The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Jim Jordan's Scandal-Plagued Run for House Speaker | Michael McFaul

Episode Date: August 2, 2018

A judge blocks the publication of blueprints for "ghost guns," Rep. Jim Jordan downplays a sexual assault scandal, and Michael McFaul discusses "From Cold War to Hot Peace." Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. John Stewart here. unnebly exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show. We're going to be talking about the election, economics, ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. August 1st, 2018.

From Comedy Central's World News Headquarters in New York, this is the Danish show, everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in. I'm truly truly. Our guest tonight is a former U.S. ambassador to Russia. Michael McFaul is here, everybody. He is, he is one of the people President Trump almost agreed to hand over to Vladimir. He is everybody. He is one of the people President Trump almost agreed to hand over to Vladimir Putin to interrogate. Yeah, so

Putin couldn't get him to talk, but I will. But first let's catch up on today's headlines. Let's start off in Europe where the French have officially declared war on the iPhone. France has banned the use of smart devices in schools. Children between the ages of three and fifteen will have to leave their smartphones and tablets home or turn them off during school hours. Students 15 and older can use their devices. France's education minister says the law protects students from screen addiction.

The ban starts in September and fulfills the president's campaign promise. That's right, French kids won't be allowed to have smartphones in school, but don't worry, they'll still be allowed to smoke cigarettes. I can just see their teachers like, Pierre, put down your phone and finish drinking your wine. But professor, it's a 2014 cabernet, that was enough year. I don't care. We must get back to our lesson on how to pleasure a woman. Oh, and speaking of not knowing how to pleasure women, Paul Ryan is in the news today. After filming the PBS show, P.Rots, the speaker of the house was surprised

to discover that he is in fact 3% Jewish. And so he responded by tweeting, guess I need to start saying Lechiam now, too. Okay, first of all, Paul Ryan, that's not how it works. You could have been saying it this whole time if you wanted. Yeah, although I bet when Jeff Sessions heard about this, he got all excited and was like, when can I start saying the N-word? I gotta test my DNA. In other news, last night, President Trump was at another campaign rally, this time in Tampa. And once again, he said something that left us going, huh?

The time has come for voter ID like everything else. Voter ID. You know, if you go out and you want to buy groceries, you need a picture on a card. You need ID. You go out and you want to buy anything. You need ID and you need your picture. Something tells me this guy has never been grocery shopping, like ever. He probably tried it once, but the first thing you see when you walk in is the produce aisle, so he just walked right back out. He was like, ew, vegetables, gross. Oh, groceries, I get it now. One day I'll be president.

All right, let's move on to our top story. 3D printers. They're changing the way we make everything. Car parts, jewelry, and most importantly, dildos. Which has changed my life because I no longer have to suffer the shame of shopping in person for car parts. But America being America, it was only a matter of time before people started 3D printing guns. And today was meant to be the day that it became legal to publish gun blueprints online until a party-pooping judge got involved. Today, a federal judge in Seattle blocked the uploading of any more blueprints for using

3D printers to make guns. And the founder of a pro-gun group agreed to stop posting any new blueprints online until September while a multi-state lawsuit makes its way through the courts. It may be too late. Over a thousand people had already downloaded these blueprints online. I can imagine that number is even higher than that and I'm sure they're getting passed around. Look, I know that 3D printed gun works and can kill a person, but God damn that thing

is stupid looking. Like, I will be so embarrassed if I was killed by something that looked that dumb. Like when I got to heaven, I just have to lie about what happened. They'd be like, oh who me? I drowned in a th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thu thu thu thu thu. I was thu. I was thu. I was thi thi thi thi thi they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi throwned throwned throwned tho thoo-a. I te. I thoooo-a. I th-a. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I to heaven, I just have to lie about what happened. They'd be like, how did you die, man? I'd be like, oh, who me? I drowned in a porta-party at Coachella. I'd be like, oh, well, at least you didn't get killed by one of those dumb-ass plastic guns. I'd be like, yeah, that would be pathetic. But it turns out, it thuns thun't to semi-automatics made up plastic and without a serial number, the guns

are untraceable and undetectable, able to pass through most metal detectors. These ghost guns are the new wave of American gun violence. The idea of these print on command ghost guns is every bit as it sounds. Yeah, you're damn right. Ghost guns sounds scary. You put ghost in front of anything, it immediately puts you on edge. Pencil? Ghost pencil.

