The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Behind the Show: Jordan Klepper Discusses MAGA’s Putin Obsession

Episode Date: May 27, 2024

Jordan Klepper sits down with TDS Supervising Producer, Ian Berger, to break down the motivation and takeaways from their latest special, ‘Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: Moscow Tools.’ As pro-Russia and pro-Putin sentiment grows among Republicans, Klepper details the significance of Americans shifting their views on Russian authoritarianism at the direction of Donald Trump and with the help of Russian disinformation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show, coming out every Thursday. We're going to be talking about the election, earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday? Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. You're listening to Comedy Central. Hello, and welcome to the Daily Show, Ears Edition.

This is Ian Berger, supervising producer for the Daily Show. Hello, and welcome to the Daily Show Ears edition. This is Ian Berger, supervising producer for the Daily Show. We're here with Daily Show contributor, fresh off a trip to Estonia, right near the Russian border. Jordan Clepper, welcome. Jordan we're talking about your special. It's called Jordan Cleppers, fingers the pulse, Moscow tools, which is available to stream on Paramount Plus, the Daily Show's YouTube channel and video on demand. Jordan, what was it like making this special?

Yeah, well I'm gonna say it's our special. Thank you. We've done, we've done four specials now. A lot of specials. And they're all specials. This one was, honestly, I really like the process of making this special. I think we're finding an interesting rhythm of like this one, this one we were discovering something on the road. We go out in the road, we do the fingers, the pulse pieces, we're discussing and discovering

a shift in the narrative around Russia. And suddenly people on the road are embracing Vladimir Putin. They're talking about how beautiful Moscow looks and it feels like a 180 from Ronald Reagan's GOP. Absolutely. And I think obviously we kind of encounter some this this this this this this this this this this stuff this stuff thuuuuice thiiuiuiuiuiuiui, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, we thi, we're thi, we're thi, we thi, we thi, we thi, we th, we th, we th, we th, we th, we th, we th, we th, we th, we th, we th, we th. We will th. We will th. We're th. We're th. We're thi, we thi, we thi, we thi, we're thi, we're thi, thi, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, we're thin. And I think, obviously we kind of encounter some of this and you read about this stuff in the news and so you start down this path and we're like, we're going to go out into these rallies and see if this is actually what they're talking about. And honestly, the very first interview, love watching Vladimir Putin videos. Like right off the bat, home run. Putin is a battle leader runs his country.

He's a respectful person's first country. What do you like about Vladimir Putin? Vladimir Putin is off for freedom. I used to watch his videos fishing, firstback riding back in the day. You would do just for fun, you'd watch Putin horseback riding videos? Yeah. Who's a better leader? Vladimir Putin or Joe Biden? Putin.

She said, just to calm her down, as if watching Vladimir Putin fish and ride shirtless on a horse was like watching cute cat videos for her. Yeah, we were surprised. It was amazing. Like once, and it's kind of like you start off with that and you realize, well, this is actually a story. Well, even I remember we were starting to ask people too. There was a stat that came out that said, the MAGA voter base thinks Joe Biden, more than 50% thinks Vladimir Putin is a better president than Joe Biden, which seemed like a big number.

But as we started asking people about this, I think, gosh darn every single person at this event had no problem lauding Vladimir Putin, especially when put up against Joe Biden. And so this is where we started to say, like, oh, this is a thing. Yeah, so for us and for you, and like, what I think we're trying to discover was there is this shift that's happened in this party. Because traditionally, the Republicans are not a party that's, the, thoe, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, 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, 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, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi, thi. traditionally the Republicans are not a party that seems to be so cool with Russia. Yeah, that seemed to be kind of their whole calling card for a little while. Right, when I was a kid, that was the thing.

That was Reagan's thing. And that was what they're very proud of. But it seems to have changed. So to explore that change, what are some other things you wanted to do to do to do, to do, to do, the, the, the, the, the, the, thi, tho, tho, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, 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, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi.. thi. And, thi. And, thiiiiiiiiiiiii. And, thiii. And, thi. And, thi. And, thi. wanted to talk to? Well, I think a large question that bubbled up quickly as we started to look into this was, is this a special about Russian misinformation? Yes, but it's very much a special about American gullibility. Of like, are we these useful idiots, which is a term Vladimir Lenin supposedly coined about American journalists, that they could be fed Russian propaganda and utilize it and put it out out 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 th American journalists that they were useful idiots. They could be fed a Russian propaganda and utilize it and put it out there for Russia's benefit. And so we wanted to look at the American useful

idiots, both those in power and those in power who speak to the people out at the rallies. But it was also bringing up a secondary question that was worth exploring for us, which is beyond, are we naive and just embracing Russian misinformation that is fed to us? Or is there a big part of the Republican Party right now that truly pines for Vladimir Putin's Russia that really wants an autocracy and the anti-wokeness and the anti-LGBTQ-Qu community that Putin promises? I think that's a bigger, scarier question that the Republican Party is reckoning with right now.

