The Daily Show: Ears Edition - AOC & Klepper on Trump and Clarence Thomas | Pete Buttigieg On Infrastructure & Culture Wars

Episode Date: January 2, 2024

Jordan Klepper and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez discuss a program that addresses violence as a public health issue, as well as her take on Clarence Thomas accepting luxury gifts, the attack on abortion rights, and Donald Trump's indictment. Desi Lydic talks to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg about safety and accountability in the transportation industry, culture wars, and what "woke" even means.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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egos and accounts of the extraordinary power of decency. Listen on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You're listening to Comedy Central. I met with the Congresswoman at Jacoby Hospital in the Bronx to discuss its stand-up to violence program, which has shown an impressive 46% reduction in retaliatory violence in its first few years. As a Democrat focused on violence, isn't that off-brand? Well, I'm from the Bronx, so it's on-brand for where I'm from.

There is a lot of discussion around what what progressives can do about violence in a big city. What the data has showed us is that if you respond to violence as a public health issue, instead of as an incarceration issue, violence decreases. And that's what we're doing here at Jacobi Hospital. Are there cops here at the hospital that are addressing the issue? Hell no. Okay. No, this is, listen, and there's security presence and police presence that is standard in any hospital, but that's not what this program is about. In the traditional response to an incidence of violence, a shooting or a stabbing, you may go to the ER real quick,

you get patched up and then you go straight to the precinct. What we decided to do is that we said, hey, let's shift the response and see what happens when we make the center of response a jail. When a patient comes to the ER with a gunshot wound, the stand-up to violence team works with the victim and members of the community to prevent violent retaliation. You're essentially talking about preventative medicine here. It is, it absolutely is. Which in America, it's not exactly our thing.

We're not known for that. We're not known for that. We're more of a reactive medicine type. And, and, and, and society. And, and to, and to, and, and, and that, and, and, we, we, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, thi, thi, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th. to thi, the the the the the the. the the the the the the the the the the.e.e.e. the the the the the the. to to to to to to to to to th society. And you know we have case workers, we have social workers, we have therapists and we also have people who themselves are once incarcerated. Some of our most effective people in this work are the former gang members, former people who formerly spent time at Rikers. I can hear how Fox News would spin this as AOC tries to defund the police and fund gang members. If I spent my time worried about what Fox News said I would, I would, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I would, I th, I would, I would, I would, I would, I would, I would, I would, I would, I would, I would, I would, I would, I would, I would th, tries to defund the police and fund gang members. If I spent my time worried about what Fox News said, I would, I mean, I wouldn't be here. We're here in New York City. And you're talking about funding violence prevention outside of the police. And yet Eric Adams has just increased police wages by 28 percent.

Is that misplaced? I think so. We are now at a point where officially most officers are paid more than a teacher with a master's degree serving these same kids involved in these same incidents. We are defunding safety, defunding our public schools, defunding our public pools, defunding our parks, defunding our libraries when we are taking all of those resources and demanding that every single department except the militarized one because we are sending a message

about who and what we care about. Here in a hospital, do you ever get the vibes? Do you ever consider a career in the medical profession? It's funny you ask that when I went to college, I went in as a pre-medical student. Really? I wanted to be in OBGYN, actually. But, you know, life takes us where it takes us. I considered going into the medical profession. I thought I could play a handsome doctor on TV. Didn't pan out.

While we were on the subject of national embarrassment, I had to ask the Congresswoman about Clarence Thomas and his BFF, Nazi swag collector, Harlan Crow. I want to talk a little bit about Clarence Thomas. You've said you would even draft articles of impeachment for the things that he's done. Has there been any quid pro quo? And I partially partially, you took, you took, you took, you t, you t, you t, you t, you t, t, t, t, t, t, t, t, t, t, t, t, th, thu, thu, thu, thu, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th. th. th. th. th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I thi, thi, I th. I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thin, that, thin, that, thi. thi. that, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi, thi, that he's done. Has there been any quid pro quo? And I said quid pro quo partially because it took all that effort to learn what quid pro quo met back in the Ukraine days and it feels apropos of now. And I don't think I used apropos correctly. I think that quid pro quo is this bar that doesn't even need to be met. The justice is required by law the law law law law law law law law the law the law tho tho that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that th. th. the. the. the. the. the. the. took. took. took. took. took. took. took. took. that that that disclose something like that and he hasn't been.

Can you empathize though? Beyonce came through here and wanted to take you on a sweet vacation? Wouldn't you say yes and let her show you her Nazi memorabilia? You gotta tell someone about it. But hey, hey, don't put Bay's name on that like that. I'm not saying if she invested in Nazi memorabilia to show it that she hates Nazi memorabilia to show that she hates Nazi memorabilia. She'd want to show it off. And that whole thing is just, I mean, bizarre. You also don't keep the linens around. Which linens? Oh, the Nazi linens? Yeah. Who does that? Don't you think if you had a billion dollars and you bought everything you'd probably eventually get to Nazi linens? This is the distraction. You're right. We're just focused on that as opposed the money the money the money th. If the money th. If th. the money th. th. the money, if th. th. the money, if th. th. the money, th. th. the money, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, I's, I's, I'm, I'm, 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's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I I I's, I's, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I's, I, I, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm the, I mean, I mean, the, the, the, the th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. I're just focused on that as opposed to all the money that's going over to Clarence Towns. Although if you're a billionaire, can't billionaires have friends?

