Utah Gov. Spencer Cox was pressed on his decision to stop dedicating June as Pride Month and questioned about divisive political attacks by Sen. Mike Lee during an appearance on “The Daily Show” to promote his new book about healing political chasms in the nation.

Jon Stewart hosted the Tuesday night episode, introducing the interview with the Republican governor and his new book, “Off Ramp: How to Be a Peacemaker in an Age of Contempt,” at the top of the long-running comedic news show.

“He’s got a new book out about how we can, as a nation, disagree more agreeably,” Stewart said, “and I will be the first to tell him to go f--- himself.”

The interview with Cox was not, however, confrontational. The governor and the liberal late-night host had a civil conversation, and the audience at one point broke into applause for the guest.

“We can’t solve any of our greatest problems if we can’t have a debate, if we can’t talk to each other,” Cox said. “I don’t pretend like I’m going to solve all of the nation’s problems, but if I can get you to talk to a cousin or a friend that you don’t talk to anymore, that’s eventually how we heal our nation.”

The studio audience applauded, and Stewart noted that “the crowd feels that very strongly.”

But Stewart said that he wanted to make an argument for the importance of contempt, telling the governor about when he met with Lee, Utah’s senior Republican senator, while lobbying Congress regarding compensation for 9/11 first responders.

“We had a meeting with him, with firefighters, police officers, and all that, and he was, I’m going to go with ‘not good,’” Stewart said of Lee. “And then he was one of only two senators to vote that [legislation] down.”

The host also noted a series of social media posts from Lee last year about the assassination of a Democratic lawmaker in Minnesota.

“When I spoke to Congress, I treated them with disdain because that’s what they earned,” Stewart said. Should he, the host asked Cox, have acted differently toward Lee?

“I’m not telling you that you should not find things contemptible,” Cox said. “I find lots of things contemptible, and you’ve given some examples of that.”

Lee’s posts about the slaying in Minnesota, the governor added, were “contemptible,” and “[w]e should all stand up and say that’s not OK.”

“I’m not talking about just being nice to each other,” Cox said, but instead engaging with one another instead of isolating in political bubbles.

Pride Month, Fidelity Month

Stewart argued that the American political system is built to isolate people and that solving division shouldn’t be the burden of individuals. Cox agreed, saying that social media algorithms incentivize extremism while a significant majority of Americans want politicians to bridge the gap.

“Neither party is responding to that market failure right now,” Cox said. “And I’m just convinced that the first party who does is going to do very, very well. I hope it’s my party, but that remains to be seen.”

Stewart responded, to laughs from the studio audience, “That doesn’t seem to be the lesson [Republicans have been] learning for the last 10 years.”

Later in the interview, Stewart asked about Pride Month in Utah, noting that earlier in his time in office, Cox was one of the few Republican governors to declare Pride Month but stopped doing so in recent years, instead proclaiming June as “Fidelity Month.”

“The Pride Month thing again got very contentious, and the decision was made a couple years ago,” Cox said. “But look, celebrate Pride Month. That’s great. Government will stay out of it. You celebrate whatever months you want.”

Stewart also raised concerns about a 2017 fight about allowing businesses to deny service to LGBTQ+ people, which Cox said he supported.

“It’s hard for me not to look at it as there is … a power disparity in that equation," Stewart said, “and that the gay community in Utah is not equivalent to the Christian community in Utah.”

Cox said that “those protections went both ways.”

“It’s not about contempt,” he added. “It’s about religious freedom, which is really important to people.”

‘It looked very bad’

Besides, June being declared as “Fidelity Month,” Cox added, was coincidental and not meant to “replace” Pride.

“We did not switch Pride Month for Fidelity Month, although that’s how it looked, and I understand why it looked very bad,” Cox said.

“Does Utah have a fidelity issue?” Stewart asked, to more laughter from the audience. “Seems like every month is Fidelity Month.”

Cox’s book was officially released Tuesday, and he said on “The Daily Show” that he was inspired to write it after the shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University last September.

“I care deeply about our nation,” Cox said. “I think we can solve problems without shooting each other, and I would prefer that.”