The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Barack Obama - Protecting Democracy and Committment to Facts

Episode Date: June 22, 2023

“Democracy requires, by definition, getting along with people who don’t agree with you.” Former President Barack Obama discusses why he believes the youth turnout made all the difference in Democratic victories in the midterms; how globalization, disinformation, and the media infrastructure are contributing to the weakening of democracy globally; and what advice he has for Trevor after The Daily Show.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Our guest tonight is here to discuss the inaugural Obama Foundation Democracy Forum and how he's training the next generation of young leaders in the U.S. and around the world. Please welcome the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Yeah. That's right. I am, uh... I should have brought Michelle here so that she said. This is how I'd like to be greeted when I come home. But I feel like Michelle's the star in that show, right? Oh, absolutely. Mr. President, welcome to the Daily Show. It is wonderful to see you. Do you miss your name, by the way? Because everyone calls you Mr. President, but I feel like I would, like if people call me

like Mr. Daly, I would miss. I would miss your name sometimes? You know, my best friends call me Barack. Okay. Okay. You should call me Mr. President. Oh, I was... Welcome to the show. Let's start with, I mean, the most pressing news. The midterms just happened, you know, America voted, the house is flipping.

Democrats have held onto the Senate. Many credit you for coming out and pushing out, you know, people to vote. I would love to know two parts to that. You know, number one. Do you feel pressure whenever you ask to come out. It the the the the the the the the th. th. th. th. th.'s like in the movies when they need that home run and the bases are loaded and the teams are losing and they go, Barack, we need you to hit this out of the park, we might lose everything.

Do you feel the pressure, does it get to you? And second of all, what does it say about the state of the Democratic Party that they always need you to come out out and do out and do out and do out out out out out out to come to come to come to come to come to come to come to come to come to come out out out out out to come to come to come out the reason we did better than expected can be attributed to not me or anything I did but it has to do with A, we recruited some excellent candidates. You look like at Westmore in Maryland, Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania. You look at our Senate candidates, you know, a John Federman and Mark Kelly. They are committed, passionate, down to earth. They connect with people.

And so I come in mainly to shine a spotlight on them. So that's point number one. And the second thing that happened in this midterm, and we've seen it now for three elections, so I'm starting to feel pretty hopeful that this is a habit. Young people are voting. And you've got higher... It has been many times remarked how I got thumped during midterms during my presidency. And part of it was that voting rates were really low. In some sense, I think a lot of Democrats felt, all right, Obama's there, we'll be okay.

And if it turns out that McConnell and Boehner and others suddenly have power, then that greatly restricts what a president can do. And I think that lesson was learned. Trump comes in and suddenly 2018, 2020, and now this one. You've seen young people come in, and they're typically voting at a rate of 70 to 30, 60 to 40 Democrat to Republican. And that makes a huge difference. And so they're, uh, but maybe, but, but maybe, that. And, that. And that. And that. that. that. that. What, that, that, the president, the president, the president, the president, the president, the president, the president, the president, the president, the president, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, the president. that, the president. What that, the president the president the president the president the president the president the president the president the president the president the president, the president, the president, the president, the president, the president. the president. the president. the president. the president. the president. the. the. the. the. the, the, the. the, the, the, the, the-that, the-that, the-that, the-that, the-that, the-that, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the 40, to 40 Democrat to Republican. And that makes a huge difference. And so their enthusiasm, I think,

is what really drove this election. I agree with that in terms of the people who actually voted. But young people don't seem to be turning out as much. So the ones who did vote voted overwhelmingly Democrats. But then the number of young voters seems to be dwindling from election to election. And many young voters are saying they feel disillusion. They feel like America hasn't made away for them. They don't see a future for themselves.

Well, look, what is always true is young people are going to vote at slightly lower rates than old people like me. Because they've got better things tho better tho better tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho thi better better better better better better better better better better thi to do. Michelle and I are sitting at home, you know, eating dinner. We've kind of run out of things to say. Well, let's go vote. Young people, Malian Sasha, they're out. They got all kinds of stuff. So that's always going to be the case that young people's voting rates are a little bit lower.