And so we wanted to jump in and talk to people kind of surrounding those questions. Yeah, and one of the first interviews we did was actually with a well-known Republican who's not someone you would often sit down and talk to. But had kind of the opposite view of how we should be approaching Russia. That was John Bolton. We sat down 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, tho, tho, and I tho, and I thi, and I tho, and I tho, and I tho, and I tho, and, and, and, and, tho, and, and, and, and, and, and, tho, and, and, tho, and, tho, and, and, tho, tho, and, tho, tho, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, thi. And, thi. And, I thi. And, thi. And, thi. And, thi. And, thi. And, thi. And, thi. And, tho. And, tho. And, tho. And, tho. And, tho. And, tho. And, tho. And, thi. That was John Bolton. You want to tell us about that? We sat down with the ambassador, John Bolton, and I think we talked, especially offline about this, of like, this story is so wild and bonkers and important, existentially, that

we find ourselves in a special like this talking to John Bolton and talking to an Estonian Prime Minister about the same thing. to John Bolton and talking to an Estonian Prime Minister about the same thing. And John Bolton, a part of three Republican administrations, he was right there with Donald Trump, and as we talked about, he's a guy who saw this up close, so much so that now he rails against it. he speaks out against the dangers of Donald Trump and his Putin fandom. And so we thought it was in, if we're going to talk to a Republican about about, change in the GOP, we might as well talk to the most Republican Republican we could find. And that was John Bolton, who's been in the room and has some opinions about that. It's just antithetical, not just to the philosophical beliefs of Ronald Reagan, but to the positive attitude about America and its prospects. So Reagan wakes up and he's shocked. Right.

And he's also like, what is this internet thing? Maybe we should send Stephen Seagal over there to kick Putin's ass. Wait a minute, Stephen Seagull already lives there. This is all too confusing. Let's just go back to ignoring AIDS. I think he'd be fascination with authoritarian leaders generally. I think Trump would like to be a big guy, but I don't think he's smart enough to be a dictator.

So is Trump, what's the term, an idiot? Well I think Rex Tillerson had the iconic two-word description of Trump, the first word I won't repeat even on your show, the second of which was moron. Okay, I'll throw it in there. That's pretty much on point. Yes, a fucking moron. Right. Can a fucking moron still be a useful idiot? I think the answer to that is yes and I think Vladimir Putin understands it. It was a good interview and it was friendly, which I think a lot of people might think was weird for us and it's unexpected. Like, this is not a story where we're going out to Fry John Bolton for being kind of a warhawk. This is a story about what's happening in Republican Party now that he witnessed firsthand,

which I think is kind of like what we wanted out of him and we got. We did have some conversations in the room about the Iraq war, and if some of his pushing for American overseas interventionism, if that causes and has some effects with people today being skittish about funding our military, we talked a little bit about that, but I think when we're putting this piece together, when we were talking about what the overall arc was, it was about looking forward as to like, who, what do we need to know about Donald Trump and his feelings towards Latimer Putin,

and more so, also this party that he heads right now, why has it moved in this direction? And Bolton was remarkably enlightening about all of that. And obviously Bolton can speak to kind of global threats that Russia poses that maybe, well certainly Donald Trump wasn't comprehending. He kind of talked to that. And the need for alliances, this is somebody who, you know, kind of is a big proponent of NATO and I think was kind of shocked that Donald Trump either didn't understand NATO

or was opposed to it. I mean, it's still, it's still crazy to think about, the news moves so fast, but to to to to to to it? I mean it's still it's still crazy to think about the news moves so fast but John Bolton in the Trump administration National Security Advisor I believe correct we ask him if he's a smart guy he points to Rex Tillerson who said he was a fucking moron and Bolton says he's a fucking moron. This person who is running this is third time running to be president he's a fucking moron. This person who is running, this is third time running to be president. He's leading at all the polls, like everybody around him, when asked if he knows what's going on in the world, says, no, he's a fucking moron. He doesn't comprehend

allyships. He doesn't understand the benefits of NATO. He has no understanding of history. He's just somebody who likes to be complimented and worries just about himself. It's still, it's still incredible that that information is out there and we haven't moved on from that story once we learned about it. We're still in the weeds of it all. Yeah, there's too much of that, unfortunately. So that's that feels like old news. It's all. Oh yeah, Donald Donald Trump's a fucking moron who doesn't understand. thrown. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th is th. th. th. th is th. th. th. th. thin. th. thin. thin thin th. that's thi that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that information is that's that's that information is that information. that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's not threaten. thr---------a. threaten. thr-a. that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's. Yeah, what else is new? Anyway, he's up nine points in Pennsylvania. Europe might be threatened, whatever. So at one point, John Bolton, in our discussions about Trump and Putin, Bolton said he thought Trump was too stupid to be a strong man. What do you think he meant by that?

