The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Elon Musk's Gov't Purge, Trump's J6 Revenge, Is Any of This Legal? | Nicole Avant

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

Desi Lydic covers Elon Musk's purge of USAID, Lousiana Senator John Kennedy's lust for omelets, and Trump's January 6 revenge on top FBI officials. Troy Iwata checks in to answer the burning question: Is any of this legal? How to Un-DEI Your Workplace: The Daily Show has you covered with this HR training video to help workers unlearn all those "woke" teachings. Acclaimed producer and best-selling author Nicole Avant talks to Desi about the true story behind the Netflix movie “The Six Triple Eight” of an all-Black, all-female battalion that contributed to a victory in WWII and describes what she learned about the Coast Guard in her former role as Ambassador to the Bahamas. She also discusses her book “Think You’ll Be Happy,” which tells the story of her grief and path to healing after the tragic loss of her mother, and how her mother’s last words to her serve as both the title of the book and her mantra in life.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central, it's America's only source for news. This is The Daily Show with your host, Desi The Daily Show. I'm Desi Lydic. We've got so much to talk about tonight. We say R.I.P. to D.E.I. A senator wants to fertilize the wrong kind of egg, and the inventor of the Cybertruck thinks our government looks stupid.

So let's get into the latest and another installment of the second coming of Donald J. Trump. I'm gonna come. We all know Donald Trump isn't a details kind of guy. We elected him to come up with big, brilliant ideas like renaming the Gulf of Mexico. No one else could have thought of that or should have thought of that. But it's okay that he's not big on details because during the campaign he promised us that he knew not big on details because during the campaign, he promised us that he knew a guy. I'm gonna appoint Elon Musk, who's a fantastic guy, to lead a government efficiency commission

tasked with saving trillions of dollars in fraud, waste, and abuse. We have tremendous fat, tremendous fat. Oh! Don't take the bait, Desi. Don't take the bait. Be the bigger person. Be the bigger person. Okay. That's right.

Elon Musk, the world's richest man and guy who cheers in the wrong parts of Saving Private Ryan. Trump promised us that he'd give Elon full access to the federal government, pull it to the side and get all up in it. And unlike his wedding vows, this is a promise he kept. Elon Musk sweeping push to make over the federal government, sparking democratic panic and warnings of a constitutional crisis.

Now we have learned that his team has gained access to something extraordinarily sensitive. The system that the Treasury Department uses to disperse almost every check and expenditure of any kind made by the U.S. government. That is a vast database with millions of Americans' personal information on it. Yeah. Yeah, Elon Musk has access to your Social Security number, and that is not cool. If you want our personal data, Elon, you go buy it off the dark web like everyone else, okay?

Now, you might be thinking, I don't want white nationalist Tony Stark to have sole control of the inner workings of the federal government, but relax. It's not just Elon. He has a fully equipped team. Longtime government employees this week were shocked to find that their new supervisors from Elon Musk's Doge department include recent college and high school graduates between 19 and 24 years old.

One of the young men is apparently a former intern at Musk's Neuralink company who goes by the online handle BigBalls. Great. BigBalls has my social security number. Now I feel better. I know we complained about our leaders being too old, but doesn't this go a little too far in the other direction? Surely there must be a middle ground somewhere between crypto bros and crypt keepers. Not only that, Musk has been installing his big balls in a whole bunch of little known agencies

that are crucial in actually running the government, the GSA, the OPM, the OMB, the OC, and SVU. And of course, the big question about this takeover and the question we'll be asking ourselves a lot over the next four years is, is this legal? Which brings me to our new segment, is that legal? To help us out, we go to our very own Troy Iwata. CHEERING

Troy, thank you for acting as our resident legal expert. You can count on me, Desi. I'm versed in legal statutes, I have access to a network of law professors, and I'm wearing a bow tie. Perfect. Can you help us find out if it's legal for Musk and his lost boys to access the sensitive information of the federal government? That is a beautiful question, Desi. It doesn't sound legal, but nothing does anymore.

