Skip to main content

Jon Stewart uses Twitter to prank presidential nominee Jon Huntsman

Earlier this week during a Twitter Town Hall meeting hosted by former Utah Governor and U.S. ambassador to China, and current would-be GOP Presidential nominee Jon Huntsman, the Republican hopeful began to receive a few odd questions about his candidacy.

When a politician exposes themselves up to this level of open communique with we, the people, you expect a certain level of unpredictability, as a wide assortment of topics will raised. The President of the United States of America is the most powerful man in the world, so literally, almost no question is out of bounds, both in terms of the candidate’s policies and their personal life. From their stance on gay marriage to their foreign affair policies, a potential nominee must be able to field almost any possible query. That may come in the form of a person asking “What would your first 100 days look like?” to the slightly more personal questions, like “How many of the actresses from Mad Men have you slept with?”

Recommended Videos

Huntsman, possibly thinking that the tweeter had confused him with Bill Clinton, simply ignored the first few tweets like that. But the American people would not be denied, and soon a theme began to emerge.

“Jon who makes all of your suits? They look great retro,” one tweet, according to The Hollywood Reporter, asked.

“Do you [think] you’ll be able to snag the Emmy this year – even with Brian Cranston’s brilliant performance in S4?”

While politicians are typically required to be at least partly performers, there is very little chance that Huntsman will be able to defeat Cranston. Especially after that incredible Breaking Bad season finale, where Cranston was incredible.

After several dozen questions asking Huntsman for details on season five and if he was upset that he wasn’t cast as Superman despite a solid grassroots movement, Huntsman and his crew realized that they had been the victims of a Twitter prank (a Twirank?), courtesy of Jon Stewart and The Daily Show.

Earlier in the day, Stewart posted on The Daily Show’s page a call to fans of the show Mad Men, asking them to send their questions via Twitter to the show’s star, Jon Hamm, using the “Q4Jon” hashtag that Huntsman had taken for his Twitter questions.

“@MadMen_AMC fans: tweet Jon Hamm your questions by 4:15 Eastern? Hashtag #Q4Jon,” the call-to-tweet read. People responded in volume. 

To his credit, Huntsman took the prank in good stride, and even answered some of the questions meant for Hamm: “In ten years do you see yourself following George Clooney’s or Tom Selleck’s career path?” One tweet asked.

“I definitely want Clooney’s career path. But I think that Q was for Jon Hamm. Funny prank @TheDailyShow! #Q4Jon,” Hunstman replied.

But not everyone was quite as amused by some of Huntsman’s replies. The candidate was later asked “Do you feel those who spell John w/ H are wasteful liberals using consonants wantonly & w/o discretion?” The candidate replied “Yes!” thus potentially costing him the powerful and influential “Johns with an ‘h’ in their name” demographic.

Huntsman continued to field more serious, and much less amusing questions, before eventually signing off and promising to host another Twitter Town Hall meeting soon.

Ryan Fleming
Former Gaming/Movies Editor
Ryan Fleming is the Gaming and Cinema Editor for Digital Trends. He joined the DT staff in 2009 after spending time covering…
Bluesky finally adds a feature many had been waiting for
A blue sky with clouds.

Bluesky has been making a lot of progress in recent months by simplifying the process to sign up while at the same time rolling out a steady stream of new features.

As part of those continuing efforts, the social media app has just announced that users can now send direct messages (DMs).

Read more
Reddit just achieved something for the first time in its 20-year history
The Reddit logo.

Reddit’s on a roll. The social media platform has just turned a profit for the first time in its 20-year history, and now boasts a record 97.2 million daily active users, marking a year-over-year increase of 47%. A few times during the quarter, the figure topped 100 million, which Reddit CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman said in a letter to shareholders had been a “long-standing milestone” for the site.

The company, which went public in March, announced the news in its third-quarter earnings results on Tuesday.

Read more
Worried about the TikTok ban? This is how it might look on your phone
TikTok splash screen on an Android phone.

The US Supreme Court has decided to uphold a law that would see TikTok banned in the country on January 19. Now, the platform has issued an official statement, confirming that it will indeed shut down unless it gets some emergency relief from the outgoing president.

“Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19,” said the company soon after the court’s verdict.
So, what does going dark mean?
So, far, there is no official statement on what exactly TikTok means by “going dark.” There is a lot of speculation out there on how exactly the app or website will look once TikTok shutters in the US.

Read more