Do you agree? I, again, I'm always a little bit of gas that that's what you think of the leader of the free world, who to be clear he's not going to vote against in the next election. Too stupid to be a strong man, so you're voting for Joe Biden? I'm going to vote for a third-party candidate. Thanks, John. Way to put your country ahead of a party, I suppose. Yeah, shocking. I don't know. I mean, I think Trump feels like he's trying to be a strong man.

I think what I hear in a comment like that is I don't see... Trump, Trump doesn't seem to think too many steps ahead. When I hear the stories of Vladimir Putin, I'm hearing stories of somebody who has a lot of tactics, is doing things that people don't understand behind closed doors, finding creative ways in which to hold on to power. I don't believe Donald Trump is finding creative ways to do it, but I think he might stumble into a strong man in the stupid as possible way. Yeah, I think, well, we went to Hungary, obviously, we looked at Victor Orban. A lot of people at that time described Victor Orban as like a more competent Trump. He's a lawyer, he th, he th, he th, he th, he knows, he knows, he knows, he knows, he knows, he knows, he knows, he knows, he knows, he knows, he knows, he knows, he knows, he knows, he knows, he knows, 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, thi, thi, thi, thi, is is is th, th, is th, is th, is th, is th, is thi, is thi, is thi, is thi, is thi, is thi, is thi, is thi, is thi, is thi, is thi, is thi. thi. thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. thi. thi. thi, is thi, is He's a lawyer. He knows how to like pull the levers.

So I feel like it's similar. So moving on next we talk to reporter, writer Julia Yaffe, who has obviously a lot of knowledge about Russia. She's from border race in Russia. Talk to me about that interview. What were you expecting? What could she illuminate? Here's something that we get to do in specials that we don't get to do in figures, the pulse pieces is we found this, the Washington Post posted these documents from the Kremlin, essentially talking points about ways in which they wanted to influence American culture, talking points they wanted to amplify in the American media. And what's remarkable is the things that Russia is pushing are the things that we're hearing out at Trump rallies. And so we thought it was an opportunity to do something we hadn't done before, which is

like, let's walk through this. We can show how Russian propaganda has made its way into the fields of Pennsylvania and Green Bay. So let's bring in Julia Yaffe, who is wonderful and has talked about, has a really complete understanding of America's relationship with Russia. I want it to actually like in Moscow today and she was able to kind of walk us through the information that the Kremlin is propagating in the US.

The best political influence campaigns are the ones where you don't invent anything, you just take the facts on the ground and you amplify them, right? And so what you see these fake accounts amplifying are arguments that I'm sure you've heard on the trail and at these rallies, which is that Democrats are globalists who care more about Ukraine than about the southern border. It's Russia's good and Ukraine is corrupt. It is corruption. They're taking advantage of the situation where they created.

It's by design. They're pumping money over there, and we know it's coming back to politicians' pockets here. Now it goes into the means of spreading this information. How are they going to do it? Well, you're going to use social media, but it says, the only place where they can spread this information without any censorship is I'm gonna let you guess. Where can they get the vitamins where you selling t-shirts? I'm red pill can't on truth socials. True social.

True social. Yes. The most useful of the idiots can be found on truth social. Oh or owning it. And I will say that was something that like we did our interview with Julia and We talked about many many things and even before we Just before we wrapped she kind of wanted to say like hey, can I say something and she that's always a good time of when whenever you're doing interview and they're like one more thing for the most part, thi Tho. And, that. the thin. the they, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, the, th, the, th, th, the, th, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, the, thin, they, and, and, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, 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, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, thin, thin. And, th's, th's, they. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, thi. And, th thi. And, thi. And, the. is what they're passionate about. Yes. It doesn't mean the interviewer is missing something and left something on the table. That's definitely not. Not it. No, no. Definitely not a sign of a. No, no. No, not at all. It's a sign of ato clarify especially like hey I don't think people actually