They are higher now than they were in the midterms when I was president. And in such a polarized environment, one, two, three percent, if they're turning out at 21 percent instead of 18 percent, that can make an enormous difference. Right. When you look at that tiny difference, you still see the places where I mean people got into power despite the fact that they deny elections. I think Republicans got 170 election deniers into Congress. People who don't believe in the way America's running its elections. People who don't believe Joe Biden should be president or they'll be vague about their answers. What do you, what do you think it says about American democracy that so many people are getting

elected to these positions when they, they seem to dismiss the election itself? Well, the, the interesting thing is, you notice election deniers don't deny their own election. Funny believe that some of the nonsense that circulates versus those who think it's convenient or it's a way to own the LIBs or it's a way to send a message or align themselves with Trump, that's hard to say. But what is important is that because of some really concerted efforts in a lot of important states, some of the most egregious, prominent, and potentially dangerous election deniers, they got thumped.

They got beat. And particularly in the Secretary of State's races and in some cases governor's races where in the next presidential election you could have somebody who could really do some damage. There I think we held the line. Now what it does say more broadly is the fact that not just here in the United States but around the world the fundamental precepts of democracy are being challenged. Right. We're not having arguments about policy, but we're having arguments about the rules of

the game, which previously we all agreed to, right? There was a notion that, all right, we run elections, whoever gets the most votes actually wins, the loser concedes, goes back and tries to do better next time. And what we've seen now for a whole host of reasons is a creeping sense that if the outcome's not what we want, then we can do whatever we want and say whatever we want in order for us to win. And that is profoundly dangerous. And as I said, it's not unique to the United States. But when it happens in the United States,

it sends a signal all around the world that weakens democracy. And that's why I think us getting our house in order is so important. When you look at the discourse in the country as well, and around the world, but again, I think you're correct in that America in that America in that America as a that America as a that America as a that America as a that America as a thi as a thi as a thi as a thi as a thi as a thi as a thi as a thi thi thi thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thiioliolou, thiolou, thiolioli, thi, thiou-a, thiou-a, thiou-a, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toei. toeii. toei. toei. thi. thi. thi. the discourse in the country as well, and around the world, but again, I think you're correct in that America is a leader in What's happening right now? The discourse has become so toxic Yeah, you you were you were in every single state you were meeting with people all the way from? You know through to California wherever you you were meeting people on the ground. They were listening to you. There was an openness even though people had different political affiliations. It seems like that has eroded over time. And I wonder what you make of that.

Where do you think it's coming from? Do you think it's social media? Do you think it's the tenor of politicians and the capital? That's two things. The biggest change that's taken place. When I ran for, let's, let, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, the their, their, the biggest, the biggest, the biggest, the biggest, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, tha, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi..o, thi..s..s, thi..s, thoes..s. We's, thoeses. We's, thoeseseses. We. We's, tha, tha, thoes. Wea, thi. Wea, thi. Wea, thi..s..s..s, thooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooes. It's, is. It's, is....... You go down state, that's the South. I mean, it's rural, it's conservative. There aren't a lot of folks who look like you or me. And certainly, there are more Trevvors than there are Barrochs in these areas. But, and, uh, and, uh,

and I'm driving around. I've got, you know, a map for young people here, it's this paper thing. You can't figure out how to fold it back, but it's how you find your way on roads. But I'd go into a town and it'd be 70% Republican, you know, a lot of evangelicals, etc. But I could go to a diner or a VFW Hall or a county fair. I could go to the local newspaper and the owner there is conservative and he's got a bow tie and buzzcut. He's kind of skeptical about my ideas. But there wasn't the filter that had been created

by Fox News or the media infrastructure, the sort of right-wing conspiracy theory folks. And so they came at me with an open mind, and I could listen to them and they could listen to me. And at the end of the day, they might say, well, he's a little liberal for our taste, but we have something in common. He talked about his mom getting sick.

I remember my mom getting sick. You know, it seems like he loves his kids. I love my kids. There was some sense of connection. And I think the filter now has become so thick. It started, I think, with Fox News and some of the other traditional media, and now with social media that's gotten turbocharged. If you go into those same communities now, they have so many preconceptions about what somebody like me believes, cares about, etc. That it's very hard to penetrate.

So I think the answer is both thinking about information flow and media and how can we break through that information bubble that people are in. That requires, by the way, progressives to get out of their media bubble, because we've got some preconceptions that I think create barriers as well. And then working a lot more locally, because you notice that when you're on the ground doing stuff, it's harder to stereotype people. And the nationalization of our politics, I think, has been damaging. The more we can focus on grassroots efforts, real world rather than just virtual meetings, conversations, that's what over time I think can help strengthen democracy.

