The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Alex Wagner - "The Circus"

Episode Date: October 25, 2021

Alex Wagner, cohost and executive producer of "The Circus," sounds the alarm about the radicalization of the GOP and the threat posed by its organized assault on democracy. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look on Apple podcasts starting September 17. Alex Wagner, welcome to the show. It's always good to

be here my friend. I feel like every time you come here though you come with a slightly more ominous message for what America should expect. I'm a Cassandra, a harbinger of doom. It really feels like you are, because that clip that we saw there, I'm sure some people are watching that and then they just thought, wait, did that guy say liberal, Mitch McConnell is a liberal, like the Mitch McConnell. The words liberal and Mitch McConnell were in the same sentence. And th liberal,or. Wherever Mitch is right now, his jowls are like trembling.

Burs. Yes. Let's jump straight into this. So you've been on the road now for how long? Six weeks? Six weeks on the road. Six weeks in this chunk. And then we started at the beginning of year on January 5th. I started my year in Atlanta and we know what happened on January. the. Six. th. th. the. th. th. th. the. th. th. th. the. th. th. th. th. th. the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the th. the the th. th. th. th. th. the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the th. th. th. th. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. the the the th. th. th. th. the. the. the. the the the. the the the thee. the the theeeee. the. theee. the. the. and we know what happened on January 6th. Right, and I feel like what you've been doing is what many journalists have stopped doing in America and that is being on the ground, talking to the actual people. What's your assessment, if I was just saying from like 10,000 feet, things are good, things are bad, things are okay? Again, I'm going to really fulfill my role as the Cassandra of this telea tha thia ca thia cassandra of thia cassandra of thia cassandra of thia levision program, it is bad out there, Trevor. It's worse than we think it is insofar as the machinery of democracy is, I think, in many ways, grinding to a halt.

I think what Republicans are doing at the state level, doing at the gubernatorial level is incredibly worrisome. What does that even mean? Well, look a lot about January 6th and what happened. But in many ways, looking back is what the Republican Party is doing in order to look forward, which is to say they see the areas where they didn't succeed in terms of insurrection, in terms of swinging the vote, in terms of literally usurping American democracy. And they see that as almost a series of tests.

And they're trying to figure out how to foolproof the system, if you will, ahead of the 2022 midterms and the 2024 election. They are, there are voter suppression efforts that you are well aware of, but there are also election subversion measures that they are undertaking to change state election boards to undermine secretary of states and their powers., and the machinery, and the machinery, and the machinery, and the machinery, and the machinery, and the machinery, and the machinery, and the machinery, and the machinery, and the machinery, and the machinery, and the machinery, and the machinery, and the machinery, and the machinery, and the machinery, and their their, and their, and the, and the, and the, and thea, and thea, and the, and the, and the, and the, and the, and the, and the, and the, and the, and th. and, and th. And, and, and, and, and, and th. And, and th. And, and th. And, and the, and the, and the, and the, and the, and the, and the, and thea, and their their thea, and their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, and, and, their, to change state election boards, to undermine Secretary of States and their powers. The machinery of elections and democracy is very much something Republicans have set their sights on and they are not going to be content to just let the voters have their will. I really feel like we are on the precipice of one of our two parties

trying to undermine the will of the people and American democracy. Okay, but what about all of the stalwarts of the GOP, like the ones who always like the institutions are everything, you know, is it now just Trump land? Is that what you're saying? Yes, it is tru-s sump's party. Mitch McConnell, because he is the the instaturento, is somehow seen as an institutionalist, he is seen as a traitor to the cause. At this point, the mendacity has infected the hierarchy of Republican power.

Steve Scalise, the number two Republican in the House, won't say whether Joe Biden was actually the rightful winner of the 2020 election. And yet still because they're not seen out there, because they weren't part of the insurrection pumping their fists on the way in to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the way in the way in their. In. In. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. And. their. their. their. their. their. their. I. I. I. the te. te. te. te. tr. tr. tr. tr. tr. tr. tr.e.e.e. tr.e.e.e.e. And, tr. And. And, their. And. And, their. And. because they're not seen out there, because they weren't part of the insurrection pumping their fists on the way into the Capitol, they're seen as traders. I mean, that's deeply dangerous. But the fact is, that is the Republican Party at this point. That is two-thirds of the Republican Party, and that is how Republicans are going to win elections in 2022. So, that is two, two thoomomomom tho, thi thi th themselves centrists or just, you know, we don't favor a particular party, and then you have the Democrats.

What are the Democrats doing about this? Surely there's something that they have in place? Like I'm, like, they seem like the kind of people who would like plan ahead and they, they know how to counter this. Yeah, listen, I think, I thii thi, I the Democrats, I the Democrats, the Democrats, the Democrats, the Democrats, the Democrats, the Democrats, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the, the, the, the, thi, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, their, their, their, they.ean.ean.ean.ean.eanananananan.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e they are dealing with crosswinds inside the party. Part of the problem with the Republican Party shrinking and becoming a collection of people who are not tethered to reality is that those who still believe in facts and read mainstream news have basically become Democrats. I mean, in what world is Joe Manchin really in the same party as AOC?

The Democratic tent is massive. And so whenever you want to get Democrats to pass something you got a lot of weather patterns that have kind of converged inside one party which means. You've got a big tent. Yes you have a big tent and they're very intent on giving their president a win and they also are terrified that 2022 is the thinne their too-tha 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20... the 20 the 20 20 th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the. the. the. the. the. thoe. the. the. the. the. the. th. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. thoe. the. thoe. thoe. the. the. the. the. th. the. the. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. toe. toe. toe. the their t out of power. This is their last chance to do something really big and structural for American society and the economy. And so that's what they're focused on. I don't know. When you go out there, when you talk to people, what I find particularly interesting is, I've always had this idea of like super Trump people as being like extremely manic and like, ah! But it seems like the people who are running for positions of power in the tr tr tr tr th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th, th, th, th, th, th, thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th.. is th. th. th. th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thin, thin, thi. thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. thi. thi. thi. power in the Trump Party, they seem pretty lucid. I don't know how to explain this too, but they don't seem like Q anonnish in that way.

They seem lucid, but they also seem like they're going to burn everything down. They go, oh, we're going to destroy this, but I can tell you the alphabet backwards. I'm in the game. thi. thoes. thoes. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. the. the. thi. the. the. the. the. I'm the. I'm the. I'm the. I'm the. I'm the. I'm thr-I. I'm the. I'm the. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm the the. I don't the. I don't the. I don't the. I don't the. I'm the. I'm the. I'm the. I'm the. I'm. I'm. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I'm the. I'm the. I'm the. I'm the. I'm the. I'm thr-a. I'm thea. I'm thea. I'm thea. I'm thea. I'm thea. I'm the. I'm the. I'm the. I'm the which otherwise sentient people who worked in business, who had careers, who are mothers, who are college educated, have fallen down, willfully or unintentionally, down a rabbit hole of misinformation, and who now see the world in radically different terms than most people who are still tethered to the universe and facts and reality do, you know. So when you talk to them, there's nothing you can say. I talk to the people who are there telling me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me the thi their their their their thi their their thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, the, the, their, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, th. I. I. I. I. I, th. I, th. I, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho. I, thi. I, thi. I. I'm, thi. I'm, thi. I'm, thi. I'm, thooooo. I'm, thi. I'm, their, them, there's nothing you can say. I talk to the people who are there telling me that COVID is not a risk, that it is an infringement on civil liberties to require children who cannot get vaccinated to wear masks in school. And they say this with empathy, with seriousness and with conviction. And when you see the world in such diametrically oppositional ways, it makes coming together together together together together together thea thea, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, the the the toe, the the toe, the the the the the the th thi, thi, thi, the the their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the, the, the the the, the the the the the the the the the the the the the their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi.coe. thiiiiiiii.coe. thiiiii. thi. thii. thi. thi, their, their, their, the world in such diametrically oppositional ways, it makes coming together,

let alone convincing someone of your point of view. Impossible. And I have to believe that somehow that sort of DNA that connects us all as a species kicks in at some point. And that's the hope is that legislatively we can remind ourselves that it's not just about democracy, it's about humanity. It's not just about winning re-election, it's about the human experience and the suffering and the things that unite us as a country.

It sounds so polyanna-ish, but we are the United States of America, and we're in this marriage. We're not getting divorced, so we've got to figure out a way to get along and see each other as human beings. And I think maybe some of those people still can do that. Well, 50% of all marriages end a certain way. So we're hoping that this marriage somehow finds a way that it can be resolved. I don't know. Listen, it could be an open marriage. We could adopt. I mean, maybe you guys, Canada, Mexico, you guys figure out a thing. Bring them in? You know, figure it out. Alex, I can always talk to you forever.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for being on the road. I genuinely enjoy watching the show because it's fun to see people talking to people about these things as opposed to having someone report on an idea of who the Daily Show, weeknights at 11th, 10 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it.

This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. Really? But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look,

starting September 17th. Wherever you get the the the th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, 17th, wherever you get your podcasts. This has been a Comedy Central Podcast.