Whoa! Yeah, at the time, ghost dad didn't seem so scary, but now, huh? Yeah. Bill Cosby, with the ability to walk through walls terrifying. Not responding to a text doesn't sound so bad. so. so. so. so so th so bad. th so bad. th so bad. th so bad. th so bad. tho to tho tho to to to tho tho to to the ability to walk through walls, terrified! Not responding to a text doesn't sound so bad, but ghosting? Now that's some scary shit. Oh, and by the way, Amy, I see you posting new Instagram stories every day, which is really weird for someone who said she's in a coma? Uh, although if you are in a coma, hit me up when you get out, no hard feelings, I love

you. Puh. Now, obviously, Democrats have always been anti-gun and anti-ghost. But you may be surprised to learn that even President Trump has doubts about 3D guns. President Trump tweeting just moments ago, I am looking into 3D plastic guns being sold to the public already spoke to the NRA doesn't seem to make much sense. Now yes, most things don't make sense to Donald Trump like tailoring or the word no, but in this case President Trump is right it doesn't make sense. Unfortunately though gun laws that don't make sense is pretty much

what America does so there's a good chance that these homemade guns are here to stay and so I guess we may as well look the br th th th th th th th th th th th th th th that that that that that that that that that that the that that the thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi. thi the the thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the thi. the thi the thi the the the thi 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 thi thi thi the the the the theeeeeeeeeeeeeea. thea. theea. thea. thea. thea. thee. the. the. th that these homemade guns are here to stay. And so I guess we may as well look at the bright side of 3D printed guns, right? I mean, like, 3D prances are crazy slow, so even though everyone can print a gun, at least now you have a waiting period? Yeah, maybe? And I mean, I know there's still the problem of plastic guns getting past airport security, but if Congress can't block printed guns, maybe they can pass a law that says all printed guns have to be shaped like dildos. Yeah, because if you've ever flown, you know it's the one thing the TSA always manages to find. Always, that lady's laughing way too loud.

If you have a dildo in your bag, they will find it. The TSA are like truffle pigs for sex toys. Look, what I'm saying is we already live in a world where everybody can have a gun, but the least we can do is live in a world where people are embarrassed to be caught with one. We'll be right back. 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 to the Daily Show. One of the most powerful positions in the U.S. government is Speaker of the House. The Speaker has full control over what the House votes on and they're second in line to be president. And on top of that, they even get their own private bathroom. No one else in Congress has that, except Ted Cruz.

Right, but that's just because he pulls his pants all the way down when he pees, and no one wants to see that. So right now, right now the House Speaker is Paul Ryan. But he's quitting in January because he wants to spend more time with his backwards hat collection. And now people try to tell him that backwards hat collection was just a regular hat collection, worn backwards, but he wouldn't listen. This country is so divided. But anyway, Ryan leaving means House Republicans will need to choose a new leader. And while they have many options, there's one name that's getting more attention than most.

Congressman Jim Jordan says he will run to replace the retiring Paul Ryan, a speaker of the House. So Jordan is a staunch Trump allies. Congress has got to do a better job and that's why I want to be the next speaker of the House. We've got to focus on doing what we told the American people we were going to do, delivering on health health health health health health, delivering on health, delivering on health, delivering on health, delivering on health, delivering on health, delivering, delivering, delivering, delivering, delivering, and the, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and on health care, delivering on the border security, all those other issues. If you become the speaker, look, I will support you for a speaker. Whoa, a Sean Hannity endorsement. Yeah, you know, even if you've never heard of Jim Jordan, you know that if Sean Hanody rolls with someone, they're not a great person. Yeah, if Hannity started hanging out with Paul Rudd, I'd be like, there's something buried in Paul Rod's backyard.