And that's part of what our emphasis has been at the foundation is with young leaders who are working on the ground. Right. Coming up with new ideas to create those connections. Well, I definitely want to speak to you about democracy worldwide. I want to speak to you about disinformation and I want to speak to you about democracy worldwide. I want to speak to you about disinformation and what we can do to immunize ourselves from it. But we've got to take a quick break.

We'll be right back after this with more from President Barack Obama. Very good. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome back to the Daily Show. We are still here with President Barack Obama chatting democracy, disinformation, and who is better looking between us. I won. Let's start with...

You know, the 20 and 30. I mean, everybody's attractive when they're in the 20 and 30. I'm almost 40, sir. I'm almost 40. Yeah, almost. Almost. Yeah, almost. Let's live a little bit.

Let's talk about, I plan to let's talk about your foundation. Let's talk about what you're doing. We see you out there, you know, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, thi, thi, to, to, to, th, everybody, everybody, th, everybody, everybody, everybody, th, th, everybody, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, to, to, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, tha, tha, tha, tha, thi, thi, thi, tha, th about, I plan to, let's talk about your foundation. Let's talk about what you're doing. We see you out there, you know, we see you talking about democracy. The world isn't a really interesting place in that, you know, a few years ago, I think the world was like 49, 50% of the world was, you know, you could say the countries were democratic, you know, they had elections, people won those elections, the elections, the elections, the elections, I think 70% of the world is living in a state where they either ruled, where it's a complete autocracy or it isn't a democracy. Two things, again, one, why do you think the world has gotten there? You know, if democracy and freedom are things that everybody wishes to have, why does it seem like

the world is moving away from that? And then secondly, what can we do or why should we then try get back to this democracy? If you look at the trend lines, there are a bunch of factors, I think. Globalization, the global economy, disrupted a lot of traditional societies. What do you mean? Well, you know, the global supply chain eliminates industries,

eliminates jobs. Got it. Increases, you know, the wealth gap, not only between countries but within countries, right? And then modernity challenges people's traditional notions of religion and family and gender roles. And you've got these culture clashes, right? You're in some village in Yemen and suddenly your kid has a phone and it's looking at the Kardashians and right.

And you're, so you get this vertigo. And what happened, what you've seen happen happen I think in a whole bunch of places is essentially a pushback, a backlash to change that is happening too fast for their comfort and when people are pushing back against change then they're vulnerable to politicians who say you know what I can make things just like it was back then. When you were feeling more important, you had higher status, you know, you didn't have people who don't look like you suggesting somehow that, you know, you're doing something

wrong, that somehow your traditions are flawed. And that appeal usually also involves saying the problems you're feeling are somebody else's fault. It's those folks there. It's immigrants, it's gays, it's Hindus, it's Muslims, it's... so forth and so on. And that then gets turbocharged with the information issues that we talked about.

And look, democracy requires, by definition, getting along with people who don't agree with you. And the other thing that happens is these countries are becoming less homogeneous, right? And so you just had a right-wing party in Sweden, which we always used to, Swedes, right? They're, oh, they're so chill and democratic, right? But if you've got a whole bunch of immigrants coming in, and, and, and, and, then, and, and, and, and, and, the, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, 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, 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, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they-c, they-c, their their their the the other, cc, count, count, counts, counts, counts, counts, counts, counts, counts, counts, their, their, the, right? They're, oh, they're so chill and democratic, right? But if you've got a whole bunch of immigrants coming in, suddenly people start getting nervous. And so part of what I think we have to do is to stand fast on the principles of equality and self-governance,

and representation, and everybody gets a seat at the table. But I think we have to also find a language and a story, a way of telling the story about how we can get together that does not threaten people who are uncomfortable with change as much. And that's, you know, going to be different for different countries. But I'll give you an example. There's a young leader who we worked with from Slovenia. She's part of our network, who was an advocate for doing something about domestic violence. The laws of that country didn't have domestic violence. It was a real problem.

