July 22, 2015

Obama Pledges to Use Executive Order to Keep Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show”

As Jon Stewart prepares his imminent exit from The Daily Show, President Obama stopped by the set in New York on Tuesday to bid farewell to the longstanding host and promised to use his office’s power to prevent him from leaving.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving before me,” Obama said during his seventh and final visit with Stewart as host. “I’m going to issue an executive order: Jon Stewart cannot leave the show. It’s being challenged in the courts.”

“To me this is a states’ rights issue,” Stewart replied.

Following the opening banter, the two dived into more serious topics such as the Iran nuclear deal, the president’s relationship with the media, and the Middle East.

When asked about Donald Trump’s recent surge in the polls, Obama joked, “I’m sure the Republicans are enjoying Mr. Trump’s current dominance of their primary.”

Stewart’s last day is August 6th.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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