We should check that out. Now, even before Jordan announced his run for speaker, he was already in the news for trying to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, right, who's in charge of the Mullah investigation. Some people say Jordan is doing that to protect President Trump. But personally, I think he wants to impeach Rosenstein because a few weeks ago, he owned Jim Jordan at a hearing. Did you threaten staffers on the House Intelligence Committee? Media reports indicate you did.

Media reports are mistaken. Sometimes, but this is what they said. Having the nation's number one law enforcement officer threatened to subpoena your calls and emails is downright chilling. Did you threaten to subpoena their calls and emails? No, sir, and there's no way to subpoena phone calls. Well, I mean, I'm just saying. Ha ha ha ha.

It's like, no, there's no way there's no way to to tape on a c-span't the phone of phone of phone of phone phone phone phone phone phone phone phone phone phone phone phonethere's a phone call. Oh. Do you know how humiliating it is to get SmackDown on C-SPAN? Because you realize now there's retired librarians across the country who are watching that like, God damn, that bitch got dunked on. But while Jordan tries to get rid of Rosenstein, he may need to watch his own back. Because before he was in Congress, he worked as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State and we're just now learning that one of his trademark moves may have been enabling sexual abuse. More than 100 Ohio State alumni have now come forward with first-hand accounts of sexual misconduct by a former university doctor. The case has gotten a lot of attention recently after Ohio

Republican Congressman Jim Jordan was accused of knowing about but not reporting abuse committed by Strauss. While Jordan worked as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State, Jordan has denied any knowledge. Wow, turning a blind eye to rampant sexual abuse of the kids you're supposed to be protecting. I'm sorry, it doesn't get more scumbag than that. And if these allegations are true then Jim Jordan is basically Joe Paternal part two, which sounds like a sequel nobody would want to see. It's

like Titanic part two. It was so awkward because Rose would open the door and see Jack and she'd be like, Jack you're alive. He'd be like, yeah, and I've been measuring doors and I'm pretty certain I could have fit I I I'm pretty certain Now look obviously these are just allegations, but congressman Jordan's defense doesn't sound very convincing. I mean, I never saw, never heard of, never was told about any type of abuse Take a listen to De Sabito from one of the statements he made earlier this week. I know Jim knew about the what I call the deviant sexual atmosphere that we were exposed to.

How do you know? We all had conversations. It was something that we would discuss on a regular basis, mainly with nervous banter, locker room banter. Conversations in a locker room are a lot different than allegations of abuse or reported abuse to us. Wait, hold up. So they basically told Jordan about the abuse, and he didn't think it counted because they were in a locker room? Like what is it with these guys in locker rooms? It just feels like nothing you say matters in there. Like you know what I feel like I'm gonna do? I'm just gonna start carrying a locker room with me. Yeah then I can say

whatever I want. They'll just be in the streets like, fucking the police! And they'll be like, what did you say? I'll be like, nah, uh, locker room. Locker room. And now, believe it or not, believe it or not, a lot of House Republicans are standing behind Jim Jordan. Yeah, maybe, maybe it's because they've already seen much worse. Back in the 2000s, a man named Dennis Hastert was the Republican House Speaker, and he later admitted to molesting children when he was a wrestling coach. And he was convicted for paying hush money to cover it up. So at the very worst, Jim Jordan is an upgrade from that.

And frankly, I think that's what he should run on. Dennis Hastert was an admitted pedophile. He abused multiple young boys and tried to hide his horrific actions with payoffs. Jim Jordan is only accused of enabling sexual abuse, and the victims weren't children. He is the progress we need. Jim Jordan, not as bad as a pedophile. We'll be right back. We'll be right back.

Welcome back to the Daily Show. My guest tonight is a professor at Stanford University who served as U.S. ambassador to Russia under President Obama. His latest book is called, From Cold War to Hot Peace, an American ambassador in Putin's Russia. Please welcome, Ambassador Michael McFaul. Welcome. Welcome to the show. Thanks for having me.