They can. Supreme Court justices are required if they are receiving money from people. They shouldn't even be receiving money from people. They shouldn't even be receiving resign from the court. They can retire. Now, I want to talk about the court. It's looking as if the Supreme Court is going to rule on some of the conflicting rulings around Mifapristow.

Who do you think is going to write the final decision that takes away these vital rights from women? Is it going to be the guy who cried over beer the the the to be the to be to be to be to be the to be the to be to be the buddy with the Nazi memorabilia guy? You know my hope is that they we do not get to that point but we also have to face the reality that the Supreme Court has chosen to give up huge swaths of their own legitimacy. Chief Justice Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, the Republican Party in in them giving up trying to take seriously the legitimacy, the standards, the integrity of the court, they have given up a very large degree of their authority. The new news in Florida this week is the six-week abortion ban.

How do women approach that or fight back against something like that that's happening in Florida? Of course, there's the standard vote and mobilize, but I'm going to put that aside for a second. We do not have to accept tyranny. And this is a form of tyranny. It is a form of violence. Women will die, people will die because of this decision. And it will be, by and large, the men who sign these laws that are killing the women that will die by them. And we have a responsibility to help one another, whether that is supporting organizations that mail Mifapristone, which has significantly reduced risk,

certainly safer than medications like Viagra. But ultimately, we cannot continue to accept people in power who will abuse others for their own game. Indipement week was last week. It might also be a month from now too. We could have a lot of indictment weeks. How do you think New Yorkers treated former President Donald Trump? I think they treated him like a Florida man. He don't belong to us no lon.

Okay? You're not from Queens anymore. He's a citizen Marlada. And you saw New Yorkers treating him as such. Yeah. Why wouldn't we? Do you think people were weeping when he was booked, as he claimed? Um, maybe George Santos and Marry Taylor Green were, but not me. Kick it back to LaGuardia? Kick it back to LaGuardia, maybe. Kick it back to LaGuardia?

Which is in your district? Yes, it's in my district. And so is Rikers. And so we have, I have to go in every single day, watching people get treated far worse for doing far less. And then, you know, it's like this red carpet that gets rolled out. I you hurt the their their their their their their their their the their th gets rolled out. I mean if you hurt one person you get 10 years in prison but if you hurt millions of people you get your name on a building. Congresswoman thank you for talking to me.

Of course, thanks for having me. Finding great candidates to hire can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. You might get a lot of resumes but not enough candidates with the right skills or experience. Zip recruiter finds amazingruiter. Zip Recruiter finds amazing candidates for you fast. And right now you can try it for free at Zip Recruiter. Zip Recruiter's smart technology identifies top talent for your roles quickly. Immediately after you post your job, Zip Recruiters' powerful matching technology starts showing you qualified

people for it. And you can use Zip Recruiters'er's's's's pre-sip Recruiter's pre-written invite to apply message to personally reach out to your favorite candidates and encourage them to apply sooner. Ditch the other hiring sites and let Zip Recruiter find what you're looking for, the needle in the haystack. Four out of five employers who post on Zip Recruiter within the first day. Try it for free at this exclusive web address.ziprecruiter.com slash zip. Again that's zip recruiter.com slash zip. Zip recruiter. The smartest way to hire. It's been said that nice guys finish last. But is that

really true? I'm Tim Harford, host of the Cautionary Tales podcast and I'm exploring that very question. Join me for my new miniseries on the Art of Fairness. We'll travel from New York to Tahiti to India on a quest to learn how to succeed without being a jerk. We'll examine stories of villains undone by their villainy and and monstrous self-devaring egos, and will delve into the extraordinary power of decency. We'll face mutiny on the vast Pacific Ocean, blaze a trail with a pioneering skyscraper, and dare to confront

a formidable empire. The art of fairness on cautionary tales. Listen on the Iheart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen tales. Listen on the IHart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Secretary Buda Judge, thank you so much. I apologize for being late. I took Amtrak. Okay. Secretary Buda Judge, we are here at the Department of Transportation, which is the hub, the central nervous system of America's infrastructure. Yet, America is a divided nation. So how do you bring us all together with projects that literally bring us together? Well, I think everybody loves a good transportation project. You know, even though not everyone voted for the infrastructure law, I have yet to meet anybody who is upset when we're fixing

an airport terminal, upgrading a bridge so that we can have a better, safer, more convenient experience getting around this country. What have been the biggest accomplishments at the DOT since you took over? So when we got here, you know, first of all, the biggest question back in 2021 about our airlines was whether they were going to go out of business. But then, as the demand returned, we started finding new tools to hold those airlines accountable for how they treat passengers. What are some of the areas that you think that the DOT could improve upon? Like have you had any roadblocks? See what you did there. Thank you.