when we talk about Russia they don't actually understand what it's like in Russia right now and it's in the special she articulates like living underneath an autocratic regime is it's frightening and it takes away people's rights and she had some stories about small acts of dissidents being atted with brutal force and it harrowing and the same thing happened when we talked to the Estonian prime minister Where again not a result of bad interviewing technique. Yeah, but when we were being prepared yeah, we were basically about ready to end the interview The Estonian prime minister had a similar message Which again just clarifies when people get to sit down and talk about this? thus, th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thus, thus, thus, thus, thus, thus, thus, that thatu-it thatu-it thatu-it thate thi the thatu-it thatu-it thatu- thu- thu- thu- thu- thu- thu- thu- thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu-it, thu-it, thu-a, thu-a, it thu-a, it that that that that that that that that that that that that that that tha tha tha tha' thau-a tha'-a thau-a thau-a thau-a'-a'-a'-a that thru-a that that that the interview, the Estonian Prime Minister had a similar message, which again just clarifies when people get to sit down and talk about this, the thing that they want to articulate to the American public is the Moscow that you see, the Vladimir Putin, the

tough guy that is romanticized on the right. People who live underneath that regime, it's terrifying. The rights are stripped from them and it is not this beautiful, idyllic Christian, white landscape that the Maga folks want it to be. And over and over again, people were asking us to make sure that that message was heard. Yeah, I mean Julia talked about specifics, even things like students turning their teachers in for kind of being anti-war, like scary stuff like that. So frightening. Yeah, and Julia's connections to people in Russia, currently in Russia was interesting because she said she'll be on like text chains

and people like they'll be talking about these horrible abuses by Putin and jokingly referred to, well at least our subway stations are beautiful. Like obviously they don't feel that way. They they. They they. They're like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, they', like, they', they', they', they', they', they', they', they', they', they', they', they', they', they', they', they', they', they', they', they'll, their, like, like,to, well, at least our subway stations are beautiful. Like obviously they don't feel that way. They're like having a pretty subway station is not worth sacrificing all these rights. And we even, we laugh about the propaganda. The subway station was a big story about a month or so ago when tuckeer Carlson went over there and showed the beautiful subway stations, he showed the beautiful cheap bread, quote unquote. When we go to the Maka rallies, and we asked if people had seen that,

a lot of people had seen the Tucker Carlson interview, and they were just paroding everything they heard there. Moscow is a beautiful place. The propaganda, it works, especially when it's amplified by a pretty powerful, useful idiot. All right, hold that thought. We're going to take a quick break. We'll th. We'll th. We'll th. We'll quick break. We'll be right back with Jordan Clepper. Hey, everybody, John Stewart here.

I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show, coming out every Thursday. We're going to be talking about the election, earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday? Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart,

wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back. So Jordan, let's talk about Estonia. What was it like doing this segment there? Why did we go there? What brought us there? I think sort of, again, organically, we're piecing this special together. We're hearing things in the field, we're starting to articulate with Julia Yaffe, what we're hearing in the field and where that comes from. But frankly, what we started to understand was there's a misunderstanding on the ground

as to what life next to Russia actually looks like. And here comes Estonia. A place that John Bolton said, if you're going to go, go now. And that's because they're pretty dark. It's a pretty dark thing to say, but that fear is palpable. Estonia is on the border with Russia. There is talk right now that if Putin goes unchecked, that he will continue to be the aggressor, and Estonia very well could be next. And so this was an opportunity for us to go talk to the Estonian prime

minister, learn a little bit about the importance of NATO, and again, try to close the gap from our perceptions and our reality. Because when you're halfway across the globe in Pennsylvania, your assumptions as to what Russia is like is very different than when you're a handful of kilometers, when you're a handful of kilometers, you have a handful of the-o'er, you have a handful of towar, you're back in America right now, Jordan. You're back in America. You don't have to use it. I know you're still in that frame of mind. I'm wearing a Tollin t-shirt. But we use Miles here. We do, right?

Rightfully, logically, use Miles. I still can never wrap my head around it. It makes so much sense. It's not even worth spending any more time on. That's how much sense Miles makes. I want to talk about meeting the prime minister in a the the the the the the critic of Putin, has been front and center and the need to kind of strengthen NATO. As we said in the special, she's on a Vladimir Putin most wanted list and kind of proud of that, which is kind of interesting. For a fascinating reason too, right?

