods to the United States, necessitating a difficult shift toward East-West trade routes. Canadians find the Trump narrative that Canada has been ’exploiting’ the US very confusing given their subordinate economic position.
Voter Participation and Political Apathy
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(00:10:01)
  • Key Takeaway: US voter participation rates (around 60% in heated presidential elections) are comparable to other developed nations, but the consequences of not voting are far more severe in the US.
  • Summary: The actual crisis in US democracy is citizens not voting, as non-citizens voting is an infinitesimal number due to severe felony penalties. Developed nations generally see similar voter turnout rates, but in the US, not voting can result in losing essential services like healthcare or childcare, unlike in many European counterparts.
Ali Velshi’s Canadian Political Upbringing
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(00:13:33)
  • Key Takeaway: Ali Velshi’s father, a travel agent, ran for office in Canada in 1981, teaching him that participation is possible even without winning, and that concession should be immediate and gracious.
  • Summary: Velshi’s parents, anti-apartheid activists from South Africa, instilled a strong sense of civil society involvement in Canada. When his father lost his first election, he immediately conceded, teaching Velshi that running was possible because ‘we could stand for what we believed in.’ This experience contrasts with the current US political environment regarding election acceptance.
Shopify Sponsorship Read
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(00:16:15)
  • Key Takeaway: Shopify offers tools like a design studio, templates, and integrated inventory/payment management to simplify starting and running an online store.
  • Summary: Jon Stewart humorously lamented not yet launching his ‘Crumple’ dog blanket business due to the difficulty of starting a venture. Shopify is promoted as a solution to overcome these barriers by providing centralized tools for building an online store and finding customers. Listeners can sign up for a $1 per month trial using the code TWS.
Economic Realities of Immigration
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(00:18:02)
  • Key Takeaway: Immigrants contribute net tax dollars and start businesses at a higher rate than native-born citizens, contradicting common populist narratives.
  • Summary: A study by the libertarian Cato Institute indicated that immigrants provide a net positive fiscal contribution. Furthermore, immigrants start businesses that employ more people than themselves at a greater rate than US-born citizens. The narrative that immigrants lower wages is often cited by figures like Stephen Miller but is contradicted by economic analysis.
Horizontal Blaming and Economic Inequality
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(00:24:07)
  • Key Takeaway: Demagogues successfully redirect economic anxiety by encouraging working and lower-middle classes to blame those slightly below them (horizontally) rather than looking up at the wealthy incumbents rigging the system.
  • Summary: The tendency to blame immigrants or welfare recipients for economic woes is a historical tactic used by demagogues to distract from systemic exploitation by the wealthy. This horizontal blame prevents people from identifying the true barriers built by concentrated wealth and lobbyists. The US economy is characterized by a K-shaped divergence, described as the ‘jaws of an alligator,’ where the rich rapidly outpace everyone else.
Government’s Role in Middle Class Creation
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(00:32:18)
  • Key Takeaway: The American middle class was not a product of pure capitalism but was intentionally built through government policies supporting housing, pensions, and healthcare access.
  • Summary: Capitalism naturally tends toward a Gilded Age structure, maintaining a gap between owners and workers. Government intervention, like the New Deal, created the stable middle-class space by ensuring access to housing and healthcare. Current Republican and Democratic policies have eroded this system, favoring the wealthy who pay a smaller proportion of taxes.
Financialization of Politics and Media
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(00:35:46)
  • Key Takeaway: The high cost of elections forces politicians to favor wealthy donors, and this financial warping extends to media, where corporate interests and legal exposure influence coverage.
  • Summary: The need for constant funding favors wealthy donors, although figures like Trump and Sanders have increased the influence of small-dollar donors. In media, corporate ownership creates pressure to avoid topics that might draw negative government attention (like FCC scrutiny or lawsuits), which is a newer constraint than traditional rating concerns. The core mission of journalism should be bearing witness and holding power accountable, regardless of ratings.
MSNBC Independence and Editorial Freedom
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(00:51:29)
  • Key Takeaway: MSNBC’s current independent status removes the threat of government retribution over content, a factor that previously constrained corporate media coverage.
  • Summary: The absence of corporate cowardice means the network no longer fears losing FCC licenses or facing lawsuits related to controversial coverage, which used to be an explicit concern in editorial meetings. While commercial pressures remain, the freedom from government-related threats allows for more robust coverage, such as focusing on democracy issues which were previously advised against for not ‘rating’ highly enough.
Media Trust and Viewer Loyalty
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(00:57:26)
  • Key Takeaway: Loyal viewers will tolerate less-than-ideal segments if they trust the source, which Ali Velshi used to justify covering topics like climate change that were initially deemed low-rating.
  • Summary: Viewers who trust a source from beginning to end will remain engaged even through segments they might not consider the best. Ali Velshi successfully made climate coverage rate by presenting it in a way that prevented tuning out. He noted that while economics generally rates higher than rights for most voters, the two should inform the ballot box decision.
