This week on the gray area, will our institutions keep working in 2024 and beyond?

I don't think this election itself is the end of American democracy, like it spells the formal abolition of it.

I do think it is the beginning of the greatest test American democracy has seen since the Civil War.

Listen to the gray area with me, Sean Elling.

New episodes every Monday, available everywhere.

Hey, everyone.

Ellie here, wishing you a happy Friday.

So there's this thing in baseball called hitting for the cycle.

And it happens when one batter gets all four types of hits you can possibly get in one game, a single, double, triple, and home run.

This week, we hit for the cycle on the Trump criminal trials. We saw court action or we saw briefs filed in all four of the criminal indictments. Also, later today, we're

supposed to see the civil verdict on the Trump Organization fraud trial coming out of New York

State. So lots going on. I also wanted to talk for a moment about the return of John Stewart.

I know you've all seen this. He's back. At least for Monday nights, he'll be hosting the Daily Show. It's a real blast from the past. I think he said it's been nine years

since he hosted the show. I'm a huge fan of John Stewart. Almost everybody is. But I feel like I have a

special bond with him because we're both Jewish kids from New Jersey. We're actually almost the

exact same height, which is not much. I feel like I maybe discovered him not before anyone else, but earlier on.

I remember him from his MTV days, and I think he has so much to offer.

Stewart said something in his monologue that really resonated with me, and I'm going to paraphrase here.

But basically, look, John Stewart understands the stakes of this election.

He understands who and what Donald Trump is. He's made no bones about that. Stuart said something, though, that really

rang a bell for me. He said, basically, you should be very interested in this election. You should

be very invested in what happens in our public life. But the answer is never to just ignore or gloss over anything that might not be great for whatever side you're coming from.

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