The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Jon Stewart & John Oliver on America's Trump Monarchy Era | David Remnick

Episode Date: February 11, 2025

Jon Stewart tackles Trump's attempt to be the Super Bowl MVP and examines the president's rejection of federal agencies, birthright citizenship, and basic constitutional checks and balances. Plus, John Oliver welcomes America to its monarchy era. New Yorker editor David Remnick sits down to discuss the magazine’s 100th Anniversary Issue and journey since its inception in 1925. They also talk about the importance of long-form journalism, especially under the overwhelming second Trump administration, as well as how the President is overstepping executive power, the danger of the tech oligarchy, and the need for Democratic politicians and citizens alike to finish licking their wounds and take action.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, Jon Stewart. The voice of a puppy! Welcome to The Daily Show. My name is John Stewart, and man, we worked almost all day on tonight's show. We've got a great one for you tonight. David Remnick will be joining me later. He is the editor of the New Yorker magazine.

They're celebrating... Oh. Oh. Oh. What an erudite crowd. Celebrating their 100th year at the New Yorker, and he and I will be discussing the difference between umlauts and diuresis. Emphasis on the, I'll just go now, let's

just f*** off. But first, the Super Bowl was last night and man, it was on television. It began with the teams being introduced from heaven. It's just f***ing weird. And it ended with the Kansas City Chiefs in hell! So, congratulations to the people of Philadelphia who immediately who immediately I disagree by the way who immediately celebrated their victory by attacking their own city killing their own city die Philadelphia they were mashing their own city, doing tens of dollars worth of damage. Yeah, that's right.

I'm implying it's a shithole. Give Saquon back! But of course, my favorite moment was the inexplicable post-victory horse race where the winner stands triumphant atop the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum. That's not Photoshop. The horse ran up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum, reared up on its hind legs and went, Adrian! But here's, and I'm going to drop some knowledge, no one really cared about the game because

of the earth-shattering announcement that had been made moments prior. You know, we're flying over right now, we're flying over a thing called the Gulf of America, and I'm signing a proclamation, and perhaps you could define that. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. to say what the actual proclam... I'm sorry, I interrupted. Go ahead. This is a proclamation declaring today, February 9th, 2025, as the first ever Gulf of America Day.

And we're flying right over it right now. So we thought this would be appropriate. Even bigger than the Super Bowl. It's true. Bigger than the Super Bowl. In fact, my favorite thing about Gulf of America day are the commercials. It's very historic. I'm sure we'll look back on this day fondly when America is swallowed up by the rising

waters of the Gulf of America. You know, it turns out, it's kind of a weird thing, airplanes might not be the best place to make bigger than the Super Bowl announcements. Even bigger than the Super Bowl, this is a big thing. And almost everybody now has assented to that. Attention on board, ladies and gentlemen, if you could please direct your attention out the right side of the aircraft.

Air Force One is currently in international waters, for the first time in history flying over the recently renamed Gulf of America. F***. First of all, oh my god, it shut him up, even for just a second. I think airplane pilots must be the most powerful force in the universe. I feel like the Democrats have to get themselves an airplane pilot.

Sorry for the interruption, but you can't do that. Maybe not. Let's Schumer. Schumer will be the pilot. Oh. But forgive me. I've been forgotten. What does calling a Gulf of America do? Do we get all its fish now? Make America great again, right? That's what we care about.

Make America great again! Everything Trump does is all part of making America great again. Yeah. Boing. Everything Trump does is all part of making America great again. Order one. Roll back everything from the previous not great administration. Regulations on the environment.

Regulations on the Second Amendment. The Title IX guidance. And not just the big shit. You want to make America great again, you can't skimp on the details. President Trump says he's going to reverse Joe Biden's mandate to phase out plastic straws, saying, enjoy your next drink without a straw

that disgustingly dissolves in your mouth. You... Okay, he's right on this one. He... He is right on this one. He is right on this one. Those straws are f***ing terrible. Objectively terrible. I'm supposed to have some weird tissue paper dissolve in my mouth just because turtles can't figure out straws aren't food?

