Liberal comedian Jon Stewart may be facing his worst year yet in 2017, as his biggest enemies are on the rise and his show's ratings have plummeted.
Stewart, who bowed out as host of Comedy Central’s "The Daily Show" in February 2015, grasped at headlines in 2016, disparaging Trump as a "thin-skinned" "man-baby." He pledged to leave Earth in a rocket ship should the Republican nominee move into the White House.
Now two months since the election, Trump is readying his staff to move into the White House.
To make matters worse for the comedian, Fox News announced that Stewart's longtime nemesis Tucker Carlson would takeover the network's coveted 9 P.M. time slot, succeeding outgoing anchor Megyn Kelly.
Their feud began in 2004 when Carlson was co-hosting CNN’s debate program "Crossfire." Stewart was a guest on the show, calling the cable news veteran a "dick" and complaining that the show was "hurting America," leading to its ultimate collapse.
Stewart was credited with the program’s failure and became a liberal icon over the next decade through his work on the "Daily Show."
Today, Stewart's "Daily Show" legacy continues to wane under his heir Trevor Noah, whom critics have decisively dubbed "unfunny."
Noah, a South African native who often mocks Republicans, declared in April to his progressive, millennial viewers that the United States had four Founding Fathers who were all memorialized on Mount Rushmore.
By his own admission, Noah forgoes balance in an attempt to advance a progressive platform.
A Time Magazine profile published in September said that the 32-year-old "projects the righteous ardor of a campus activist" using "parody and polemics, dripping sarcasm and cheap-shot one-liners" to take aim at partisan rivals.
While Noah's depressed ratings briefly spiked in the weeks leading up to Election Day, the young comedian is unlikely to salvage the show.
With 360 days left in 2017, Stewart is likely heeding the advice he delivered to Americans after Trump's election: "Fucking buckle your seatbelt and get ready."