Let me tell you what. I'll do some research, and I'll get back to you. Oh, OK. Great. Well, we'll check back in in a minute. Thank you, Troy. Now, Elon Musk isn't just going to get full access to the federal government just to sit back and watch it function like he's some sort of cuck. No, he's going to jump in there and do some cutting.

This weekend, Musk taking aim at the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, which is in charge of dispensing tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid. USAID employees are waking up this morning to an email notice telling them not to show up to work today, as Musk says he is shutting the agency down. Yes, the richest man in the world is cutting off aid to poor countries. Why can't you just be a normal billionaire and co-host Shark Tank or run an NBA team into the ground? Now, I'm not saying there's not some cuts to be made

in foreign aid spending. You just don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Or what's the expression I'm looking for? As we dug into USAID, it became apparent that what we have here is not an apple with a worm in it, but we have actually just a ball of worms. And so at the point at which you don't really, like if you've got an apple that's got a worm in it,

maybe you can take the worm out. But if you've got actually just a ball of worms, it's hopeless. And USID is a ball of worms. There is no apple. And when there is no apple, you've just got to basically get rid of the whole thing.

OK, we get it. We get the metaphor. You don't have to keep saying worms over and over again. I have a metaphor, too. Elon Musk's charisma reminds me of a ball of worms. And of course, USAID was codified by an act of Congress. So if Trump thinks he can have Elon Musk kill it, he must have a strong legal reason for why he can do that without an act of Congress. Will it take an act of Congress to do away with USAID or people in the US?

I don't know. I don't think so. Or not. Why should he know? He's just the president. Fortunately, we have a legal expert who can help answer that question. Let's go back to Troy Iwata. What? Troy, I got another one for you. Is it legal for the president to shut down USAID without an act of Congress?

Oh, I'm not done looking at the Treasury Department thing. Well, Troy, we kind of need to know this now. We have to keep up with Trump. OK, OK, so should I do that question first? No, do both first. OK, it's going to take a lot of work, so I have to, you know. Thank you, Troy. Thank you. Now, obviously, this is just, it's gonna take a lot of work, so I have to, you know, I... Thank you, Troy. Thank you.

Now, obviously, Republicans are standing by Musk for the most part. They say that Trump ran on cutting spending, and this is all just a part of that. But is there perhaps a senator who could make that point in the, I don't know, weirdest, creepiest way possible? I like omelets. I mean, I really like omelets. I could eat an omelet at every meal.

I like omelets better than sex. Not really, but you get the point. I like omelets. You can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs. Did we really have to learn all about this guy's sex life just so he could get to a common expression? I can only climax when someone steps on my balls. Anyway, there's no use crying over spilt milk. I don't know if I understand Senator Kennedy's metaphor, but I definitely understand why

he's been banned from Denny's. Anyway, if you're looking for Senator Kennedy's wife, she's the woman in the grocery store yelling at the eggs, you stay away from my husband, you pastry slut! Wow, never! I'm just kidding. I'm sure she prefers eggs to having sex with him too. But Elon Musk isn't the only one having people finger-banging their eggs Florentine with

excitement. Donald Trump is also reducing the government workforce. Although his interests seem to be less about cost-cutting and more about sweet, sweet revenge. Tremendous unrest inside the FBI as prosecutors and agents who worked on the January 6 investigation are being targeted. It looks like a wholesale purge of the FBI.

As you know, already, the eight top officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have either been fired or forced to resign. Now the FBI is being asked to produce a list of every employee who worked on any case related to January 6th. I am told this is some 6,000 FBI employees all told. What the f***?

These agents were doing their job, enforcing the law, and now they're getting fired? That is not how it works. I cannot believe I have to explain firing to the star of The Apprentice. That was your whole fake job. And this is obviously just the beginning because Trump is going to be targeting everyone that's ever come after him. And I just want to say, I'm not scared. So Mr. Trump, bring it on, okay?

Bring it on. That's coming from me, Jordan Klepper. K-L-E-P-P-E-R. Now, obviously, of course, the big question over Trump's fire- Trump firing the FBI agents is, is that legal? Troy? What? I'm still doing the other stuff. Don't worry about that stuff, but also finish that stuff and add on this new stuff.