You know, we're doing a lot right now to hold freight railroad companies accountable for their safety practices. But right now the fines are capped. For example, if we catch a railroad company in an egregious violation involving hazardous material to get somebody killed, the highest, toughest fine under the law that we can assess is about $250,000. That is not enough, in my view, to get the attention of a multi-billion dollar railroad company like a Norfolk Southern. Right now, there's a bipartisan proposal in the Senate. It's called the Railway Safety Act. And it would do a number of things that I've been calling for that I think would make a big difference.

You know, right now we're dealing with some, not all, but some Republicans on Capitol Hill who are saying, well, we don't want to do too much too fast when it comes to getting toughed on to act now. Why do you think some Republicans are stalling on this? Is it because they're too busy focused on starting culture wars? Well, I do think the culture wars are getting in the way sometimes. I mean, just the other day, I was testifying in the appropriation subcommittee explaining how our budget was going to help with things like railroad safety, air traffic control and other transportation needs. And we had to to to the to the the the the the their their their their their their their their th th thi thi thi thi thi thi thi. think think think the the the. theoe, the. the. thea theck. theck. thea. thea. the. the. the. the. the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. Ande. Ande. Ande. And, the. And, thea. Andea. Andea. And, toea. And, toea. Andea. Andea. And, toea. Andea. Andea. Andea. Andea. Andation needs. And we had to take a break so that they could all go and vote on a bill to kick transgender

teenagers off of sports teams. That was the priority for the House GOP that day. So these things really are getting in the way of our ability to get work done. We're literally building bridges, and they're literally banning books. Is the Department department department department department department department department department department department department department department department the department the department the department department the department the department the department department the department department the department the department banning books. Is the Department of Transportation going woke? I don't think it's woke to build good infrastructure. I just saw Fox News taking a run of me for the work that we're doing on safety, including the use of crash test dummies that simulate men, women, and children. And somehow this is considered a woke priority to have female crash test dummies,

even though not something that's been around for a very long time. Fox News has made loads of false statements about you over the years. What do you think? You think it's a lawsuit time? You know, cash in on some of that 787 million coin? It does sound like there's a lot of money in it, but I think that probably be a bit of a distraction in my case. Possibly, but you know, I mean, it could help fund some of these projects. Yeah, I think I'd prefer to go through the appropriations process, but the amount of money in that lawsuit is as much as some of our nationwide transportation infrastructure programs. Oh yeah, I mean, that could repair at least hundreds of feet a tunnel. Sep the tunnel. Yeah. Secretary Buda Judge, thank you for chatting with us.

Thanks for joining us. Real quick, before I go, can I just get a quick reimbursement for the train that I took out here? I was literally on the train for about 12 hours straight. Sorry to hear that. And this was the Acella. This was like the best train. train. train. train. train. train. train. train. train. train. to to to to to to to be thiae, to thi. to be to to to be to the to be to be to be to be to be to be to be the to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the the the the the the the the thi. thi. thi. thi. the the the the the the the the the the, the the the, the the. theateate. the thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. toe. toe. toe. the. to ththat. And this was the Acella. This was like the best train that America has to offer. So if I can just get a little little refund. You're gonna have to take that up with Amtrak. Okay. So you'll turn it in? You know sure happy to send it along for you. Yeah, thank you. I think it could use your stamp of approval. We don't actually use stamps anymore here. Oh, hey, hey 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's to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to 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. the. the the. the. the. the thee. the the theeeea. theea. to to theeeeeeea. to to theeee. the. the. the. Oh hey thanks you're looking up. Thank you secretary really was an honor thank you so much. Appreciate it. Yeah same here. I hope

you enjoy the trip. This is incredible. Do you mind if I just take a spin around a little bit? Okay great. Or I could just describe things to you. It's okay now I'll just sneak into some of these desks. What does this do? Oh please don't touch that? or the th. the th. th. th. th. th. the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. tho. tho. th. to thi thi thi tho. to to to th th to th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. th. th. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the. the. the. the. the. to the to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to tooooooooo. I the. I the. I the. I ts to them. That's okay. Now I'll just sneak into some of these desks. What does this do? Oh, please don't tou tou tou. This? Or really any of that? Yeah, just, just, yeah. A low operator.

Just use your eyes, yeah. How do I tu. this on? Again, please don't touk. Can I borrow your badge? No. Just quick. I'll give it back. Yeah. That's fun. Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by searching the Daily Show, wherever you get your podcasts. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Fairmount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast. Do nice guys really finish last. I'm Tim Harford, host of the Cautionary Tales podcast, and I'm exploring that very question.

Join me for my new mini-series on the Art of Fairness. From New York to Tahiti will examine villains undone by their villainy, monstrous self-devaring egos and accounts of the extraordinary power of decency. Listen on the IHart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Survivor 47 is here, which means we're bringing you a brand new season of the only official Survivor podcast, On Fire, and this season we are joined by Fan Favorite and Survivor 46 Runner-Up, Charlie Davis to bring you even further inside the action. Charlie, I'm excited

to do this together. Thanks, Jeff, so excited to be here and I can't wait to bring you inside the mind of a survivor player for season 47. Listen to On Fire, the official Survivor podcast starting September 18th, wherever you get your podcasts.