No. Don't eat the tubes, you stupid turtles. So Trump is making America great again by taking us back to 2016. But obviously, if we're gonna make America great again, we can't stop in 2016. We got to keep pushing to that place when America was truly great. How much further back do we need to go? -♪ I can see it, but you stay there go? I can't see it, but this day is so hard, I can't see it.

So, looks like it's the 70s. Oh, like you don't know who Burt Reynolds is. If you're going to make us great, you're going to have to roll further back than the 70s. What do you got? We're going to stop the destructive and divisive diversity, equity and inclusion. Yeah, the 70s won't fly. 70s was all about women's lib and stonewall.

Now, my friends, we got to go back further to make America great. And ladies, when we do go back, don't worry. It's all going to work out for you. You will no longer be thinking about abortion. Women will be happy, healthy, confident, and free. Like everything else, it's a little bit different today. You're not allowed to say that because if you call a woman or a girl beautiful that's

the end of your career. Oh you can't even say hey sugar tits. But ladies and gentlemen, we're going to go back to the old days with regular tits, not the ones that disgustingly dissolve in your mouth. Also... Oh, Jesus. But let's not stop in the 70s there, folks. Not even in the 50s. Let's keep going. Because that sounds like the 50s, and the 50s are still too inclusive. I mean, by then, Italians and Irish were considered white. No, that's too far.

Keep going back. America's greatness awaits. We were the richest country in the world. We were at our richest from 1870 to 1913. That's when we had, we were a tariff country. 1870s, f***. Okay. There we go.

1870s. Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew. And of course, while America presently is still pretty f***ing rich, apologies Luxembourg. Point taken. Who wouldn't trade our current environment for America's 1870s tariff-driven, becandled, tuberculosis-laden, pre-industrial heyday? We were so wealthy, we had commissions set up, what to do with all the money that we were taking in.

Quick point of order though. To the extent that we were at our richest from 1870 to 1913, it wasn't so much we as like four guys. And we called them robber barons. As a sign of affection. Meanwhile, the rest of America, the leading cause of death, was falling into a vat at work. And it got to the point where even the robber barons realized that the only way this glorious era in American history was going to end was either full-scale f***ing revolution or reasonable compromise, which is how we ended up with stuff like income tax and labor laws and workplace safety guarantees. So let's really tread carefully in the greatness way back machine. Arizona House Republican, Andy Biggs, introduced

a bill this week that would abolish OSHA, a Department of Labor agency tasked with overseeing workplace safety. To the vats! And fill mine with boiling tallow boy! Why not just bring back child labor while you're at it? When you talk about school lunches, hey, I worked my way through high school. I know about you, but I worked since I was, before I was even 13 years old, I was picking berries in the field before I had child labor laws that precluded that. You were picking berries in a field?

Before you? Bum, it's fine. I mean, by the way, how old are you if you were picking berries before there were child labor laws because you look great? Is the key to good skin working the fields as a child? Now, I hate to bring this up, but if we are going back to the 1870s and before, does that include every diversity initiative? Birthright citizenship was, if you look back when this was passed and made, that was meant

for the children of slaves. This was not meant for the whole world to come in, everybody coming in, and totally unqualified people with perhaps unqualified children. Don't bring us your tired and poor huddled masses. Do you have any mathletes? Any doogies, houser? We will take all of your Sheldon's young and old. For those of you at home who might fear that the president's desire to take us back to our nation's historic greatness may tread into unconstitutional action,

fear not, because the brilliant design of our nation allows for the co equal branch of the judiciary to stand as a bulwark against tyranny as judged in the landmark decision of 1803 Marbury versus Madison, which, as you know, is when James Madison lost the historic Supreme Court case to Stephon Marbury. Marbury ran him out of the building and established our foundational separation of powers. Vice President JD Vance, he had some interesting words about the separation of power in government.

He's for it? If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney General and how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that's also illegal. Judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power. Ah! Of course they're allowed to adjudicate the boundaries of that power. That's the whole f***ing point of the judiciary, to interpret whether those powers are legitimate. You went to law school, motherf***er!

