The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Eye on Georgia: Trump’s Election Interference

Episode Date: August 16, 2023

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted in Georgia over his efforts to interfere with the Presidential election. Trevor Noah and Desi Lydic cover how he bullied election officials and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Al Franken discuss the potential indictment.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. It's going to be coming out every Thursday. So exciting. You'll be saying to yourself, TGID. Thank God it's Thursday. We're going to be talking about all the things that hopefully obsess you in the same way that they obsess me. The election. Economics. Earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. And I know that I listed that fourth, but in importance it's probably second. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday?

I mean, talk about innovative. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. You're listening to Comedy Central. Donald Joe Biden beat my ass Trump. None of his legal efforts to undo the election have been working. So now he's trying a different approach. You might remember that yesterday, two Republican election officials in Michigan try to throw out votes from the entire city of Detroit. And then they had to be shamed into backing down.

Well, it turns out, that wasn't the end of the story. Breaking overnight to Republican election officials in Michigan have changed their minds again. First, they refused to certify the election results in Wayne County, then they agreed to certify them. But now they're try try their their their thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thininin, thrown, thoananananan't to to to then they agreed to certify them. But now they're trying to rescind that decision despite a lack of evidence. And we are now learning that President Donald Trump actually called both of them following that controversial meeting. Trump's campaign has long been pressuring Georgia Republican Secretary-State Brad Raffinsberger. Anytime that Trump targets a person publicly, they get death threats and they have to get security. Raffinsberger and his wife have received death threats in recent days, including a text to him that read, You better not botch this recount your life depends on it.

Arizona Democratic Secretary of State Katie Obs. Says she too has faced ongoing and escalating threats of violence. This video shows a group of apparent Trump supporters outside Hobbs House at night chanting quote, we are watching you. That's right people. Donald Trump, president of the United States, is working to overturn the election. And people, can we agree? This is not normal. Seeing Donald Trump work, I mean, that's not normal. But it's happening. Trump is personally, personally calling election officials and targeting them in public, hoping to pressure them into overturning the election results, which I don't care who you are as deeply disturbing, because before now, he was at least pursuing his claims through the courts. Yeah, it wasn't fun, but it was legal. You know, it's the difference between

camping on a spawn point and call of duty and smashing the controller on your brother's head. One is bad sportsmanship, the other is assault. And the president's supporters aren't even sending anonymous threats. Which makes sense in a way because Trump himself wouldn't be able to threaten anyone anonymously. You know, he'd blow his cover right away. If you don't overturn, the results, you're gonna be in big trouble.

Tremendous trouble. People tell me all the time, wow, what tremendous trouble he's in. Mr. President, I know that's you. No, it's not. It's not me. It's Bonnell. But this shows you that there's no winning when it comes to Donald Trump. If he doesn't like you, you get death threats. If he does like you, well then he gives you COVID. And while the president's team is still fighting the election in court, it's become clear that even that strategy isn't really just about pursuing legal options. The Washington Posts, Bob Costa reports that Giuliani's team knows the president can't win and instead are trying to make sure the vote is not certified.

Quote, their end game to try to force it to the House. There's a legal game that they're playing. If they can tie this up in court, if they can create enough doubt, then they are hoping that the states just won't certify the election. And if the states don't certify these elections, it goes to the House of Representatives, where Donald Trump has a very good chance of being named President in the United States. So there's a legal trick that they're trying to pull here. Throw enough garbage in everybody's face

that maybe these elections don't get certified, he can steal it in the house. Just to be clear clear clear clear clear clear clear clear the their their their to be clear their to be clear the the to be clear to be clear the the to be clear to be clear to be clear to be clear to be clear the to be a, Trump's lawyers are now reportedly telling people that they don't need to win in court. They just need to create a situation that is so messy, Republican legislatures will step in and overturn people's votes. And again, forgive me here, but it's so astounding to me that America's laws can even allow this kind of thing to happen.

I mean, there's all these safeguards, double checks, protections for every single vote, but then if the legislature is a different party than the winner, they can just be like, nah, we're just gonna pick our guy instead. That is wild. It's like if you set up two-factor authentication for all your accounts, but then you give your phone too many Pornhub account. And look, it's extremely unlikely that any of this will work.