Congratulations on the book. You served as an ambassador to Russia. to the show. Thanks for having me. You served as an ambassador to Russia. Before we get into the wise and the house. Because Barack Obama sent me there, that's the answer to your question. Why? That's why? I'm a judge. So I'm assuming he hated you. Why would someone send you? We'll get

into the wise of why he sent you to Russia. But let's talk about Russia and the US right now. You know, it's a continually unfolding story. And one of the most most the most the most the most the most most most most most most most most most most most most most the most the most most most the most most the most the most the most the most the most the most the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their. B. B. B. B. B. B. B. B. B. 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.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a. the.a. the.a. the.a. the.a.a.a. the. the. the US right now. You know, it's a continually unfolding story. And one of the most instant, one of the most recent, rather, updates to the story was the Helsinki Summit. Yes, I was there. Donald Trump meets with Vladimir Putin, they have a private meeting, which is abnormal, which is abnormal, and when they emerge from a bad idea. You're too diplomatic. Oh, I'm too diplomatic? It's not a normal. It's a bad idea. Okay, okay.

And so Donald Trump comes out. And what shocks people, amongst many other things, is when he says, you know, Putin was kind enough to say that we could interrogate his people who we feel have meddled in the election. And in exchange the exchange the exchange the exchange the exchange the the their their their their the election and in exchange he gets to interrogate some of our people and you were one of the people he was offering up. Yeah. At that point did you think run? Well I was in Helsinki I worked for another network called NBC right and I was there with Lester Holt we were getting ready to go

live right and he made this crazy proposal Putin did right and completely crazy just to underscore how crazy it was, it is a UK businessman who laundered money out of Russia assisted by US officials. And at the time Putin was saying intelligence officials to help Hillary Clinton enter 2016 elections. So he said all that, and that's when our president said, this is a great idea I want to offer up these people. Oh, so Trump heard Hillary. And then he was like, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, it was like tho, it was like tho, it was like tho, it was like tho, it was tho, it was tho, it was tho, it was tho, it was tho, it was tho, it was tho, it was tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, this is a great idea I want to offer up these people.

Oh, so Trump heard Hillary, and then he was like, yeah. I wasn't at the meeting, I wasn't there, but probably that peaked his interest. Okay, okay, so why is this such a bad idea? Why would you not want Putin to interrogate you in Russia? You obviously have never met Mr. Putin. I have. I mean, let's be serious. They accused us of a crime. Vladimir Putin accused me of a crime committed in Russia. And he didn't want to just interrogate me.

He wanted to indict me. He's accused me of a crime. So the idea, whether you're Democrat or Republican, let's leave that aside. We can't have our ambassadors, our soldiers, our AID workers, or anybody serving the United States of America abroad be allowed to be hauled in by dictators. That sends a really bad message. And so we got to push back on that. Now, tragically, the president didn't.

President Trump didn't. He called it a great idea. You know, and at the time, I don't think I don't th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th think I don't think I don't think I don't think I don't think I don't think I don't thin I don't think I don't thin, I don't thin, I don't thi. thin. theou. 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 the the the the the the the the the the they. they. that. that. that. the. the. thean. thean. thean. toda. toda. today. today. today. today. today. today. thea. thea. it a great idea. You know, at the time, I don't think he really understood what was going on, right? Maybe that's part of the problem. Maybe he shouldn't spend two hours with Putin when he doesn't understand these issues. Eventually, they got it right, but, you know, to this day, I have to worry about travel in third countries. Interpol and something called Red Notice where I don't think it's likely, but Putin's a little Unhige these days where he might chase me around and seek to detain me and then extradite me to Russia Wow, I thought I had to- Don't travel with me. Yeah, yes. Yeah There is an interesting part of the book when you talk about Bush's relationship with Putin and

the two men had an interesting relationship because it seemed like it started off well, and then 9-11 took things off course, you know, with the war in Iraq. But you know, we were quick to judge Donald Trump, when he said he met with Putin and he believes him and he's a good guy, et cetera. But you writes about an incident where President Bush did the same thing. He met with Putin and Putin was wearing a cross and he told him a story of the cross and Bush then left the meeting

