--- title: Donald Trump: Conan O’Brien Tries To Be Optimistic Election description: “We have had bitter angry elections for 200 years,” said O’Brien canonical: https://time.com/4566149/donald-trump-president-conan-obrien/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-10T15:29:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:38:35.806Z og:title: Conan O’Brien Has an Optimistic Take on the Election og:description: “We have had bitter angry elections for 200 years,” said O’Brien og:url: https://time.com/4566149/donald-trump-president-conan-obrien/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3fae7a480dda533/6988adfd97cdff7edc6ae8b8/conan-obrian-election.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: conan-obrian-election og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Conan O’Brien Has an Optimistic Take on the Election twitter:description: “We have had bitter angry elections for 200 years,” said O’Brien twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3fae7a480dda533/6988adfd97cdff7edc6ae8b8/conan-obrian-election.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Conan O’Brien Has an Optimistic Take on the Election by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Nov 10, 2016 3:29 PM UTC  TBS by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Nov 10, 2016 3:29 PM UTC In the wake of a [divisive presidential](http://time.com/4565747/anti-trump-protests-cities-new-york-chicago-oakland/?xid=homepage) election, Conan O’Brien is trying to get in touch with his inner optimist. Luckily, as a history buff, he has managed to find a silver lining, which he shared with _Conan_ viewers on Wednesday’s show. His message, in short, was that the nation has been in a similar place before. “We have had bitter angry elections for 200 years,” said O’Brien. “Whether it was Jefferson vs. Burr, Adams vs. Jackson, Lincoln vs. Douglas, Alien vs. Predator.” O’Brien cited his recent travels, including visits to countries in the Middle East and Armenia. When he took his show to [Cuba,](http://time.com/3710656/conan-obrien-cuba-episode/?iid=sr-link3) he noted that citizens there would give anything to have our [political system](http://time.com/3733177/conan-obrien-visit-cuba/?iid=sr-link4) and a choice in who governs them. “In America we get to pick who is going to ruin our country. It’s a privilege,” he said. “Everybody should feel grateful that we get to vote.” He ended his monologue with a quote from Winston Churchill, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4566149/donald-trump-president-conan-obrien/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4566149/donald-trump-president-conan-obrien/"},"headline":"Conan O’Brien Has an Optimistic Take on the Election","datePublished":"2016-11-10T15:29:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:38:35.806Z","description":"“We have had bitter angry elections for 200 years,” said O’Brien","url":"https://time.com/4566149/donald-trump-president-conan-obrien/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","Conan O'brien","2016 presidential election","Donald Trump","conan"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3fae7a480dda533/6988adfd97cdff7edc6ae8b8/conan-obrian-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3fae7a480dda533/6988adfd97cdff7edc6ae8b8/conan-obrian-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"conan-obrian-election","caption":"","creditText":"TBS","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4566149/donald-trump-president-conan-obrien/","name":"Conan O’Brien Has an Optimistic Take on the Election"}}]}] ```