The alternative is that... acting... The only alternative is that the executive determines for himself what is constitutional, at which point there would be no guardrails against... Oh. Hey, Congress. Hey, buddy.

You got a little separation of powers problem. I was wondering, any chance you might be reasserting your authority? Opposition party. Democrats, you ready to do some oppositioning? There are some things we can do, but the Republicans are in the majority in the Senate and the House. We're going to need some Republicans, frankly, who are willing to lose, who are willing to be a Liz Cheney and say, I will lose my seat to do the right thing by this country not the

right thing by Donald Trump I Haven't seen it yet. Let's hope Democratic congressman Dan Goldman of New York That's the sales pitch. We just need someone on their side willing to lose everything for progress like a Russian dog being shot into space. You can see the Democrats' backbone on our new show, America Backslides, starring Dan Goldman as Hopeful Loser. But fine. We have to rely on Republicans in Congress

to be a check on Trump. How's that going? Republican Senator Tom Tillis says that while he believes Trump's actions run afoul of the Constitution in the strictest sense, he believes nobody should bellyache about that. You're comfortable if he shuts those down without getting congressional approval. Congress will be involved at some point, but I think the country's comfortable. They're using that authority right now in a way that hasn't been used in a long time,

so it looks radical. It's not. Do you think he violated the law? Well, technically, yeah. I'm not losing a whole lot of sleep. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Well, it's been a good run, America.

It's looked like we're becoming less like the constitutional republic it's been for 250 years and more like the monarchy that we all fought to escape from. Shoot. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. And we are... Good job. We are... No. No. No. John, the, uh... The, uh... The fronthical son appears to have returned.

What? Is that... Wait. Is that... Hold on. Do my eyes deceive me? Is that young John Oliver? Are you here to offer America your wisdom and counsel? Oh, no, no, no, no, John. I am here to gloat. America had its little fun, didn't you, experimenting with democracy?

You fought so hard to get away from us, acting up, throwing all that tea into the harbor. You still owe us for that tea into the harbor. You still owe us for that, by the way. I mean, how much was it? It was just tea, John. It was just tea? You take that back!

You take that back right now! I know. I know. It's a very sensitive beverage. The point is, you told everybody that you were going to be different. You weren't going to turn out like your mean old dad who was so horrible to you when you were growing up.

So we sat back. We let you spend your wild teen years experimenting with your ridiculous ideas of checks and balances because deep down, we knew that once you got that nonsense out of your system, you'd be backed. In fact, if I may sing from Hamilton. No, I'd really, I'd appreciate not. That's fair.

What I'm saying is, let me be the first to welcome America to its monarchy era. Congratulations, everyone. You can now take your place in the pantheon of great empires alongside the British, the Roman, the Klingon, Wakanda, whatever one Babar the elephant was the ruler of. I forget. Hold on a second Mr. Oliver, if I may, Ambassador Oliver, for a moment. Please. America, yes, we are having a bit of trouble with democratic governance. But I don't think we want to abandon our republic and go full empire.

Yeah, but why not, John? You really prefer the system that you have right now? Oh, I need 51 votes for a bill to pass. Is the vice president in town to break a tie? Wait, is this one of the bills that needs 60 votes for no clear reason? Well, I'm sorry, little Timmy, no health care for you. All right. It does not sound great when you put it like that. Oh, you mean when I put it entirely accurately, John?

It doesn't sound great? What I'm saying is don't fight being a monarchy, John. Embrace it. Kings get shit done. Now, is it stuff that you want done? Not necessarily, but they do move quick. They taste cumin at lunch, and they've taken over an entire continent by dinnertime. That is how the British rolls, Jon.

F*** everyone else, they're not like us. In fact, if I may sing a line for Mr. Kendrick Lamar. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I really, I really don't think you should do that. I appreciate you for stopping me on that one. No, yes. Yeah. Not to be short-sighted, but spoiler alert, John.