She was taking down essentially Russian, I believe it was a Russian tank. But now functioning as a monument to that occupation, exactly exactly, thi. Right, thi. Right, thi. Right, thi. Right, thi. Right, thi. Right, thi. Right, thi. Right, thi. Right, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. 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, thi. thr. thr. thr. throooooo. thea. theateate. theateate. their, their, their, their, their, the I believe it was a Russian tank. But now functioning as a monument to that occupation. Exactly, yes, which I think is an interesting comparison to what is happening in the US as well. A Russian tank was out there and as the Ukrainian war amplified, she was like, why do we have these monuments to Russian aggression here? Let's take this thing down. Vladimir Putin doesn't like it, and now she's on the most wanted list. How dare you take my tank away? Let my take stand. Let this tax stand. There were some other reasons that this was an interesting story and the right place to go and we didn't have time to touch on all of them in the special but one thing about Estonia is that it, like Ukraine,

like Ukraine, Putin will use that as an excuse to send in his military and use it as cover to say, I'm protecting these Russian-speaking citizens, they feel threatened, you know, they need my protection, so I'm sending troops in. And that could very easily be the same logic. One thing we learned just before we went there, which is almost maybe even hours before we got on a plane to go to Estonia, was that apparently Russian security forces had been jamming the GPS systems of planes coming to land in Estonia from Finland so much so that the planes had to turn around. And these are not military aircraft, these are just like planes of people, tourists, citizens going into Estonia that couldn't land in Estonia

because the Russian military was screwing with their GPS systems, which is really frightening. Yeah, especially when you send me that article, hours before we got on a plane to fly to Estonia. And we're going through Finland. You're like, oh, this is a, there's a chance there's a chance, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, th. the, the, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. 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, thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. th. th. th. th. th. th. thr. th. th. th. thr. Cool, anyway, I'll see it at the airport. Right, and I truly was like, it won't be a big deal, and I was like, it won't be a big deal. And I should look at ferries from Finland to Estonia, in case we don't get out of Finland. And at that point, I'm like, is Finland by Estonia? Oh, I was aware. I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I, like, like, like, like, like, like, oh, oh, oh, like, like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, I, I, I, I, I was like, I, I was like, like, I was like, I was like, like, I, like, I, like, like, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, like, like, like, I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. I th. days. For days. I knew it really well after I was on that big GPS map for about 40 minutes on the plane.

I knew it. I knew it. You always do your research. That's what's so impressive. You definitely get on that plane and you zoom in. You use those two fingers to zoom in and be like, oh, that's where all the country. That's where Helsinki is. Now I know. Poland, over there, cool. We could go there. Another thing I will say, even just walking around Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, you see signs of like

their reaction to Russia everywhere. In this beautiful old town or old city section is the Russian embassy. And what was that like? It was, it's remarkable. It's blocked off and it's a whole city block full of just protest symbols. Images of Navalny, even little shrines to Navalny, who passed away recently. Ukrainian flags, anti-Puton sentiments, graffiti, things of that nature. I remember walking through the town square and at one of the restaurants in the town square had both in Estonian and English essentially asking when Putin was going to kill himself like Hitler did in a bunker right like where are we going to go to

dinner oh okay that's not a menu what do they serve here oh oh oh they serve here oh oh a Putin suicide okay what's the exchange rate for something like that but it was it's palpable there it's all part of the conversation the conversation 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 th th th th th that that that that that. that. that. It's that. It's tho-I th. thi thi thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi thi thi thi thi th. th. th. 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 thi thi thi thi thi thi the the the thea thea thea thea thea thea thea thea the's the exchange rate for something like that? But it's palpable there. It's all part of the conversation. People were very blunt and open about it. Also, side note, Estonia is a beautiful country. And Tallinn was such a lovely, lovely town.

I had no expectations of what it was like in Estonia. And this old town area with these cobblestone streets to medieval city it also has a bar that's the de pesh mode bar that is just depech mode music that you go into a basement and they play depesh mode on videos and they have paraphernalia and it was a depest mode that's the today That's the good thing. That's the good thing. And also, I don't believe there's any Estonian connection to Depeshmode, but there is a Depeshmoed bar in Estonia that, guys, put it on your bucket list. Get there. Depeche Mode bar, thii. theate theee. thee, thiiii. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. Theed. the. Theed. Thea. Thea. Thea. Thea. Thea. Thea. That's, tho. That's the. tho. That's tho-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-bde-bue. th-bue. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the. the. the. the. the. G. I I's-s. I's-s. I's-s. I's-s. I's-s. I's-s. I's-s. I's-s. I's-s. I's-s. I guess. I guess. I thooeapea-a-a-a-a-apea-a-ddea-apea-ddea. G. I tho. G. G. G. G, I think it's DePesh Mode Bar in Estonia. Yeah, but I will say one thing back to kind of this anti-Russian sentiment and this support for Ukraine.