Although, a lot of extremely unlikely things have happened recently. I mean, if you had told me two years ago, that the next Wonder Woman movie would be going straight to HBO Max, I would have said, what's HBO Max? I would have said, what's HBO Max? Actually, I'm still saying that. What is HBO Max? Like, is that the same as HBO Go? Or is that HBO now? Or is it like both of them?

Like, do I have it? Am I on it? But on the other hand, what might save America from Donald Trump trying to overthrow the government? Is that it's Donald Trump trying to overthrow the government is that it's Donald Trump trying to overthrow the government. 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. After two years of voter fraud accusations and capital riots, it is no surprise that Americans have become less confident in their elections. But as Desilatic discovers in her new series, America's election infrastructure may be in even worse shape than you think. Hello again, I'm Desilatic. When I first started this series on our election infrastructure, I was just hoping to boost my brand enough to ditch this job and get on 60 Minutes. But over the last two installments, I've learned that our country is on the terrifying brink of election

catastrophe, and that 60 minutes is looking for more of a Hoda-Cotby type. I mean, what the hell? I can go, Brunette if that's what it takes is takes. I's takes. It takes. It takes. I's th. I's th. I's th. I's th. I's th. I's th. I's th. I's thi. I's thi. I's thi. I's thi. I'm thi. I'm th. I'm. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm th. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I's. I's. I's. 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 the the the the the the the the the the th th th th th th th th th th t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t today. t t today. t t t today. t th t that's what it takes. I don't mind. Anyway, here's our final look at Boat Demick 2022, our crumbling election infrastructure. Who cares? Just roll it. Well, America, we did it. Election accomplished. Despite a mere out of election problems, including a paper shortage and a lack of poll workers, we successfully pulled off an election, thanks to my reporting. So I'm back with Tammy a democracy fund. Tammy, break times over. We gotta talk.

To debrief and collect my well-earned thank yous. Thanks to your work and also my reporting, things are great, right? It did go mostly really well. It did go fairly well. So we should of hiccups around the country, but in general it did go fairly well. So we should take a moment and celebrate that. Tammy, I would love to bask with you. Let's bask. God, it feels good to bask. It's great to bask in the glory of competence and a well-executed election, but we do still have challenges moving forward.

Damn it, Tammy. Since the 2020 election, election officials have been under attack. We know from a recent survey that one and four of election officials in this country have experienced threats of harassment and abuse. So they're going to be leaving the field, unfortunately, in large numbers. How many people are getting harassed. Are we talking like a handful or like a shit ton? Unfortunately, I think it's closer to the shit ton. You heard Tammy's filthy mouth a shit ton. And these threats from disgruntled election deniers range from local officials to secretaries of state. An Arizona elections official was moved to an undisclosed location because

of threats to his life. In Milwaukee, Elect executive director Claire Woodall Vogue has been bombarded by hate. In Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffinsperger, his wife has gotten a barrage of threatening text messages. If you had to put your finger on it, what or who is responsible for this? Starting in the 2016 election, we had prominent candidates for the presidential office who were running, saying that the elections were rigged. D.J.T.

That there was rampant fraud, that in fact, it was illegitimate. Donald J.J. And that carried into 2020 as well. So that has created an environment that has provided both incentive as well as support for people to target election officials. Oh, okay, so Trump. But one of the things you might want to think about is in fact talking to somebody who was a local election official in 2020. Right. Yeah, and someone should go do that. Couldn't agree more.

Someone should definitely go talk to an election official. I did this twice before I did again. God! Tammy. I'm at City Hall in Philadelphia to speak with Al Schmidt, former Philadelphia City Commissioner and Trump's biggest target during the 2020 election. In Philadelphia, the city commissioners are responsible for running anything election related, from voter registration, to mail-in ballots, to election day operations, to the final tabulation and certification of the election results. I mean, election administrators are really referees in all of this. Is it hard to be a referee in Philadelphia given Eagles fans? It certainly can be challenging but we have the best fans in the country. Can you give some examples of the type of

harassment that you received? Well the threats were pretty general in nature leading up to Election Day but in the type of harassment that you received? Well, the threats were pretty general in nature leading up to Election Day, but in the days that followed, especially after the former president targeted me by name on Twitter, that's when the threats became much more specific and much more graphic,

and were largely targeting my family. I'm sorry, that must have been terrifying. I fortunately fortunately fortunately fortunately fortunately fortunately fortunately fortunately fortunately fortunately fortunately fortunately had fortunately had fortunately had terrifying. I fortunately had the Philadelphia Police Department looking after my family sort of night and day. So walking the dog, going to the grocery store, you know, when I took the kids sledding, the Philadelphia Police Department was right there alongside of us. Yeah, yeah, I totally get it. I'm in the same boat. The police follow my family and I around at all times, for different reasons.