Yeah? Things didn't end up so great for the British Empire. Uh, first of all, how dare you? We are technically between empires at the moment, but we're keeping our castles warm and our crowns bejeweled for the day that we get back onto our feet. Look, no offense, but I'm not sure

the imperial model is for us. Oh, really? The imperial model isn't for you, John. Have you seen anything America's done over the last 50 years? Because for a country that doesn't want to be an empire, you're doing a pretty f***ing good impression of one right now. Invasions, economic exploitations

are now suggesting turning Gaza into a beachfront casino? Even King George would have been like, I don't know, guys. Feels like the situation's a bit more complicated than that and I'm literally dying of medieval brain disease. You know, I... He was. He was doing that.

He was dying. He was dying of a medieval brain disease. It drove him crazy, but he could see that it was an unreasonable request. We really... We really have become our father. Yeah, yeah. And you know what, Charlie? Don't be sad about it.

We couldn't be more proud. This shouldn't be a sad time. The arc of history is so long, it eventually becomes a circle. And you end up right where you started. You might even call it the circle of life. In fact, if I may say, the great Imperial subject Sir Elton John's

opening Zulu chants from The Lion King. Please stop me, John. Please. Please stop me from doing that. I do not want to do it. John, please stop me. Please stop me. I don't want to go out like this. Stop me, John. All right! John Oliver, everybody! Thank you very much. Last week tonight, the news is Sunday on HBO.

When we come back, David Remnick will be joining us. Don't go away. What? everybody. Welcome back to The Daily Show. My guest tonight, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, author, and long time editor of The New Yorker, which is celebrating 100 years with a special anniversary issue out today. Please welcome David Remnick, sir. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Very exciting. A hundred years of the New Yorker. And this, a special treat, ladies and gentlemen.

I don't know if you can see this. It is their swimsuit edition. It is. Is this the original cover? From... From 1925. And... This is the first cover that was on the New Yorker. That's right. Ray Irvin was the artist, and they put it out, and it went on the newsstands.

Harold Ross was the editor. Raoul Fleischmann, a yeast fortune behind the magazine. Sure. And it sold nothing. It sold nothing. It didn't do very well at all. Even with all that yeast money behind the magazine. Sure. And it sold nothing. It sold nothing. It didn't do very well at all. Even with all that yeast money behind it. Didn't rise. You should enter that in the caption contest, David.

John Oliver. He warmed it up pretty well. Yeah, he warmed it up pretty good out there. And this is a... They almost almost the whole thing down after 3 months they almost gave up on the whole thing. Yeah, what was it that turned it what why in 3 months to what did something happen was meant to be just a purely comic jazz age 1920's pre-depression thing

they were going to close it down after three months. And then they had a good piece about the Scopes monkey trial. Sure. I watched it on court TV. It's fantastic. And Eric DeWitt. And then I swear to God, what took off on the newsstand was a piece, you're not going to believe this,

about cabarets and night clubs and things like this and people were fascinated and it flew off the newsstand. And the next thing you know, we were a big success. Really? At that time, were the illustrations the majority of it or were the articles the majority of? Oh, it was purely little bits and pieces and the first profile that ever ran, and we're famous for longer pieces, you know, the first piece that ever ran as a profile was a one page profile the head of the

Metropolitan Opera showbiz. One pay and you know the writer was like 500 words and never make it was awful. It was dreadful really yeah, yeah, and now 100 years later than when you're carrying the mantle of something that has been here for so long. It does present and an extra burden and challenge you don't want to be the guy that you don't want to be the last guy out the

building and it's change about so in this more challenging challenge media and I read to do long form. The law this you buy this and you... I don't remember what that's called, but you look at it... And read. Read. Yeah.

And read more. What? Yeah, there aren't little dots in one-sentence summaries of world events. Son of a bitch! No, it's in def... It is in defiance of every trend that we think is happening. But look, I think that people actually want to know.

