Watch Conan Heal Divided Nation With Churchill Quote, Dachshund
Conan O’Brien offered an optimistic take on the 2016 election Wednesday, praising America’s tradition of peaceful elections and the transfer of power while taking a stab at unity with a classic cheap visual gag.
A self-described history buff, O’Brien noted America has had bitter, contentious elections for 200 years, listing Thomas Jefferson versus Aaron Burr, John Adams versus Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln versus Stephen Douglas and, of course, Alien versus Predator.
“This is our thing, and the optimist in me chooses to be happy that we have fair and free elections at all,” O’Brien said. “In the last couple of years I’ve traveled to a bunch of countries, Cuba, Armenia, the Middle East, where the people would give anything to have our system. In America, we get to pick who gets to ruin our country.”
While O’Brien acknowledged everyone’s right to feel happy or despondent about the outcome, he quoted Winston Churchill, saying, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried.” He then offered a lesser-known Churchill quote – “When healing a divided nation, always resort to cheap visual comedy” – before bringing out Conan favorite, the “really tall dachshund.”