Ran a referendum, it got crushed. And we worked with her and suggested, well, maybe you want to talk to the people who didn't vote for it. So she goes out to these rural villages with these older, traditional, rural, very religious, very conservative women, and just interviewed them and listened to them and talk to them. And it's not that they agreed that that that that that that that that that that that they that they they they they they they they they they they they agreed they agreed they agreed they agreed they agreed they agreed they agreed they agreed they agreed they agreed they agreed they agreed they agreed they agreed they agreed they th that ththat they agreed ththat ththat ththat ththat ththat th that 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 their their their their their. their their their, thr. thr. thr. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. the. the. the listened to them and talked to them. And it's not that they agreed with domestic abuse, it's that they thought their way of life was being challenged. She adapted their language, ran the referendum again a few years later, and it passed, right? Because she adopted the language that made them feel as if, okay, this is not so much of a, you know, earthquake, a huge change in how we live, but it's rather affirming our best values. And I think us finding ways to do that in a

consistent way will help. But it's hard. Yeah, look for most of human history, democracy is a relatively recent vintage. It's a blip. You know, tribe, you know, nation-state, race, sect. You know, that's typically been how we organize things and it's always easy to say us versus them. That'sthat's that's the easy politics. What what democracy demands is always a little bit more difficult. It also feels like you know when when you observe it. There are two elements that I that I often see is on the one hand storytelling as you said it's often easier to tell a story of blame. Yes. Why ares going wrong? It's because of that person. It's simple. There's the person.

We've solved it. Why are things going wrong? Well, there's a confluence of factors, and you have this and you have the economy. You got to understand the supply to. That's not anthink for many people it feels like, it feels like the populists come in and just do, you know, whether it is in Brazil, you know, with it's Bosonaro, you know, whether it's in America, with Trump, whether they're just going to do. And whether they do or don't actually do it, it feels like they're going th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the th. th. th. th. th. th. the th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi's thi's, the the the the thi's thi's the the the the the the the the the the the pop. It's, the pop. the pop. the pop. the pop. the pop. the pop. the pop. It's the pop. It's the pop. It's the pop. It's the pop. It's the pop. It's the po. It's the po. It's the po. It's the the the the the the th. the th. th. thi. thi. thi. tea. tea. tea. tipeoooooooooooooo tipe. tipe. the. the. the going to do. But then some people go, oh, but when we get the freedom people, they want to talk and

they want to discuss and it seems incremental and it seems like things won't change. Do you, is there a way to combat that? Because it is a feeling a lot of the time. Well, yeah, look, if you want to be a progressive, pluralist, plural, plural, plural, to be a progressive, to be a progressive, to be a progressive, to be a progressive, to be a progressive, to be a progressive, to be a progressive, to be a progressive, to be a progressive, to be a progressive, to be a progressive, to be a progressive, to be a, to be a, to be a, to be a, the, to be a, to be a, to be a, to be a, to be, to be, to be, to be, toist, tolerant Democrat, and I don't mean small D Democrat, I don't mean Democratic Party. You know, you can't be a wuss. I mean, you've got to have a story with some swag. You've got to be able to sell the future and deliver. And also call out the fact that what those folks say they're going to do, they almost never do. Right? Because the

truth of the matter is that when you look at, we have experiments, those countries that have the ability to harness everyone, and everybody participates and there's consent and people feel like, all right, this is working for us, versus places that are failed states, you know, the track record of democracy is pretty good. But, you know, we have to be forceful in making our argument. And what is true is that, you know, we can't just talk, we've got to walk to walk,

which is why we're having a form in New York. One of the topics that we're talking about is inclusive capitalism. People are, when you think about, let's say, here in the United States, there's greater appeal of right-wing populism in a lot of communities, rural communities, that they're not wrong that the economy, the global economy, has shifted away from them to urban centers, even in their own states. And so the opportunities in Austin, Texas are different than in a rural community in East Texas. And people notice that. So we have to spend some time thinking about how are we delivering on behalf of people whose lives,

who used to work in a factory, who used to farm for a living, and have dignity and worth and stability and security in those lives. And now suddenly, they don't feel as if they've got the lottery ticket in this existing economy. That does have to be addressed and in places like Africa, you know, right now you have, let's say China coming in heavy presence in a lot of these countries, providing a lot of foreign aid, a lot of strings attached, a lot of Chinese workers coming in to build big buildings. Right, them owning the ports, etc. But if we're not there, if we're not helping build that road, if we're not there to build

that port, then naturally people are going to start thinking, well maybe that's a recipe for bettering my life as opposed to some flowery language but has nothing behind it. Right, right. Right. Right. Right. I wonder though, do you think inclusive capitalism is somewhat of a paradox? You know, it feels like, you think it's possible?