They want to know what's going on in the world. They want to know what's going on in Washington. They want to know what's going on with other people's lives and have some empathy for it. They want to laugh. And that's what we're trying to do. It's a pretty inclusive formula. I will say, for me, Because the circadian rhythm of the news has become the circadian rhythm of Twitter

I almost think it's leading that sort of Incentivized outrage and and hate and things that I find great solace in long-form Journalism, it's a it really is a comfort food, but also there's not a lot of people out there who are taking the time to contextualize things. Well, I think there are more people than you think. I mean, a million, two million, three people subscribe to the magazine.

I hope it'll be more, especially after this night. I think all of us. There's nothing like shame that's pandering. They're mostly sports fans. They're not interested. My first job, sports writer for the Washington Post. Really? Yeah. I didn't even know they had athletic teams.

They have what's now called the Commodores. Oh, very nice. I thought it was a singing group. It's exciting. I think people want to find out more than just ridiculous tweets, and they want to know what's going on, and they want fairness and fact checking and a sense of decency, and they also want some media outlets that aren't knuckling under. Not intimidated by the moment.

No. Yeah. Right. And that's our promise to you. And, you know, I think that we're looking for another 100 years, but I'd like to get past the next four, frankly. Right. Is this, have you, you've been in this a long time.

Is this a media moment that is reminiscent to you of any other analogous? It's not even reminiscent of the first Trump term. Right, totally different. This is immensely, in a weird way, more competent. I know that sounds very strange, but they seem to have come to the game very determined to do a ton of things fast

and overwhelm you and overwhelm me and everybody here. And to some very determined to do a ton of things fast and overwhelm you and overwhelm me and everybody here. And to some measure they're succeeding. There's no they have a project in mind that they were going to, I don't know what year it was named for, but damn it. But there's a shrewdness to it. And part of the shrewdness is contingent on the weakness of the Democrats and the confusion of the Democrats at the moment. And the sport of the election, quite frankly.

There are a lot of people behind them. And our job is to get it right and to get it fair and to get it factual and to not just be yelling and screaming and wagging our fingers with polemics, but to really describe these things with some sense of seriousness. And I think people want that. Is there a break glass moment for you in this?

You know, we talked about it earlier with the audience about not overreacting to each individual outrage and moment. And is that frustrating? Do we keep ourselves on DEF CON? And I don't know which one is the worst. Nine, 10. I notice sometimes when I go out to dinner with this person or that person and meet friends, whatever, every once in a while, in fact, quite a lot, somebody will say to me, you

know what? I've signed off on the news. I'm not watching it. I can't take it. I have to, you know, protect myself. It's too much. I understand that instinct. I understand it.

But while you're doing that, Trump keeps going. Politics keeps going. The world keeps happening. And you may choose to protect yourself. But then you're part of the problem, I'm afraid. Yeah, no. We were talking again. Action is the antidote for that anxiety. The question is, what have you learned

from deterring this kind of executive action? Because the real moment to me will be that sort of Marbury versus Madison moment where you know they'll say well well enforce it well who enforces it I guess the US Marshals and if the US Marshals work for the DOJ and the DOJ is run by somebody who tells them no don't enforce it right now right now right the president is overstepping executive power not once not twice but in multiple ways. And courts are going to have to stand up

to do what courts need to do. The press needs to describe it and in all its fullness and accuracy. Citizens need to do what citizens are capable of doing. And it requires everybody. And the Democratic Party, and Congressman Goldman did not exactly present, the face of a warrior.

That might have been my favorite moment that I've seen, where we go, like, what are the Democrats going to do? And he's like, I hope... Hopefully, one of the Republicans will be like, this is crazy. We shouldn't... I want to lose. Hopefully one of the Republicans will be like, this is crazy. Yeah. We shouldn't. I want to lose.

Chapter 12 in profiles incurred. Right? Yeah. Do you, as you've spent time talking to people that are obviously very informed within Democratic parties, it's their beat. Do they sense there is anything, I look at this as, this is a 50-year project that the Republicans have run

to reset the country to its, not just pre-Great Society, not just pre-New Deal, but as even Trump is saying, like robber baron ethos. But that's a political battle. Some of that is a political battle. It's natural over executive over federal spending for example over culture wars.