and came out publicly and said to everyone, I've looked into this man's soul and he's a good man. Right. Could it be that it's not Donald Trump who's an idiot but rather that Putin just has really beautiful eyes? Like what does he do in these meetings to people that makes everyone walk out going like yeah maybe maybe he's cool? Well as I write about in the book I've had some meetings with Putin myself he has rather distinct blue eyes and they scared the hell out of me right because he thought of me as somebody that Barack Obama sent to foment revolution against him in Russia and he used to say that his media used to say that but to used to say that. But to your point, there is this problem with presidents. And even President Obama probably had a bit of it himself,

which is they think that if I can just establish a personal relationship with this guy or that guy or this woman, and here in the case of Russian leaders, all be able to write all the wrongs from the past. And that is a temptation to personalize politics, personalized diplomacy. Trump has it worse than anybody have ever seen. He wants to meet with everybody and then once he meets him, they're the greatest guy's ever met. So whether it's Kim Jong-un, the North Korean guy and the Singapore summit,

or Vladimir Putin, where he just lavished praise on this guy. And let's remember who this guy is. This guy has repressed his people. It's a dictatorship today. He has invaded his neighbor and annexed territory, right? If I were right in the 10 commandments of how to deal with your neighbors, thou shal not annex the territory of thy neighbor, probably be number two or three on my list. Right. two or three on my list. Don't use nuclear weapons will be the top. But then he supported this horrible dictator in Syria,

who's gassed his own people. And then he violated our sovereignty in 2016 in our presidential elections. That's the guy that our president was lavishing praise on. I don't understand the logic of that diplomacy. It's interesting that most of the conversation has been around the lavishing of praise, because I went to Russia for the World Cup. And I had the pleasure of speaking to a few Russians.

I mean, everyone from taxi driver through to a lawyer who worked in some way for the administration, because everyone's working for the Kremlin in some way. Yes. Good point. What was interesting. I hope you were careful in what you said. I have nothing to tell them. I just know where the scripts are. And so what was interesting was how Russians, I mean, for the most part, I don't speak to all of them, but they said, we like Putin and he's not a dictator and he's brought Russia back into the golden age and we feel like an important country again. And then many of them said, and people say thi, and people thus, and people thus, and people thus, and people thus, and people thi, and people thi, and people thi, and people 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, th, th, thi, thi, thi, was thi, was thi, was thi, was thi, was thi, was thi, was thi, was thi, was thi, was thi, was thi, was thi, was thi, was thi, was thi, was thi, was interesting, was thi, was interesting, was thi, was thi, was interesting, was thi, was thi, was interesting, was interesting, was thi, was interesting, thi, was thi, thi, thi, was interesting th go, but America has also invaded countries that they shouldn't have invaded. And America has repressed its people.

You look at the civil rights movement, you look at the laws in the country. And so they go, so are we not just two superpowers doing the same thing? How do you respond to that? Well, two things. right as the Russian economy began to grow after a decade of the worst depression, three times worse their depression in the 1990s than what we experienced in America, right?

Had anybody showed up, that would have happened to them. In fact, a former friend of mine who's later assassinated, his name's Boris Numsoph. He was the era parent. He was the one that tsin decided to go with Putin instead of Numsof. Had he gone with Nemsof, history would have been different. But the second point, it's called what aboutism. It's a classic Putin tactic. And elements of it are true, by the way. I think it's legitimate to question what America does.