Data Privacy Sponsorship Read
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(00:58:31)
  • Key Takeaway: Incogni offers a service to remove personal data from data brokers, with a custom removals feature available on the unlimited plan.
  • Summary: Thousands of companies collect and trade personal data, which scammers use for phishing emails. Incogni protects privacy by requesting data removal from data brokers on the user’s behalf. Listeners can use code STEWART at incogni.com/stewart for 60% off.
Risk Pricing in Democracy
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(00:59:34)
  • Key Takeaway: Americans have not adequately priced in the risk of democratic collapse because they lack recent memory of what ‘slipping into the abyss’ looks like, unlike immigrants or citizens of countries like Brazil.
  • Summary: The conversation questioned whether the economics of news have priced in the risk of democracy being ruled by news passions rather than foundational principles. Immigrants and their children understand the relationship between bad media, corruption, and democracy more clearly than Americans who believe the system will endure regardless of actions. When people realize the danger of the downward slide, political spectrum differences begin to melt away.
Fragility of Financialized Systems
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(01:02:10)
  • Key Takeaway: Systems, including media, that maximize only shareholder value are inherently less resilient and more fragile because they fail to price in crucial externalities like environmental or community impact.
  • Summary: Systems focused solely on financial metrics are more fragile than those that include workers, customers, the earth, and the country in their incentives. Corporate America is currently more trusted than government and has an opportunity to take a lead on important issues. Media suffers a similar difficulty to the broader economy due to incentives prioritizing short-term metrics over reliability.
Media Hype Cycle and Trust
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(01:04:26)
  • Key Takeaway: The media’s reliance on ‘hype machine’ events, like the Mueller report, creates a dopamine rush and raises audience expectations for consequence that often go unmet, leading to trust erosion.
  • Summary: The constant cycle of high-stakes news, such as investigations, creates an expectation of accountability that, when unfulfilled, can numb the audience. The goal for responsible media should be tempering expectations while presenting important stories, rather than focusing solely on taking down specific political figures. Fixing societal problems like poverty and healthcare requires focusing on the system, which is unsexy but necessary.
Civics Education and Agency
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(01:07:00)
  • Key Takeaway: The goal for media should be to restore trust in the system by educating people on infrastructure and civics, enabling them to see how the system can work in their interest.
  • Summary: A third of Americans do not vote because they trust none of the options, and convincing those who feel screwed by the system requires demonstrating systemic utility. While civics and education sound like ‘Sunday school,’ providing this context is the essential service media can offer. The failure of democracy is currently a failure of people having good enough information to make sound decisions.
Media Structure and Contextualization
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(01:10:10)
  • Key Takeaway: Effective media organizations should function as contextualizers and explainers, providing an immune response to manipulation, rather than acting as specialized ‘outrage machines’ focused on narrow, sensationalized narratives.
  • Summary: The right-wing media machine operates as a coordinated organism, whereas other networks function as a loose federation where individual shows approach topics differently. The goal for these networks should be creating a more informed audience through specialization and context, not ideological pushing through outrage. If the news aperture is too narrow, the larger picture needed to fix systemic issues is lost.
SOTU Predictions and Trump Style
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(01:16:41)
  • Key Takeaway: Donald Trump’s hyperbolic style is perfectly suited for campaigning but ill-suited for governing, as the gap between his words and reality becomes consequential when he is in charge.
  • Summary: Jon Stewart predicted Trump would be eaten by a bear during the State of the Union (SOTU) to illustrate that anything can happen in the current climate. Ali Velshi noted that Trump leans heavily on economic metrics like the Dow, ignoring how those metrics affect everyday people. Trump’s style thrives on hyperbole because running for office doesn’t require quantifying reality, unlike governing.
Speculative Presidential Lists
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(01:25:00)
  • Key Takeaway: Gavin Newsom is viewed as having been training his entire life for a presidential run, contrasting with Jon Stewart’s own low ranking on a speculative list of potential Democratic nominees.
  • Summary: Jon Stewart was listed at number 13 on a speculative New York Times opinion list of 18 potential Democrat nominees compiled by Nate Silver. Stewart recounted an interview with Newsom where he warned the governor about the fleeting nature of handsomeness, which seemed to genuinely hurt Newsom. Newsom’s focus appears to be entirely on preparing for a presidential run.
Punch the Monkey Controversy
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(01:27:04)
  • Key Takeaway: Jon Stewart expressed skepticism about the narrative surrounding ‘Punch the Monkey,’ suggesting the audience should be wary of imposing human values and should fact-check the monkey’s past actions.
  • Summary: Jon Stewart stated that the ‘free ride for Punch is over’ and suggested the audience should question whether Punch is racist or if his tribe’s judgment is flawed. He urged skepticism rather than immediately accepting Punch as a hero, joking that Punch’s old tweets would surface soon. The segment concluded with the observation that Punch’s stuffed companion toy would likely be ‘wifed’ once Punch hits puberty.