It's not a mystery that we have such. That's right. It's not constitutional. No this is about breaking the norms of the Constitution and the law. And what are you going to do

about it. Right. That's different. So what are if you were going to say you know the people there's going to be protests there's going to be about it. Right. That's different. So what are if you were going to say you know the people there's going to be protests there's going to be those things but at this moment it is broadly popular. The agenda that has been enacted is if we had a revote today he would probably do better than how he did on. I think CBS had 52 53 percent.

Which for him is a landslide. It's astronomical. For any president really in this day and age to have that kind of popularity is really unusual. So I think we're headed toward a big crisis. I really do, and I think we're in the midst of it. Right. I really do. Okay, well thanks for being here.

I'm gonna go to the toilet. I'm gonna go to the toilet. I'm gonna go to the toilet. It's incredible to me how there really is a rudderlessness amongst the opposition party. Yeah. Well, the opposition party is the Democratic Party that's licking its wounds. It's beating itself up for what happened, and rightly so,

in terms of the Biden decision to run a second time or the decision to kind of have a willing suspension of disbelief on where Biden was in terms of popularity or his age. Well, there is a kind of sense of injury, embarrassment, and withdrawal. But enough already. Enough already. Sack up. Yeah. You hear that? I'm going to say this right now. The editor of one of the most esteemed magazines in American history just told the Democrats,

sack up. Chocking. You heard it in your first interview. Chocking. What you described, which is that you have a historical trend and then there's a reaction to it, and this has happened any number of times, I fully expect and hope that that will happen again in some form or another. Again, it is not the job of the press, and this may disappoint some of you to be at the

head of the barricades shaking the fist and leading the charge, it is to describe so that you're fully in possession of the facts and points of view are expressed, and then you do with it what you will in a democracy. That is a really important function. Do you really think the Democrats' problem is a messaging problem?

I think it's, I don't know what they stand for. I don't know what their principle is. This is three weeks old. What is it, three, four weeks old? This is not a new feeling. People did not believe, I think people did not fully take on board that what Donald Trump was saying that he was going to do in all those speeches that we either laughed about or disbelieved or kind of let fly by or were foolish enough to believe that he would lose.

They did not quite take on board the full reality, the fullness of what he was going to do, how fast it was going to come, and with what sense of diabolical organization. Because you have to say, it is just coming so fast at people in terms of the press, in terms of public opinion, in terms of the Democratic Party, that people are on their heels.

Right. And I hope that doesn't last for, because there's no time, if you keep ceding that to Trump, a lot of damage is going to be done very, very quickly. I almost wonder, you almost want to say to them, you have to exist outside of him. It's as though they define themselves almost entirely by reactions to his movements, you know.

But the problem is that he's president and he's maximizing executive powers quickly and as fully as he possibly can. Right. And unless you have a coherent reaction to that, whether it's in Congress or the press or the greater world or on the street, you're going to lose a lot.

Ultimately, he might get pushed back. Ultimately, in two years, there might be a midterm election that weakens him. Ultimately he may overplay his hand in this court case or that court case and he loses. But a lot of damage is going to be done to a lot of human beings. And also the one thing that we haven't mentioned is the quality of cruelty to all this. Not just illegality. Well it seems like that's the point of cruelty to all this, not just illegality. Seems like that's the point of it. Yeah. I mean, just the cruelty about the description of trans people and our fellow brothers and sisters who

are immigrants or have birthright citizenship, there is a tone of insult and the desire to damage. If you were to come to me and say, I want to make government more efficient, I want to make it more effective, there's a lot of things in here, in the way that we do it, and it doesn't work, I'd be highly on board with that.

It's something that I've screamed about it for years. Sure, I can fully believe it, and any government agency, whether it's USAID, or whatever it might be. Yes. But the notion of putting somebody in charge of the health, the public health of this country who's a conspiracy theorist. Right.