Find out if the president's executive powers include the termination of officials ordered by the former attorney general to investigate the criminal actions of his accomplices. I didn't get any of what you just said. Okay, I need to get my note. Thank you, Troy. Pet. Pfft, pfft. Pfft. The truth is, practically everything Trump is doing these days is in a legal gray zone. Just today, he announced an executive order dismantling the Department of Education. He started a sovereign wealth fund.

He's considering deporting US prisoners to El Salvador, and he's ordered billions of gallons of water to be wasted in central California. Troy? Oh my God! You can't be serious! Is the sovereign wealth education citizen deporting water wasting legal?

How many more questions are there gonna be? Eight more every hour for the next four years! Jesus Christ! You're gonna find out in a second if it's legal for me to blow my brains out on the air. more every hour for the next four years. Jesus Christ! You're going to find out in a second if it's legal for me to blow my brains out on the air. Well, is it? I don't know!

Troy, look, I know. I know this is a hectic pace, but it's important that we find out the answer so we can be as informed as possible about whether this administration's actions are legal. Don't you agree, Troy? Wait, where's Troy? What's up?

Troy got fired by Elon Musk. What? Is that legal for Elon Musk to fire one of our employees? Of course it is. Everything Elon does is legal, bro. Wait, who are you? Are you Big Balls? No.

Of course not. Big Balls was my fraternity brother. You can call me Floppy Taint. God damn it. Floppy Taint, everyone. When we come back, we'll cleanse your workplace so they'll go away. Welcome back to The Daily Show. As we all know, Donald Trump is no fan of DEI because it gives minorities the jobs that belong to his sons.

And now that he's president, he's committed to getting rid of diversity initiatives and not just in the federal government. President Trump putting CEOs with existing DEI programs on notice. These are policies that were absolute nonsense throughout the government and the private sector. Several major companies from Walmart to Ford Motor Company, McDonald's and Lowe's have already scaled back or abandoned DEI programs. Wait, Lowe's had DEI for its employees?

From walking around their stores, I didn't even know they had employees. That's where I go to be alone. Of course, if you're in charge of a corporation that's trying to suck up to the president, you might need some help purging your office of DEI. Luckily for you, The Daily Show has a training video. [♪ music playing, audience laughter, applause, and applause.

Hello. If you're watching this, your company has decided to get rid of its DEI programs. Over the last four years, you've been learning tools to fight racism, sexism, and other hateful behavior in the workplace. This training video will help you unlearn all that stuff. Let's get going. You come too, sugar tits.

Getting rid of DEI in your office starts at the top. We've already fired your chief of diversity, as well as any other executives we suspect of secretly doing DEI. In this new era, fostering an inclusive workplace is no longer a priority. Isn't that right, Jamarcus? My name's Edward. My name's Edward. We want to create an environment where everyone is welcome.

To make everyone else feel unwelcome. So. Let's try some role play. Take a look at this scenario. Hey Edward, you did a great at this scenario. Hey, Edward. You did a great job on that presentation. Thanks, man. And freeze.

Do you see what went wrong here? Let's try it again with all our DEI training forgotten. Hey, Edward. You did a great job on that presentation. Can I touch your hair? I don't want to be in the video anymore. Perfect. If you witness something that seems a little DEI,

don't hesitate to reach out to a white manager. For example, if you work in a department with less than four guys named Todd making good money, please call 911 immediately. Yep, me again. Thank you for watching this video on how to undEI your office. With these tools you... With these tools your office productivity will skyrocket and become a perfect meritocracy. Just like my dad intended we founded this company. Bro I am so glad we were roommates in college.