Is there accountability for people who harassed election workers? I think there's really two types of accountability that are needed. One is for people who are making threats of violence and clearly breaking the law, trying to coerce the people responsible for accounting voters' votes. And also a different sort of accountability for elected officials who are spreading these lies, but I would hope that voters hold them accountable. Harassers aside, how do you make amends with election deniers, you know, water under the

bridge, excuse me, wooder under the bridge? I really gone out of my way to make sure that I, you know, go to political meetings and answer questions that people have. And the most recent one I went to, there was there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, th, tho, tho, tho, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, questions that people have. And the most recent one I went to, there was an older gentleman in the back who leaned back and said, forget about the facts for a moment. Biden lost. Like that makes it a real challenge to convince someone when their belief system is completely independent of facts. And as an election official, you could take away that guy's vote, right? I want him to vote and I want him to vote in every election. though, th you th you th do, th, th, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, th, th, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, 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 their their their their their their their their their their their thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thiiiiiiiiiiiiia, thean, thean, thiiia.ean, thia, thitake away that guy's vote, right? I want him to vote and I want him to vote in every election.

Do you though? Do you really? I do? I do. Do you, though? Most certainly. Every election. Damn, this guy was good.

But with all the harassment civil servants like him are facing, I was beginning to worry, that the thoukk, tho tho thi thi thi thi thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, tho, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, th. thi, th. th. th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. toe, toe, thi. toe, toe, thi. thi. thi. thi. tho, thi. thi, thi, thi, thi. thi beginning to worry that there was no way I could end this story on a positive note. I think it's a very encouraging sign that we had more people step up to volunteer to work on Election Day in the midterms in 2022 than ever before. Great! Great! So it's fixed! I did it! I mean, we did it. So there you have it America. Despite the problems we faced during 202, thanks to ALL and election workers that we that we th thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi th I th I th I thi th I thi thi th. I th, I th, I th, I th, I was thi thi thi thi thi thi thi th th th 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. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I was thi thi thi thi thi thi thin thin, I was thin thin thin thin thin thin thin the the thin the the the thin the the the the thin the the the thin th you have it, America. Despite the problems we face during 2022, thanks to Al and election workers across the country, there's still hope that 2024 won't be a complete shit show. Because I can't do another one of these. I can't.

Hey, everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show. It's going to be coming out every Thursday. So exciting. You'll be saying to yourself, TGID. Thank God it's Thursday. We're going to be talking about all the things that hopefully obsess you in the same way that they obsess me. The election. Economics. Earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. And I know that I listed that fourth, but in importance it's probably second. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go,

but how many of them come out on Thursday? I mean, talk about innovative. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. My guest tonight is the senior senator from South Carolina with whom I served in the United States Senate. Please welcome Senator Lindsey Graham. Well, well, thanks for a common man. Well, thanks for a common man.

This is what happens, right? I'm hopeful we'll find some common ground. There's always hope. And okay, let's talk about, you said this week that these charges or this charges in New York might actually help Trump. What did you mean by that? I think, well, the Republicans will help Trump because the Siresfance was the previous prosecutor. He looked at this and said no thank you and the U.S. Attorney looked at it and said no thank you. And