And a liar and quite strange. But see, they don't view it in that way though. So I think that's part of the disconnect is they're not viewing it through that lens. What they're viewing it as, a fighter who's done their own research and awoken to the corruption of the government. And my point is, if the government is the only power strong enough to stand up to international corporatist interest, there is no other anything that, and if you think rapacious greed is going to make your healthcare better, and if you think rapacious greed is going to make your health care better

And if you think rapacious greed is going to make pharmaceutical companies come to heel or oil companies come to heel. I don't know What you're looking at without government effectively Managing those instincts. Yeah, what are we handing this all over to? This is what's new between the first Trump term and the second term. I lived for four years in the Soviet Union and the last years of the Soviet Union and then kept coming back and now I can't go anymore for obvious reasons. But what did you do in the Soviet Union? I can't go to the obvious reasons. Did you kill a dude in the Soviet Union?

Just a few, but you don't need to know about that. What? I was a reporter. Oh, you were a reporter for four years. I was a reporter for the Wall Street Post. And you know, this was, I was coming to a place that for 70-odd years had lived lives not only of censorship but of self-censorship and a kind of relationship to the government

where you were not a citizen, you were a subject. And I had the thrilling experience as a witness to see this seemingly come to an end, to liberalize, to have the promise of democracy, to see miraculously that Mikhail Gorbachev would come along and open the door. History can move in that direction, and God willing, it will again.

I've heard that the arc of it is long and bends towards justice. It's long but aggravating. Yes. And, but now it's, you know, went in the other direction. And the oligarchs took over this country in concert with Vladimir Putin and before him, Yeltsin. And to see an inauguration a few weeks ago of the tech titans of this world sitting

in the best seats in the House, right behind the President of the United States, is, was the most ominous thing. It was even more ominous than the speech itself. Because those guys are seemingly willing to say and do anything to protect their gigantic business interests. And that is a further recipe for disaster. We've seen it before in this country, but we've never seen it energized by

and supercharged by social media and the tools that they have at hand. I don't know why. I'm bumming you out. No. I remain optimistic because the history of this country is such resilience through peaks and valleys that

we were sure were fatal blows. It's different than these other, you know, we are for the adolescents of America being 250 years old, we are a more mature democracy than I think a lot of those countries. We have a history and a pattern of civic engagement at local and state levels that I think will prove even if the body politic at that level begins to erode. But people have to wake up. We have our job. I think everybody here can't sit back either. I think we need a game plan. Honestly, I don't think it's that people aren't awake. I think they feel rudderless and thirsty for inspiring leadership that feels principled and has a

plan of action that can turn this into something. I don't think the American people want this corrosive day to day. I truly don't believe that. That doesn't mean they don't want to secure border. It doesn't mean they don't want law and order in their cities. It doesn't mean that they don't want some other common sense things that have been done.

They don't want the other part. I agree with you. And I, for once. So by agreeing with me, I have now officially been published in The New Yorker. You got it. By the way, not for the first time, you've been published in The New Yorker and we're still waiting for pieces from you. What, do you got a job or something? Have I been in...

I was in The New Yorker. Yeah! You wrote pieces for Shouts and Murmurs. Did I really? Yeah! I can't imagine how happy my mother was. -♪ Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, up? Well, John, we'll continue our coverage of America's descent into fascism, report on the president's onslaught on the Constitution, and give 10 blowjob tips

that'll make your man say, bazinga. What? Well, Friday is Valentine's Day, and just because our country's in trouble doesn't mean our love lives have to be. Want to hear one of the tips now? It involves a grapefruit. Okay, Jordan's life, everybody. We'll tune in. And also, by the way, before you go, join myself and a bunch of other fine, fine comics at Comic Relief. Stand Up for L.A. It's on March 3rd in this New York City.

For more info and to buy tickets or donate, please go to the link below and get your free blowjob tips. It's right on! Pazinga. Here it is. Your moment is in. -"Sky-high signing, and President Trump ushers in Golf of America Day. Try that on. Golf of Mexico, Golf of America. Everyone listen to this.

Golf of America Day. Golf of America Day. Golf of America Day. It's the Golf of America. Things are changing. The world is anew. 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 Paramount Plus. Paramount Podcasts.