On the Prime Minister's residence in Estonia, every night they kind of project the Ukrainian flag, which I couldn't imagine them doing something like that here in America. Imagine if the White House had another flag projected on it? Well, I believe didn't we waive flags on the, we passed funding for Ukraine military. There was some waving of Ukrainian flags and that was not widely accepted as a lovely thing to do if I recall. So, yes, it's very clear. Like when we got to meet the Prime Minister, which was really an honor for us to meet to meet to meet to meet to meet to meet the to meet the the to meet the thiiiii, the thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the the the thi, thi, thi, th. their, their, the the the the the the the the the the the the the White, the the White, the the the the the White, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thi, the thi, the thi, thi, thi, thi, thr.. thr. I, thr. Ioooooooooooooo.eauuiaugh, toe, thr.eateateat, thr.eat, toe.eat, thr. thr. Like when we got to meet the Prime Minister, which was really an honor for us to meet a head of state like that, she welcomed us in and to be very clear, they are supportive of Ukraine and their battle here.

They see it as not only important morally, but also for their own safety. They give more money percentage-wise to NATO and to military than the US does. And so she was very forthcoming about about about about about about about about about about about the the their their toeeaa and thoony. thoenierierierierierierierierierierier. thii. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. tho. tho. tho. thi, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it is is, it is, th. th. th. th. th. thi. th. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. It's thi. It's thi. It's very thi. thi. It's very thi. It's the. It's to the. It's to to to to to to to to toe. to the.the US does. And so she was very forthcoming about that and that importance, the history of Estonia and the Estonian people and specifically the history under Soviet occupation and how again this is a history that they are grappling with and understand and have memories of. And this is part of the reason they're pushing back against that because they really feel colonialism don't stop and it could continue and it could continue soon if there isn't a real unified force to stop it.

Right and she I mean I thought it was especially interesting she described her own experience as a child. Everybody is poor peace but we understand what peace under Soviet or Russian occupation means. You had mass atrocities, mass deportations. My own mother was deported to Siberia as a six-month-old baby. There were mass killings. They were suppressing our culture, trying to erase our language.

This is what peace under occupation means. That doesn't mean that the human suffering will stop. How while was that to hear? I mean, we had a taste of it in Hungary. This is the naive, somebody who didn't get to travel much abroad as a kid. Like when you go to Eastern Europe, you realize just how recent history is. In America, even though, in England, they'll make fun of Americans because our oldest things are only a couple hundred years old, but it feels like our moments of turmoils seem distant and in the past and revolution.

And I remember in Budapest seeing bullet holes from protests 20 years earlier, and then stories 50 years earlier of this is where revolution takes place. I think in Estonia, the Est, tha, tha, thoan, thoan, thoan, thoan, thoan, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, even tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, thi, even, even, even, thi, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thri, thri, thri, and throan, and throan, and throan, and throan, and throan, and thin, and th stories 50 years earlier of this is where revolution takes place. I think in Estonia, to hear these stories of like, oh, you have grandparents who were in the Gulak, you have, you remember being under Russian occupation, running into other people around who had stories too, it's like, oh, this is not a hypothetical. And to bring it back to sort of the U.S. perspective on it, like we took to to to their their to their, their, their, to their, their, their, th.S.S.S.S.S. And, th. And, th. And, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, their, thi, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, th.S.S.S. And, th. And, th. And, their, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, the, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. And, thea. And, their, the sort of the U.S. perspective on it, like we talk to people in the fields who are upset about things. It's all theory. So much theory. So angry about things that we're crafting boogiemen out of middle schooler trans-athletes and people drinking bud light. We craft these these folks and why they're keeping us down and these bad guys bad enemies. And then you go to go the place the place the place the place the place the place the place the place the place the place the place the place the place the place th school tho tho tho tho their tho tho tho their their their their their their their their tho th. thi. th. their people their people their people their people their people their people their people who are, their people who are, their people who are, their people their people their people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people their people their people their people their people their people their people their people their people their people their people their people their people their people. their. their. th. th. th. th. th. their. their. th. th. th. th. th. thi. their. th. their. their. they're they're their. they're keeping us down and these bad, bad guys, bad enemies. And then you go to a place like Estonia

and they're like, oh, do you know what it's like to live underneath an authoritarian regime? I do. I could tell you that story. It's not a theory, it's a reality, and I can articulate it. That's why we believe the thing I want, we'll go to the other store.

And the Prime Minister made her think about her own childhood. She was like, there was no other store. That's not a thing that existed. This is the store. They don't have it, you can't get it. Like for your life. Yeah. And this is why we's 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, the thi. thi. thi. their their their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the the the the the the the the the the their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. theean. thean. thean. thean. thi. thi. thean. thi. th. I think we are lucky that we get to make these specials, but I think it was important to us. It's not just us talking about, like, wow, look how misinformed we are.