Can't believe we plunked out. Epic! Drugs? Drugs. Woo! Woo! Woo! When we come back, Nicole Avonk will be joining me

on the show, so don't go away. Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Welcome back to The Daily Show. My guest tonight is the bestselling author of Think

You'll Be Happy and critically acclaimed producer of the Netflix film, The 6888. Please welcome Nicole Amont. ["The 6888 Theme Song"] All right. I'm so happy. So happy. I am so delighted to have you here. I was so excited to meet you. You're not only a critically acclaimed producer, author, you're an entrepreneur, you're a philanthropist, you were the former ambassador to the Bahamas.

Yes, I was. Leave some for the rest of us, okay? You are a busy woman. I'm a busy woman, but it's good. It's a very good thing. Yes, yes. I'm grateful you're as busy as you are. Trying to be productive with my life.

You certainly are. This movie was incredible, The Six Triple Eight. It was just nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song. Yes, so excited. I am Diane Warren wrote the song, and it's so beautiful, typical Diane Warren. And then Gabby Herr sings the song,

and the two of them coming together, and it's one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard, and it was perfect for the film. And I think every single person, when you listen to The Journey, it's one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard it was perfect for the film and I think every single person when you listen to the journey. It's all of us we're all on our own journeys in life and it's it's just beautiful. It perfectly suits the story yeah tell us about the story behind the 6 trip late I hadn't heard I know which is crazy to

me I know incredible legendary women, these patriots who changed the war. Where did you learn about the story and how did you make this happen? So I, one of my fellow producers, Carrie, sent me a sizzle reel and she said, listen, I know that you love history and American history and I think we have a great piece of American history that has not been told. And I had heard of Major Charity Adams but I had no idea about the battalion and the 855 women and I had no idea about the backlog of mail and 17 million pieces of mail and they had six months to deliver the mail. Everybody had tried to deliver this mail.

Everybody, all the men, everybody has tried to deliver the mail. No one can do it. They figured, we'll just send these women over. They're not going to be able to do it. You have six months. Good luck. They did it in three months. And the importance is, yes. And the best part of the story is that they really, as you saw in the clip, it's when

you, there's no mail, there is low morale. And when you have low morale, you cannot win a war you cannot be for you can't go forward if you're not speaking to your mother your father imagine there's no email there's no wife I there's nothing it's the U.S. Postal Service right and that is how people stayed connected it's about connection and humans have to stay connected feel loved feel together to move forward and then the man all of a sudden, everything turned around

and the men, you know, regained their vigor and their strength and they moved forward and they won. And these women, we have to thank them for this. And I wanted to give them their flowers and we did. In the most beautiful way. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. I'm grateful that that story was told in that way. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you.

I'm grateful that that story was told in that way. I want to talk about your family, your father, Clarence Avon, was a legend in his own right, music producer. There's an incredible documentary, The Black Godfather. If you haven't seen it, go watch it. On Netflix. It's on Netflix. Yes.

You produced it. Yes. And you also, you wrote this incredible book, Think You'll Be Happy. And you set out to write a self-help book. And this unimaginable tragedy happened in your family. And you suddenly had to change course. And you decided to tell that story.

Yes. I decided, you know, you have to begin again. We all have to begin again in different parts of our lives and at some point on our journey. And for me, I wrote, Think You'll Be Happy after my mom died and after she was killed. I mean, and it was just so, I mean, imagine. I mean, I spoke with her the night before.

Everything's great. And her last words to me were, OK, think you'll be happy. And I figured I'd go to her house the next day and see her. There was an attempted robbery. Robbery went bad. My mom got caught in the crossfire. And I woke up to a call from my husband in the middle of the night saying, get to the hospital.

Your mom's been shot. And I'm telling you, your world shatters. Your mom's been shot. And I'm telling you, you know, your world shatters, your heart shatters. And I realized, A, I didn't want anyone else to feel so alone. There is no real, you know how everyone says, you're going to feel grief in this way, and then you're going to feel this day on this one.

No, grief comes in stages, it comes in waves, everyone feels it differently, but it is a part of life. And I didn't want people to feel ashamed of talking about being in grief and also give people tools how not to be taken down by grief. And as, you know, I felt I was drowning

in quicksand a lot of the times. And then I thought, you know what? No, this man already took a life. My father said, you're gonna let this man take your life too? Finish your book, make the movie, keep going. My dad was 92 and came to live with us. And it was, but it was such great advice because he said, Nicole, you have a life force. You have a life.

I've given you life. You need to do something with your life. You need to honor your mother, and you can't let someone else, again, take your life force, your creativity, your future. So, you know, make the most of it. We always used to say, you know, you come with a number, and you end with a number.

What are you gonna do with your dash? Your life is your dash, and you have choices every day. And so I wanted to honor my mother, but also share all the lessons I learned from her and great life lessons, you know, my father too, but, you know, mostly about my mom. And that's why I just think you'll be happy. She left me with a mantra.

To think constructively, to be a good person, and to show up and create the best life that I can. One part of your book that really stood out to me, there was shortly after it happened, one of your first initial thoughts was, please God, don't let me hate this man. And I thought, oh my God, how in a moment of that shock and grief, where do you reach for that level of grace? You know, I was so, it's so hard to explain, but I was, I've never felt that level of despair ever. I knew what despair meant and I've felt that way before,

but never at this level. And I've never felt as furious and I didn't know what to do with it. But I knew going back to my life force, I knew that if I hated someone so much, then that means that that energy takes over my life force, I knew that if I hated someone so much, then that means that that energy takes over my life force and my light continues to dim and my light goes down and I can't be positive, I can't be powerful,

I can't be productive while I'm busy hating somebody, while I'm busy wishing the worst on someone. So for me, it was, you know, forgiveness is such a tricky word. I always tell people because people think, oh, how could you forgive that person how it's not condoning a behavior I'm never condoning violence or negativity or anything but forgiveness is for me it's for my strength it's for my mental health it's

for my spiritual health it's for my physical health because unforgiveness is poison and it's almost you know like they And it's almost, you know, like they say, it's as the snake will bite you. And instead it's unforgiveness is running after the snake and asking the snake, why did you bite me? Why did you bite me? Why did you bite me? Instead of tending to the wound and taking the poison out.

So all that just came to me. And I just remember falling on my knees because at that level, it was that heavy of just shock. And I remember I just said I cannot hate this man because believe me I was filled with hatred and it was such a terrible ugly feeling. And I'm not that person. And so I just made a decision I'm not going to be that person. I'm going to honor my parents.

I'm going to honor my mother. I'm going to honor my parents. I'm going to honor my mother. I'm going to live my life. I'm going to do my best. And you know what? If I move through life with my heart in repair, I move through life with my heart in repair. It's OK. Doesn't mean that the grief goes away.

It just means I'm moving through life with it. But I try to be as, it's not as heavy as I think it would have been had I not given up the anger had I not given up. The the fury and the hate. I'm so in awe. I'm just so in awe of your ability to move through grief like that and find purpose and to give this gift of a book to other people who are experiencing grief.

For those out there right now who are experiencing some kind of grief, what would your advice be to them? What was most helpful for you? Knowing that I'm loved. But, I mean, friends would simply text the words, I love you, I'm here for you, for anything, everything. And that just was a healing balm, just, you know, being with friends and family and hearing, I love you.

Even more than, oh, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. I love you kind of covers everything, but what it gave me was I had hope. I had hope to move forward. I felt that I had a reason to live. It was a reminder. The more love... The more love you feel from others,

it reminds you that you have a reason to be here. And I do have my dash. And I'd like to live out my dash. Yes. You know? And in order to do that... And I don't want to live out my dash as some, you know, angry bitch that's walking around just pissed off all the time.