this guy comes along, Avin Bragg and he's now going to prosecute Trump taking a mismemeanor to felony by merging two statutes that never been used before. It's thine thine thine their thine thi thi. thi. th. thi. thi. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thiol-I's thiolomeomea thiolome thi. thiolomea thiol-I's thus-I's thus-I's thusananananananathea thususususususususususususususususususususususususususus. Hea. Hea. Hea. Hea. Hea-n. He's th. He's th. He's th. He's th. He's th. He's th. He's th. He's th. He's thi. He's thi. He's thin. He's thin. He's thin. thananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananan used before. It's in New York and most people on our side think it's a never-ending effort to take a wrecking ball to Trump. So yeah, I think it'll help him. Okay, well let's take another state where there might be a wrecking ball coming for them and that's in Georgia. Yeah, there's Georgia. Don't know what's going to happen there i testified that was treated well so i want to tell you i didn't do this i want to say like Lindsay because at first you fought testifying and i said just go there tell the truth and you have nothing to worry about yeah then i that's what they told him that okay

because you would talk to Raffensburger and part of this is he talked to Raffensburger on tape. We've all heard the tape. And he said, all I need is 11,780 votes. One more than we have is what he said. And then later in the thing said, you better do this, you could get in trouble. You and your lawyer can get in trouble. Now that, that's pretty bad. Why don't we wait to wait the the the th it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it th if it th it th it th it th it th it th it th if it th th th and your lawyer can get in trouble now that that's pretty bad why don't we wait till it comes out see what Miss Willis does with the grand jury testimony if she chooses to indict him and based on what she says I'll respond but New York is the one in

front of us and we'll deal with that one we don't even know that because true true. Anything's possible. Anything's possible. But you're right. I mean, okay, let's talk about this. Because Trump, in that tape, I remember, said to Ravisburg, I won Georgia by over 400,000 votes. No, you know he lost the election. You know he lost the election.

I voted to certify the Georgia election for Biden. Yes, I did. Yeah, you voted to certify. Yes, I do. Because you would have been crazy not to. I mean, the fact. That doesn't mean I can't be in the Senate. Yeah, well, there were a number of your Republican colleagues who did not vote to certify.

You know this election wasn't stolen. You know that Trump lost the election. When I see by and I call him Mr. President. But that's different. That's different than acknowledging that. Well I voted on the floor of the Senate to certify the results of the 2020 election. And here's the question for you and maybe others. Trump's trying to come back.

I think he's got a better than good chance of winning the primary and a 50-50 chance of being president again. And you got to ask yourself. Now, this is what we all came there for. So you got to ask yourself, how can that be? Well, yes. But here's what I can ask you to ask you to ask you. Here's what I know about this country, about this democracy, about our Constitution.

The number one tradition that's meaningful in this country is a peaceful transition of power, right? Right? You voted a certify. We've, from everything that's come out, we know that Lindsay Powell was lying. Sydney, sorry, Sidney Powell. Julianne was lying, that he was told over and over again by his, anyone who had any credibility, he lost, that there was no, Bill Barr, everybody, everybody. How then can you want a guy who allowed us to go through this violent insurrection right really to be president again yeah yeah

well let me just say this the other side of the story is that when president Trump was president on the things that I care the most about national security I thought he did a damn good job he got the Abraham Accords which is on the things that I care the most about national security, I thought he did a damn good job. He got the Abraham Accords, which is probably the biggest change in my lifetime in the Mideast, where Arab nations recognized Israel and we're trying to work on Saudi Arabia on the Biden's watch. He killed Soleimani, who's the guy should have been killed a long time ago. He made us energy independent. So I look at the policies of Trump and I like the policies of Trump and at the end of the day he's got to prove

to people, not me, that he's able to lead us again and that will be a challenge for him and that'll be a challenge for Biden to say give me four more years after the last four. We'll see what happens. Well I think Biden wins that. 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 thi thi tho tho tho tho tho tho tho the the po the po the poe the poe the poe the poe the poe the poe the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi the the the and the and the and the and the and the an thean thean thooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooe. And the I think Biden wins that, but we don't have to say yes. Can we bet? Yeah, how much? Twenty bucks. Thank you, great. Everybody. Explore more shows from the Daily Show.

the Daily Show. Where you get your podcasts. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 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. It's going to be coming out every Thursday. So exciting, you'll be saying to yourself, TGID, thank God it's Thursday. We're going to be talking about all the things that hopefully obsess you in the same way that they obsess me.

The election, economics, earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. And I know that I listed that fourth, but in importance it's probably second. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday? I mean, talk about innovative. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast.