Jon Stewart tries to reassure voters on “The Daily Show Live.”

John Stewart ended his live election broadcast by urging viewers to remain hopeful, even in the face of potential Donald Trump presidency.

“We’re going to come out of this election and make all kinds of statements about what this country is about and what this world is about,” Stewart said when the show The Daily Show Presents a Live Election Night Special with Jon Stewart: Indecision 2024: There’s Nothing We Can Do About It Nowended around midnight EST. “And the truth is, we won’t know a damn thing. We’re going to make it seem like this is the end of our civilization.”

He continued: “We will all have to wake up tomorrow morning and work as hard as we can to move the world to the place we prefer. And I just want to point out, just to put it in perspective, that the lessons that our experts will draw from these results and that they will confidently say will be wrong. And we must remember this.”

As an example, he cited various statements made after previous elections. Among them was footage of a news report that said that after January 6, Trump “will never be allowed to set foot in the Capitol again.” Stewart responded: “My point is: damn!”

He added more hopefully: “This is not the end. I promise you, this is not the end. We have to regroup and we have to keep fighting and keep working every day to create a better society for our children, for this world, for this country, that we know is possible. It’s possible.”

During the special, Stewart criticized pollsters who appeared to have misjudged the race between Trump and Kamala Harris. “I want to send a message very quickly to all the pollsters, the pollsters: throw me out,” Stewart said. “I never want to hear from you again. Always. You don’t know a damn thing. I don’t want to hear, “We’ll figure it out next year, oh, we were within…” Throw me away.”

Throughout the special, Stewart invited several special guests, which (almost) would have included Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman. Fetterman apparently canceled his segment less than a minute before he was due to speak.

(Fetterman) couldn’t join us,” Stewart told the live audience. “But because we are a professional and respected news show, I don’t have to just sit here… with no one to talk to or nothing to do just because someone said 30 seconds before we were supposed to have them as a guest.” .

Fetterman was replaced by Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, who confirmed: “It’s probably going to be a long night, possibly a long few days as we count the votes.”