I want to live my dash with as much joy and hope, but never, ever, ever give up. That's why I wanted to write the book. We all want to give up at times, all of us, for various different reasons. But things do get better and the bad times do not last forever. They feel like they're going to last forever, but they don't. Nothing in life lasts forever. And so the good always comes back. It comes back differently, and it comes back in ways that you may not even ever imagine,

but the good always swings back into your life. I am... APPLAUSE into your life. I want to ask about your former role as the ambassador to the Bahamas. Diplomatically speaking, how sweet is that gig? It's a great post, but people forget it is very, and I, it's stereotyping right now, but it's very Miami Vice. It is, so people forget that the Bahamas is a third border. So we've got Mexico and we've got Canada,

but people forget the Bahamas, it's just 53 miles off of the coast. So the Bahamas has to be protected. It is a huge law enforcement post, which of course now I'm friends with DEA and Coast Guard and FBI. All of a sudden, I'd be, these were my guys. These are my people. And I thought, oh, wow, this is a completely different post

than what I really expected. I mean, I knew there was a lot of work to do, but it is a real law enforcement post. And I think people, especially the Coast Guard, my whole team, what they did every single day, I'm telling you guys, they keep us safe. Every single day, the things that we don't even know, we will never know, we shouldn't know,

it's none of our business. Yeah, don't tell me. It really isn't our business. But it's, they're putting their lives at risk and I think that we forget that. I think that Coast Guards grow up and people think, oh, they're just, you know, what do they really do? And I said, they're actually really humanitarians.

You have no idea what they find in the ocean. You have no idea when people flee countries and they decide there's no hope for me and they just decide to, you know, sometimes go over with a child. You know, people do so much good. And I think that they all get lumped into one thing, and they're all bad.

And it was one of the best times I've ever had in my life. One of my favorite chapters in my story was serving in the Bahamas and meeting new people that I would have never met otherwise. You know, completely different lives. And we learned a lot from each other. And so it was really great. Really great.

I'm curious about, you were hugely instrumental in getting President Obama elected. All of your work fundraising in those early days, what did you learn about organizing at that time? Give us a little hope for a future. I mean, there's hope, Come on, you know. You know, my mom actually, I give it to my parents because my parents were so politically active also when I was growing up.

So senators and presidents and mayor, everybody was always in and out of the house. So for me, I was always helping my mom since I was a little girl organizing everything, which then as I became an adult, I was like, I can do this. I know what I'm doing. I know how to fundraise. I watched my father. He had, remember my dad was born in 1931, North Carolina, segregation, Jim Crow.

I mean, he talks about running from the Ku Klux Klan. He talks about never looking up, because his grandma, my grandmother said, I would say, why can't you look up? Why were you told not to look up? He said, because you didn't know if you're going to see someone that you knew that was lynched that day. I mean, this is in our lifetime.

So for me, watching my father really mobilize and organize to change things for black Americans throughout his life, I watched that dedication. I watched that motivation. I watched that dedication, I watched that motivation, I watched that organization. And so by the time I got to working with Senator Obama at the time, I had watched my parents, you know, do everything and host everything and raise money, but really it was about putting people together and what I wanted to do for him.

I said, if he's going to be the first black president, then all of the fundraisers need to look like the United States of America. They were always one look, everybody's from Beverly Hills, everybody's from, no, I was like, we're mixing this up. And it worked. And it was great. There's real power in just getting people into a room together.

I thought that was such a beautiful takeaway. You have to be together. And I really do believe that you want not just diversity with color or race or religion or whatever, but you need diversity of ideas. You need people to... I love being able, for example, to say, you know, I didn't think about it that way. I never even saw it from that perspective because you have this different perspective.

And thank you for that. And some, you know, and it doesn't always work, but you need that. I think you need that. And human beings are different, and we all have something to give, and we all have talents. And putting people together and giving different opinions

and sharing different ideas, I think helps us definitely move forward and not keep us stuck. and I know that you are making them so very proud. Thank you for being on. Congratulations on everything. You are loved. You are loved. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

The six-year-old is streaming on Netflix. I think you'll be happy as available now, Nicole Amon. We're gonna take a quick break, but we'll be right back after this. All right. All right. All right. All right.

All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. That's our show for tonight. Now here it is. Your moment is done. And on the education department, why nominate Linda McMahon to be the education department secretary if you're going to get rid of the education department? Because I told Linda, Linda, I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job. I want her to put herself out of a job. Explore more shows from The Daily Show Podcast universe by searching The Daily Show wherever you get your podcasts.

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