I think American gullibility is a real problem in this country. It's a threat. It's a threat. That has a threat. And so wherever we can go there and talk to people who have firsthand knowledge, I think that's a real win for the things that we do here. All right, we're going to take a quick break. We will be right back.

Hey, everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, the weekly earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday? Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back. So Clepper, one other element that we weren't expecting to find when we started this story was a lawyer

in Nashville who has a lot of connections to Russia. Welcome back. So Clemmon, one other element that we weren't expecting to find when we started this story, was a lawyer in Nashville who has a lot of connections to Russia. the very nice guy. thi person. Like, you look, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you th. You, you th. You thi thi, you tho, you look, you look, you look, you look, you look, you look, you look, you look, you look, you look, you look tho, you look tho, you look tho. tho, you tho, you tho- th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. tho, tho, tho, you tho, you tho, you tho. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. tho, you tho, you tho, you tho, you tho, you tho, you tho. tho. tho tho to to tho to to to to to to to to to thoooooooooooooooooo. the th very nice guy. G. Klein-Preston, what a nice person, real history buff. Like, you look around that office, yeah, we're talking about the Stalin bust and the Putin bus, but like, there's books everywhere about American and Russian history. But very interesting conversation, very interesting afternoon with that man. Unexpected phone call at the end of it. You want to tell us about that interview?

I mean, I echo everything you say there. He has a wild past that we sort of talk about a little bit on the show. So we didn't know what we'd expect to talk to Klein. Again, he's very much a fan of Russia. He spent time there in college. He was a defender of Vladimir Putin. I believe we call him a fan boy. He says he just collects souvenirs. There's a handful of things that a little on the nose. Even the red paint, we were sort of like, come on, come on, Klein. I think we had this joke and I don't even think it made this special, but it was like, you said it, like, you have a poster that big, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, thi. There, th. There's a handful, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. There, th. I. It's a th. I's a thi. th. I's a tha. tha. tha. tha. tha. tha. tha. the tha. tha. There's a th say I'm not a fan. It's like when we were kids, if you have a poster of your favorite baseball player on the wall, it's hard to be like, well, I don't really like that guy. I also, he's an attorney in Nashville and I can only imagine somebody walking it off the street and be like, uh... I just got a parking ticket I'm trying to get out of not the gulag. Are you the right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right. Are you are the right. Are you are the right right. Are you are the right the the the the the the the the th. Are you're th. Are th. Are th. Are th. Are you're th. Are to 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 th. I to th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th th. I th th th th th th th th th th thi thi. I the the the the the the the the the the the the thi thi thi thi thi thi. I thi. I th know, we talked to Klein about this. I think he's a very opinionated guy about Russia, about Russian history, and also he's a MAGA supporter, I think was involved

in some of the legal arguments to change the results in Michigan. There's some complicated history there. But I think what surprised us in our conversation is as we're talking he gets a phone call. Oh man, I've got to do it. Got a call? Yeah, RT thing. That's Russian television that's calling? Yeah. I mean I have to ask, are you a Russian asset?

Well if I am I'm a bad one. Wait, was client about to feed the propaganda from the Kremlin back to Russian state television? There's nothing democratic today about Ukraine? Oh no, was I the biscuit in a propaganda circle jerk? In the middle of our interview, where we had been joking and seriously asking him if he was a Russian asset. I mean, literally were like, you have busts of Putin and little stickers of him, magnets on your fridge. Some entity in Russia, he wouldn't tie it to the government.

There's an NGO that I think the government basically stocks with its own people, pays for him to go over there and be as an election watcher, as a poll watcher. So some entity in Russia is also paying for him to travel back to Russia every so on. And what a poll watcher does, they go over there. They take a look at the elections. And then they tend to go on television, and then they teela-telvision. And then they tell the the the the the the a teate a te a te a te a te a te a te a te a te't believe it was actually happening and I think for for a moment we weren't sure that it was really that's really what was happening.

It kind of felt like at one point I thought the call was like oh someone he just wanted to get us out of his office for some. Yeah because we did we like all right we'll stop down and let you go I got to take this call, except it's Russian State Television. Like, you want to get out of that comedy shows interview? We got your back. Just send me the text and I'll call you. I was going to call you. I was going to their, I was going to their, they might be a hell of a propaganda machine, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, I'll get you out of it. Putin's a nice guy. Maybe he really is. He's looking out for his people. Yeah, sure.

He pushes some journalists out windows and some journalists he just lightly nudges out of interview rooms. He just ends interviews. I'd like to think they're just monitoring all interviews that are about Russia and they're like, this has gone too far. Hit the button. It's over. Yeah, that was that was interesting. But it was a great sport. Again, very interesting guy, like dedicated family man. But you're right.

If you're just someone wandering it off the street of Nashville to hire a lawyer to beat a parking ticket, I think you'd be a little confused by the space. So a lot of people talk about gridlock in America and the Democrats appearing weak on a lot of issues, particularly democratic leadership, do you think that feeds into perhaps this desire or this openness to authoritarianism from part of our country? You know, I think democracy is slow. It is not meant to be a speedy process, and I think, you know, on both sides of the IA people are frustrated with the government right now. They're frustrated with this, the partisan bickering. I feel like it doesn't feel like America is functioning swiftly or effectively. And so I can understand why people are frustrated with it. I think an appeal to a overly simplistic

view of autocracy is in its efficiency and its ability to get things done. I think what that neglects is the reality of how those things get done and the ways in which the minority is often repressed in order to serve an autocratic ideal. That doesn't get talked about, but I think that the germ of something that is appealing outside of the Christian whiteness of Russian autocracy, but the germ of some of that is order, order and efficiency. Yeah, yeah, makes sense. You know, it's interesting. I, in in in in in in in in in in in in, in, in, in, in, i, i, i, i, i, i, i. It, i. It, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, i. It's the the the the the the the the the the the the the the to to to the the the the the to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the to the the the 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 the the the the the the the the the the the the the th the thrass thrass thrass thr the the the the the the the the the the te te te te te tea the the the the the the the of some of that is order, order and efficiency. Yeah, yeah, it makes sense. You know, it's interesting, I think as we take a step back and we look at what Russian misinformation, the goal of it, they are top line looking just to sow distrust and chaos. That helps them globally.

There are other goals specifically like funding for Ukraine and also an unstable NATO that are big goals that we talk about in the special as well. The way in which Russia affects people, it's not just like, oh, they're paying for a spy over there. It's not necessarily spycraft, it's just affecting the conversation. And one of the things that some people have told us about it is like, it's not about creating new info. It's 80% telling people the things they want to hear and 20% telling the things you want them to hear. And it's giving this info.

It's giving them enough string that they can run and go with. And I think that's what we started to see in a bunch of different ways. Of people like just being the flames, the flames, the flames, tham, tham, tham, tham, tham, tham, tham, tham, tham, tham, tham, tham, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, and thi, thin, thi, and thi, and the flames, and the flames, and the flames, and the flames, and the flames, and the flames, and the flames, and, and the flames, and, and, the flames, the flames, the flames, the flames, the flames, the flames, the flames, the flames, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thi, theats, thea, thea, thi. thi. theats, and, and, thi. theats, and them seeding a story about Zalinsky yachts and this kind of way makes its way into the house, or it's even just like, yeah, perhaps paying for a trip to Russia to show you how great that place is, and if you can speak highly about it on television that only adds to the public discourse and the overall distrust they can have actual real ramifications on the house floor. Yeah. Um, okay, next special. Where are we going? Oh, my lord. I, we've been- Mongolia, I don't know. Just some, we keep going to places we know less and less about. I was going to say we didn't know a ton about Estonia. Much respect, we had a wonderful time.

We met the Prime Minister. She's, she is such an impressive person. Mongolia, I like that. Let's say, I don't know anything about it. So this feels right. Yeah, okay, let's put it in there. Yeah, was there, what politics are happening in Mongolia? Somehow tied to the election, I'm sure. We're taking requests. So if you're out there listening to this Ears edition and you know where we should go. And by that, I mean, you know very little about the political, 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, th. th. th. th. th. What's is th. What's is, th. What's is, th. What's is, th. What's, th. What's, th. What is, th. What is, th. What, th. What, th. What, th. What is, th. What is, th. What is th. What is thee. the. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. the. the. the. the. th. th. What's, six degrees of Kevin Bacon, but it's a political crisis that we don't yet know. Perfect. All right. Thank you, Jordan. Jordan. Jordan Clepper. Thank you, Ian Burger and Jordan Clepper. Thank you, the daily show. tellap. Thank you, Eaers edition. Be sure to stream. Jordan Clepper fingers the pulse, Moscow tools on Paramount Plus, the

daily show's YouTube channel and video on demand. Streaming everybody. Thank you, Ian. Thank you. 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. Hey everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show, coming out every Thursday. We're going to be talking about the election, earnings calls.

What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient-to-bread ratio on sandwiches. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come come??? to to to to to to to to them them them them them them them them them them them them them them them them them them them them them them them them them? I them? I them them them. I to to to to ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday? Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast.