Jon Stewart and Steven Levitksky: The Constitution is 'The Problem'

Jon Stewart to Harvard Prof. Steven Levitsky: "Is [The Constitution] the document that actually got us into this mess?"
Levitsky: "It’s done us a lot of good, but it is also part of the problem today"
Later Levitsky adds "the electoral college was an improvisation, an experiment" pic.twitter.com/cUZYTKgeLI

— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) March 12, 2024

Jon Stewart welcomed Harvard Prof. Steven Levitsky to Comedy Central and Monday’s edition of The Daily Show to promote his new book, Tyranny of the Minority, where he wondered if the Constitution is to blame for the "mess" the country finds itself in.

Stewart began, "The Constitution is really our, you know, touchstone. Is that the document that actually got us into this mess?"

By "mess," the duo meant that Donald Trump won in 2016 and may win again, as Levitsky explained, "The Constitution, as you say, is a brilliant document... It is the world's oldest written constitution. It's done us a lot of good, but it is also part of the problem today. We, a majority of Americans, support democracy. A majority of Americans support the really interesting experiment with multiracial democracy that we are evolving into in the 21st century. A majority of Americans every day since Donald Trump came down the golden escalator have opposed Trump."

Levitsky added that "we have a Constitution that protects, that enables, and that empowers an authoritarian minority party, and that's a problem."

LEVITSKY: Right. It was a couple things. First of all, it was a document created by people who feared democracy, who feared majority rule. Because majority rule didn't exist in the world in the 18th century.

STEWART: What did they think, if it wasn't kings, what did they think it was going to be?

LEVITSKY: They didn't know. They were in completely new terrain. They had never been in a republic like this before. We had never had an elected leader before. The Electoral College was a third choice. They were scrambling, right? They couldn't reach a majority and they didn't know how to elect a president. So the Electoral College was an improvisation, an experiment.

STEWART: Was it an improvisation to bring a compromise to the southern states? Is that—

LEVITSKY: Southern states and smaller states.

STEWART: -- Because the north was more industrialized than the south. And the smaller states.