We've made mistakes, we've overthrown regimes. When Vladimir Putin accused me of being sent by Obama to foment revolution against him, he would say, don't forget, the Americans did that in 1953 in Iran, and they did it in Serbia in 2000, and paints a pattern that's consistent. To that I would say two things. One, just to be clear, I was not sent by Barack Obama to overthrow Russia. That's crazy. That's not what President Obama was about. We were not involved in that. He sent me there to continue a policy that we called the reset. It was just that Vladimir Putin was threatened by his own people and

he needed a scapegoat. He needed to blame us for those Russians that that demonstrated. They were Russians. They weren't taking my orders. They were his people. But the second thing is my mother taught th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. to toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, 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, th. th. th. th. tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, the. the. the. theateate. the. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, they were his people. But the second thing is, my mother taught me two wrongs don't make a right. So just because you were against the war in Serbia in 1999, that doesn't make it right for you to annex Crimean. You know, if my house gets broken into, that doesn't give the right to my neighbor to break into it again. And I just think what aboutism is a very dangerous thing, especially when it's thi is thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi the thi thi th. thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, thoes, thoes, thoes, their their their their their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, th. th. th. th. th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, the, theeean, thean, thean, thean, thean, thean, thean, thean, thean, thean, thean, thean, again. And I just think what aboutism is a very dangerous thing, especially when it's about me,

because what aboutism was exactly what Putin was doing in Helsinki. Mueller had indicted these Russians. Russian intelligence officers. They were accused of crimes with lots of evidence. And so he showed up to Helsinki, well, what about this McFall guy? I got a list of people that I think are criminals as well and that false equivalency I think is very dangerous to walk down. It's dangerous and it's also the reality we live in now because Trump sees seems to buy into

that. He's a big fan of what aboutism. Yes. As someone who has been intimately connected to the Russians from the American side for such a long time from Cold War to Hot Peace is a very specific title. Do you think that America is further away from a conflict because of Trump and the fact that he will give everything to Russia? Or do you think that this may lead to something worse further down the road? Well there's this odd thing with the Trump administration, is that the Trump administration, his government, has one policy towards Russia, but he doesn't agree with it. So what they're going to do is hard to predict. I just want to say that as an

observer from Palo Alto these days. The structural things, though, I think are pretty bad because Putin fears us. He thinks we're the enemy, and he does think that we're out to overthrow over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over over to over to over the the to over the the the the the to over the the the the the the the the the the, the the the, the the, the the the thoom. thi, thi, the the the the thi, the the thi, the thi, 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 the the the the the the the the, tr. tru, tru, true. true. true. true. true. true. true. true. true. true. true. true. true. true. true, thi, thi. thi. thinks we're the enemy, and he does think that we're out to overthrow regimes we don't like. And let's be clear, there's some empirical data to support that hypothesis from the past, right? But because of that paranoia, whether it's in Russia in 2011 and 2012, or in Ukraine in 2014, where people also rose up against him, I just think fundamentally we're never going to be able to have a cooperative relationship as long as Putin is the president of Russia.. there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, the, the, the, the, th th th th th th th th th th the, the, the, the, the, the, 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 thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii thi thi thi thi thi're never going to be able to have a cooperative relationship as long as Putin is the president of Russia. Now here's some good news though. I'm going to predict, I'm going to go out on the limb. We political scientists were not very good about predicting the future. Right. I'm going to predict though that Putin will not be president forever. How about that? Well, that's a great prediction. And that gives, I think, 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, th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, th. thi, th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, 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. the, the, the, the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. prediction. And that gives, I think, hope for the future. Because when I was in Russia, you know, I've lived in Russia six or seven years of my life.

I've been there many, many times, well before I was ambassador. There's a lot of great people in Russia. You probably met them. They want to, closer relations with us. They don't understand the way, in Russia, because they didn't want me to be public, but I would travel around the country. And I just met too many young people that just said, hey, we just want to live a normal life,

be able to vote for our own rulers, right? Not just to have it dictated from above, and have better relations. So I think in the long run, I'm really optimistic about Russia and U.S.-Russian relations. I just don't know how long this interregnum of the Putin era is going to last. Thank you so much for being on the show, man. This was amazing. Thank you. Thank you very much. From hold to hot peace is available now a fascinating life.

Ambassador Michael McFoll, everybody. Twitter and Instagram and subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and more. This has been a Comedy Central podcast. John Stewart here. Unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show, we're going to be talking about the election, economics, ingredient to bread ratio, on sandwiches. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast.