The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Alex Wagner: “We Haven’t Given Up on Democracy”

Episode Date: September 2, 2022

“It is my job to show people what’s happening in the world, and not just what they want to see.” MSNBC primetime host Alex Wagner discusses how she hopes to get through to people who may not agree with her on her new show “Alex Wagner Tonight,” how what’s happening in Florida is a model for what’s happening across the country, and why she says the Republican Party and Democratic Party are in a marriage, for better or worse.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Alex Wagner. Welcome back to the Daily Show. Welcome back to the today. I'm always glad. Welcome back to the Daily Show. It's a thrilling, as always. It's an honor for me. This is your sixth time. You might hold the record. Congratulations Alex Wagner. It's a thrill and an honor and always. It's an honor for me.

This is your sixth time. You might hold the record. Congratulations. I feel very positive about that. I actually got you a monkeypox vaccine as a gift. I want my photo in the hallway. I'll keep saying it over and over again. And I will make sure that I have one of you. I see two chains, I see Oprah, I need to see Alex Wagner in the hallway and then I can stop coming on to the show. I mean you put me on the spot

now fine because I do have the photo of us and it's in my office like a like a beautiful frame. That's in the Tiffany frame. It's perfect and no one walks past it but it's fine. That's for you and me Trevor. This is a really exciting time for everybody because your show kicks off tomorrow. Yes. I love your Instagram bio reads, anchor at MSNBC plus person worried about the future. But don't you think that sounds a little melodramatic? What do you have to worry about?

What could go wrong? Arctic ice caps melting faster than expected president shuffling off classified nuclear secrets to Palm Beach Resort, you know, Republican election deniers being elected across the country. What are you worried about? What could go wrong? What do you worry? But you know, because you travel so much and because you've talked so many people on the

ground, I've always felt like I should listen to you when you're worried because you talked to like America? What's the biggest thing thii? to. to. to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what to, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? to? What? to? to? to? to? to? the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the the to. to. to. to. to. to. to. the to going to keep talking to America. I just went down to Florida, which is a place I vow never to return to each time I go, and yet I keep going down to Florida. That's what makes it great. Exactly. It was 107 degrees down there. And what Governor DeSantis is doing in that state is worthy of a very close examination. So we went down there and looked specifically at the ways in which Christian nationalism has worked its way into Florida public schools, and we're going to be talking about that this week and some of the very alarming things that teachers are being trained to teach

public school students on. You know, I will say you should be worried, Trevor, because not just this is happening but this is very much seen as a model for what's happening across the rest of the country. Ron DeSantis, may be the Republican nominee for president in 2024. Which people think of as like a good thing because they go like, oh, he's calm, you know, he has a demeanor about him. Trump is crazy, but it seems like Trump's crazy was also the reason he couldn't get things done. Yes. Ronda Santos, everyone everyone everyone everyone everyone everyone everyone everyone everyone everyone everyone everyone, everyone, Oh, he's got all his cards. He's ready to play them. And he has a network of conservative activists and donors and power players in his corner.

I mean, this is the result. This is a harvest of multiple years of trying to figure out how to reindocinate students into a certain line of conservative ideology. And DeSantis has made it happen, but he has a lot of people behind him. And there are other governors, Kerry Lake in Arizona is the Republican nominee in Arizona, and she was on the stump, I think it was yesterday, praising DeSantis and saying, am I allowed to say this on this family program,

that he had big dick energy just like Donald Trump? Like, not even kidding, she said, BDE, if you know, big DeSantis energy, but really saying that what we needed was more big dick energy, the kind that Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump have. So that's where we are as a country, Trevor, and I'm here to tell you, I'm alarmed. You are gonna be the person

who is informing so many people about what's going on in the country. You know, as an anchor on a show like yours, you're in an interesting position because on the one hand, you want people to understand the state of the country. On the other hand, you don't want people to exist in a perpetual state of panic because then what happens is people start getting tired and they're like, I don't care anymore,

nothing is actually happening. How do you find that balance? Well, I think, you know, I don't to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the to be, the the to be, to be, the to be to be to be to be to be, to be to be, to be the the the the the the the the the the the the their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the state, the state the state their, their their., their., the their. the the the the the the the the the the the the their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their., thoomorrow., tooomorrow., tooomorrow., tooomorrow., tooomorrow., tooomorrow., tooomorrow, the the the the the their, their to be polyanish about things, right? When things are bad, I'm going to tell you they're bad. But I also think we haven't given up on democracy. And the reality is, if you don't like what Governor Ronda Santis is doing, I mean, I spent 10 hours in a Brevard County School Board meeting. You can run for school board and stop some mean that stuff as cliche as it sounds, as small ball as it sounds, it matters because the decision that the Brevard County School Board makes about whether or not kids can have book fairs again and read certain books and talk about being homosexual or transgender, that means something and those decisions are discreet but they are part of our larger system

of governance and I don't want people to ever lose the hope that the project of America is a FETA-Complea and it's a rap, because it's not. I mean, and you can swing the pendulum back. I still believe that we generally take two steps forward and maybe one and three-quarter steps back. Oh, that's a lot of steps back. I mean, I hope, look at you and me, Trevor, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, the, the, the, the, the, the, to, to, the, to, the, to, to, to, the, to, to, to, the, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, tho, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, 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, th, th..... to, th. th. to, to, to, to, to, to, to, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, to, to, to, I hope, look at you and me, Trevor. You know, I'm hosting the 9 p.m. hour of a very important cable network.

You are the voice of a generation. Our stories are unlikely. We're two brown people that weren't ever supposed to be in these positions of power. And look at us, you know? That is true. That's true. Sometimes I go, the fact that it is the exception is what makes it scary a little bit sometimes. And so what's interesting about America when you look at it as a whole is it feels like sometimes,

like in the run-up to Donald Trump, it feels like the country knew this was happening. And then people on the coasts were like, oh, that'll never happen. It feels like there's a certain complacency now. As people relax, you know, they want to watch succession. They want to read what's happening. I don't want to watch succession, too. Yeah, no, but people enjoy themselves. But it seems like conservatives are being told constantly that they're under assault, that this is the end of the world the world the world the world the world the world the world the world the world the world the world the world going to be on MSNBC, you're in a position where you have part of your audience, which is in a bubble, many of us do, you know, how do you, or do

you even think it's possible at this stage to just pop out of that bubble? Is there a way you can see as Alex Wagner, as the journalist who's's a way you can get through to people who maybe don't agree with you? I'm going to damn well try. I mean, you can't just say we're only, we're only going to talk to like liberals and this is for the sell a corridor. You know, like, this is, I'm a journalist and you are going to hear from some Republican sometimes they may be critical of Donald Trump. Sometimes they may th. I th. I th. I th. I is is is th. I is th. I is th. I is th. I is th. I is th. I is thi. I is thi. I is thi. I thi. I thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. thi. I'm thi. thi. thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I thi. I can't thi. I can't thi. I can't thi. I can't thi. I can't thi. I can't thi. I can't thi. I can't thi. I can't th. I can't. I can't. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm th may be critical of Donald Trump. Sometimes they may not be, but I think it is my job to show people what's happening in the world and not just what they want to see. I mean, listen, the future of the Republican party

matters not just to Republicans, but to Democrats and Independents, too. If one of the two parties in this country is forever broken or populated by clowns or worse, like we're not going to get anything done done as a country. We are for better or worse in a marriage and we got to figure out a way to make it work because we know what divorce kind of looks like. We tried it in 1860 and like we can't, it didn't go so well. So your first episode is tomorrow. If you are on the show today, don't give anything away, because you obviously will tease and everything, but if you are on the show today, what would you, what would be the number one story you'll be talking about? Well, listen, I think for sure we're going

to be talking about Trump and Marlago and what exactly he was doing with those papers and the degree to which this is part. I. they. they. th. to. to. to. th. to. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the, their, the, the, their, to be, their, the, their, to be, the, the, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to be, to be, the, the the the the the the the the the, the the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the the the tod, tod, tod, tod, tod, tod, today, today, today, their, their, their, their, their, their, today, today, today, today, today, today, today, today, today, today, tod want everyone to focus on is the fact that we have two significant primaries tomorrow happening, Liz Cheney and Sarah Palin. And what we very well could see this week is the exit of Liz Cheney, probably the standard bearer for integrity inside the GOP, be escorted off the stage, stage right, and for Sarah Palin, who in many ways is the proto-Tro-Tro-Tro-Tr-Tro-P, is tr-P, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, thn-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-in-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-and, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, and thr-l-l-l-l-in, is, is, is th, is th, is th, is, is very very, is very, is, is very, is, is very, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is-in, is-in, is-in.....A, and thiiii....Ai. And, and th thiii. And, and thii-ncc-nc-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-ai-li, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, thr-li-li-li, thrc-li- Republican Congresswoman from Alaska. And I think as we take stock of where the country is at, we need to take stock of where the Republican Party is at. And those two entrances, that entrance and exit tell us a lot about where we're headed in the GOP, and I think it's deeply problematic and I think it warrants further investigation and analysis. This is why you're the best person to host a show show show know a lot, you travel a lot, you meet the people.

I hang out with you. You don't get overwhelmed. No, you don't get, thanks for that. I'll take it, but no. You don't get overwhelmed, really, one thing I've always seen. Congratulations on the show. Thank you for joining me again. We're all going to be watching. Everybody, don't forget, Tuesday, to Friday, 9 p.m. Alex Wagner. Watch the Daily Show, weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes any time on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.