Because it feels like, I mean, capitalism is designed to extract as much wealth as possible from every single interaction that it can. But look, you know, I mentioned, you know, Sweden and some of the problems they're having because of immigration. On the other hand, you look at Scandinavian countries, they're capitalist countries. But some people would argue that their foundation is more, you know, socialist and then they go with, it's almost like they go, we're socialist first and then capitalism is our undercurrent. Not really. You don't agree with that? Well, if you go there, essentially people are taxed more and they have more common goods. But you're still going around at a job and you get paid and you know, you can't, it's not

like you're going into the store just grabbing whatever you want, walking out. All right, see it. But the reason I'm asking that is because, you know, you got to pay for it, right? And the guy, did I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I the the the the cash, the cash, the cash, the cash, the cash, the cash, the cash, the cash, the cash, the cash, the cash, the cash, the cash, the cash, the cash, the the the the the the th. the the cash, th. th. th. th. th. the the the the the the the they. they they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, their. their. their, their. their. their, their, their. their, their, they. they're, they're, you. they're, you. they're, you're, you're, you're, you're th. they're that. they're, you're, you're they're ta. they're, you're they're they're they're they the guy, the cash registers check and did I make a profit here today. Right, but the reason I'm asking that is because I, and maybe it's the words that fail that sometimes, I often, you know, I'll talk to my friends about this. It's interesting that we sort of stopped. We went, oh, there's there's socialism, oh, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, the, there's, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, the, the the the, the, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, right, right, the, right, 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 tha, right, this is it, there's capitalism, and that's that. I sometimes wonder, is there not something better? Is there not something we could be moving to words? Maybe I should be asking, what is inclusive capitalism? The reason I just used, let's say a Denmark as an example, is not because it's going

to work perfectly in India, the United States, et cetera. The point, though is is they've got some blend, some mix. Right. There is an advantage in terms of efficiency and also freedom to a market system. Okay. You have a control system, you know, some guy in an office is deciding how many potatoes we're going to grow this year, that usually doesn't work. Right. The flip side of it is that what we've also learned is that if some guy in a boardroom is deciding I'm going to ravageage the the to ravage to ravage the to ravage the to ravage to ravage the to ravage the to ravage the to ravage the to ravage the the the to ravage the the the the the the the the the the the the to the to to the the the the the to toe, their toe, their their their their their their 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 the the the the the the the the the their.a.a. I'm the the the the th. thea. thea. tea. tea. tea. tea. tea. tea. tea. tea. tea. tea. I. tea. the what we've also learned is that if some guy in a boardroom is deciding, I'm going to ravage the environment to do whatever I want, that doesn't work either. So we're going to have a blend of some sort.

We want some collective decision making about the social good, and we want something that's efficient and dynamic and allows us to exercise our innovation and freedom. And we don't need to worry so much about the labels as we do about being practical and thinking about what's working and what isn't. And this is going back to the information issues. This is part of why, to me, one of the biggest challenges of democracy is not just the mechanics of elections or the independent judiciary. Those

things are all important, but this is why this information and media issue is so important because what we've seen here in the United States and elsewhere is a abandonment of a commitment to facts and reason and logic and logic and, and, you know, and the, and, and, you know, the, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and the, and, and the, and the, or the, or the, or the, or the, or the, or the, or the, or the, or the, or the, or the, or the, or the, or, or, or, or, or, and the, and the, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, the, and, 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 United States and elsewhere is a abandonment of a commitment to facts and reason and logic and you know stuff that Is useful And and and some would say it necessary necessary and if we can't have a debate based on facts then we can't get to? Better solutions, right? We start talking in slogans and nonsense and there's no reality check. We just make stuff up. I didn't lose an election. You know, there's something broken over there. And it's impervious to

facts. So part of what I think, why I've been spending a lot of time thinking about this information issue is how do we, in how we teach our kids, in either industry standards or and or regulation of these social media platforms, how do we get back to the point where you can have opinions, we all do. But facts matter and proof matters and our capacity to debate and say, you know what, if we do things this way, it might work better, then you may disagree, but at least we agree, we agree to a set of rules whereby we can arrive at a better solution. Do you think it's possible to get to that place when almost half, let's just talk about the United States, almost half the country says

well what are those rules and why are you even deciding them and why are we having this conversation, you are not even a fact. How do you, I honestly mean how do you get to that place with people? The, where you can't the the they they th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. 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 to to to to to to to to th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the in those places that are just inundated with what I consider to be nonsense and lies and distortions, when people operate in their own lives, they're still operating on facts, right? On their jobs, when they're coaching their kids Little League or their soccer game or football game, they don't let the ref just kind of say, ah, you know what? This time we're just going to get five points for the touchdown. It's like, wait, wait, wait, folks on the sideline say,

nope. It's six points for the touchdown, and then you get the extra point. And so we abide by all kinds of facts in our own lives. It's just this national story that is being told where we allow lies to be told and we accept them, mainly because it turns out that when we tell a story about the other side it makes us feel better. It's like, ah, you know know Trevor, he's a jackass. You should see. And it has to be me. Well, you happen to be sitting here. And so we enjoyed the performative aspects of making stuff up and part of that is because we don't think there are consequences to it. Now what we learned from the election of my successor, from the pandemic, from the insurrection

is actually the stories we tell do matter. And having some baseline of sticking to the truth when you're telling stories about our country, about policy, but also about the other side, that matters. And I like to think that part of what happened in this election is people said, okay, you know, some of this stuff's getting a little too crazy. It turns out that there is a majority of country that does prefer normal, not crazy. And that's, and that's a basis for hope.

I could talk to you for hours about this. I know you don't have the time. It has been wonderful having you here though. It's also been wonderful seeing, you know, what you're getting up time. It has been wonderful having you here though. It's also been wonderful seeing you know what you're getting up to because after you you know we had the pleasure of interviewing you at the White House just before you left and then afterwards I saw you kite surfing and I loved it I loved it by the way. Great technique but I often wonders like you know what is Mr. president gonna do next where does he go and you know producing shows about issues around the world and now you've

got this forum. I wondered if maybe, you know, you have any tips for me as, you know? Because, well, because you and I, like, we're basically the same, you know, we're basically the same. You know, I think you're going to have to have the same, to have to have the same, to have the same, to have to have to have to have to have to to to to to to to to to to to to the same to to the same the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same, the same. We basically the same. We basically basically basically basically basically basically basically basically basically basically basically basically, you're basically, you're basically, you're basically, you know, you're basically, you know, you're basically, you're basically, you know, basically, you're basically, basically, you're basically, basically, basically, basically focus on relearning things, like driving, pressing your own elevator buttons. I think you have very different ideas of what my job is and what your job is. What was the last time you're at the dry cleaners? I was actually on 53rd Street. That's I go, I take it myself.

Yeah, we have very, you, you don't, you're very like, you know, that's like, like I said, you missed the president forever. You have secret service forever, that's correct, right? I do. And it, uh, I barely get to keep my hoodies after this. I still am in a bubble. I thought I could escape it. Quick story since we're in New York. I used to say, oh, you know what, once I get out of here,

I'm going to just be able to walk through Central Park. And it's going to be, you know, and I'll just put it on a baseball cap and it's going to be fine. And Michelle's all like, yeah, OK. Good luck with that. And the first time I tried it, I got half a block. And then suddenly there was this swarm, and there's phones, and traffic stopping, and it didn't work. So, um, so, you know, uh, I guess what I was going, uh, I, I guess what I was going, uh, I, I, I guess what, I, 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, and it, that, that, that, and it, and it, I, and it, I, and it, I, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, th, and, 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, I would say, though, is that you will be missed here. But, um, thank you. And, uh, but, but, but, but, but we were talking back stage, uh, you're already already following one piece of advice that I would

have is leave when your poll numbers are high. That's how they'll remember you. So, yeah, I'm excited. You know, I'm going to go on the road. I mean, I've said this to you before. You know, at the weather, it's the White Housethe White House correspondence dinner in Georgia when you're doing the speech, you're a very funny guy. So you want me to open for you? I got some shows in Chicago? It doesn't, you know what, not even open. I wouldn't dare. We could co-you know, you can't open for me. You're the, you're still Mr. President. We just do like you know what I mean? We just do like a, you know what I mean? We'll just. We just just just just just, you. You the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. We're just, you th. We're just, you th. We're just, you just, you just, you just, you just, you just, you just, you know, you know, you know, you just, you, you, you know, you know, you know, you just, you th, you th, you th. You're just, you th. You're just, you, you th. You're just, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you th. You're, you th. You're th. You're, you're to th. You're to to to th. You're just, you're just, you're just, you're just, th. You're just, th. You're just th. You're just to th. You know, th. You're just just to th. You're just, th. You're just, you're just, you to, youtour, you know what I mean? We'll call it half and half. You know what I mean? I like that. We can do it. We can do it. We can do it. We'll get our people in contact.

President Barack Obama everybody. Thank you so much. Explore more shows from the Daily Show from the Daily Show, 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.