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In the years since Trump rose to power, “objectivity” has become seen as a sign of ignorance, or worse. There are hysterical screams of “false equivalency” and “bothsidesism” and “whataboutism” — because if you’re not focused solely on Trump alone, you’re simply part of the problem. (Former New York Times journalist Amy Chozick told me in my book “Uncovered” — out in paperback next week — that there’s a new generation of young journalists who believe “objectivity is akin to white supremacy.”)

There were valid criticisms of Stewart from his glory years. He played the “comedian” card whenever he got pushback for portraying events or comments out of context in an attempt to avoid accountability. He was sometimes needlessly sophomoric and petty.

But Stewart’s “Daily Show” also made a regular practice of criticizing his “own” side. He’d go after the hypocrisy of the left, seeming to relish making his audience uncomfortable at times. Stewart was occasionally masterful at exposing the ridiculous contortions we perform to defend powerful figures we support, and he did so not by attacking the people but by attacking the powerful.

In 2024 — and since 2017 — the “Daily Show” oeuvre, and the corporate media apparatus, has been the opposite. It wasn’t enough to simply attack Trump or his administration — no, the target was the “deplorables” who put him there in the first place.

But more antiquated than Stewart’s former refusal to be deferential to one party was his tendency, even if occasional, to go after the left. His Apple show was all over the map, but even it showed that perhaps he had learned some lessons about how to properly navigate the current consensus incentive structure. In one particularly egregious example, he allowed writer Andrew Sullivan to be browbeaten as a racist for refusing to properly atone for his inherent whiteness.

Which brings us to Monday night, and Stewart returning with a manifesto of sorts, tackling the “Biden-Trump rematch that nobody wants.” He set the table on 2024 by describing in detail the threat of Trump, but also spent significant time calling out the obvious cognitive decline and mental fitness of President Biden — including those Democratic defenders who are spinning a false storyline after the damning special counsel report. He referred to Biden as “Chocolate Chip Cookie Guy” and mocked Biden’s awkward TikTok debut.

This was capital-U Unacceptable for some in the press. “Centrist Democrats … were appalled at what they saw as a betrayal by one of their own,” wrote Rolling Stone. “Stewart’s main segment was classic bothsidesism,” wrote Slate.

The ratings for the premiere were great — the show’s top-rated episode in nearly six years. But that’s secondary, because anyone who follows Stewart on social media knows how thin-skinned he can be about criticism from his peers.

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