The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Jon Stewart on Iran, Israel and Trump’s Hush Money Trial | David E. Sanger

Episode Date: April 16, 2024

Jon Stewart unpacks Iran launching missiles at Israel and resident Civil War historian Donald Trump claiming to be the solution. Plus, with Trump’s criminal trial beginning, Desi Lydic, Ronny Chieng, and Josh Johnson go head-to-head to decide which persecuted martyr he resembles most. Then, White House and National Security Correspondent, David E. Sanger, joins Jon to discuss his latest book, “New Cold Wars.” Sanger details how America’s “arrogance” in the decades after the Cold War led to underestimating Russia’s imperialistic plans, including its invasion of Ukraine, and how a similar pattern is unfolding with China. They also discuss how America’s foreign policy track record might impact its role in simultaneous “new cold wars” with Russia and China.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Survivor 47 is here, which means we're bringing you a brand new season of the only official survivor podcast on fire. And this season we are joined by fan favorite and Survivor 46 runner-up, Charlie, Charlie, I'm excited to do this together. Thanks, Jeff. So excited to be here, and I can't wait to bring you inside the mind of a survivor player for season 47. Listen to On Fire the official Survivor podcast starting September 18th wherever you get your podcast. You're listening to Comedy Central. From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central. It's America's only source for new. This is the Daily Church with your host, John Stewart. Hi everybody, welcome. Welcome. I almost, I almost surprised myself. What the heck?

What is my head doing? There we go. Hey, welcome. the other show. My theat. Hey, welcome to the show. My name is John Stewart. Unbelievable show.

They're already exhausted from the open. By the way, how was your weekend? My weekend was... Breaking at this moment, Israel under fire from Iran. It's just raining rockets with those sirens blaring out. We do effectively have World War III in progress. Oh no! Not World War 3? I'm still writing Iraq war on all my checks. But yes, the skies above Israel were lit up like a, I want to say Christmas tree, but that's probably not.

For that area. Minora. It's the moment society has dreaded since the arm's since the armstice of 1945, finally upon us, as Einstein said, he doesn't know what weapons World War III will be fought with, but he knows the next ones will be fought with sticks and stones. This is John Stewart signing off. May God bless us and everyone. And let future civilizations know that we could not overcome our fatal nature.

In the end, there was almost no damage, as Israel, the U.S. and other allies shot down 99% of Iran's missiles and drones. Huh. It wasn't World War III. Huh. It wasn't World War III. Uh, I certainly regret doing this. It wasn't World War III. I certainly regret doing this.

I, I, oh boy. Moment of panic and I guess sort of a primitive instinct, but... Is that me? Did I... Art Garfunk? But kudos to the United States and to Israel. It shows just how effective a military defense system can be when you funnel American dollars away from health care and education. It really helps to build. And the best part is, we did it with no help.

The two amigos surrounded by hostile Arab nations united in their zeal to destroy Israel. Jordan's Air Force also intercepted and shot down dozens of drones that violated its airspace and were on their way to Israel. And we've now learned that Saudi Arabia and the UAE provided real-time intelligence that helped track the incoming missiles. What are the teams of these fucking wars? Well, I don't even know the teams anymore. The Arab countries are helping Israel. I don't know know 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 theonsonsonsonsons theons theonsons theonsons are the theons are thoosonsonsonsons thronesones drones thrones drones thronesonesones drones thronesonesonesonesonesonesonesonesonesonesonesonesonesones drones drones drones drones drones drones drones drones thrones drones thrones drones thrones drones thrones drones thons drones thens thens thens thens the. I the. I the. I don't the. I don't know know know know teams anymore. The Arab countries are helping Israel. I don't know what the teams are. We need to sort this out with jerseys or

something. Because Iran could attack at any moment. In a statement, Iran said it now considers the matter concluded. Hey, did you hear that? We're good. We're good. We don't... By the way, he was delicious. Really? That's what you did? Anyway, we're gonna be okay. Israel has vowed it will respond to Iran. No!

All right, can I have a word with you, Middle East? Over here. Ah Shalom Alecum. I'm trying to cover all bases. Listen, I hope this doesn't sound patronizing, but when we in the West drew your region's borders and set you up with perfectly functioning dictatorships. We expected a little better. See the agreement was we would make up a whole new bunch of countries, some of which made sense, and in return you would give us your delicious oil.

That was the deal. You give us your delicious oil. That was the deal. You give us your delicious oil and we take it. We certainly didn't expect to get drawn into all the drama that our actions created. And now these wars have got us all turned around. At one point, we're helping around. drawn into all the drama that our actions created. And now, these wars have got us all turned around. At one point, we're helping Iraq fight Iran,

and then we're invading Iraq, and now we're helping Iran, and then we're using ISIS to help fight Houthis that are backed by Iran. I mean, f-feeh-fee. You know, in Gaza, we're actually bombing them and feeding them. How do you think that makes it feel? Oh, oh, oh, did you have a nice sandwich? Run! Oh, and apparently now there's two kinds of Islam, I mean, you could have told us that before we got into this. As I said earlier, arbitrarily gerrymandered your homeland, so...

do better. Keep that oil coming. And by the way, we got enough trouble keeping track of our own wars. Like this weekend, our former president, an illustrious historian, Donald J. Trump, spoke near one of America's most hallowed battlefields. And if you thought Lincoln consecrated Gettysburg with his soaring rhetoric, well, buckle up. Gettysburg, what an unbelievable battle that was, the Battle of Gettysburg, what an unbelievable, I mean it was so much and so interesting and so vicious and horrible and so beautiful in

so many different ways. It represented such a big portion of the success of this country. Gettysburg, wow. That is plagiarized almost directly. That is plagiarized almost directly. From my seventh grade book report Gettysburg, wow. I did not see well. Is he today to me?

It was vicious and horrible and beautiful. It was vicious and horrible and beautiful. Is he talking about a civil war battle or a horse giving birth? Like, it was bloody, but it's life. Now, obviously I'm not a civil war buff, like... But unlike me, he even knows all the famous quotes. I go to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to look and to watch. And the statement of Robert Lee, who's no longer in favor, did you ever notice that?

No longer in favor. Never fight uphill, they were fighting uphill. They were fighting uphill. He said, wow, that was a big mistake. He lost his great general. And they were fighting. Never fight uphill me boys. It is, it is true. The north did have the higher ground, but I'm pretty sure that Robert E. Lee was not a lepricon.

Ah, the north did have the higher ground, but I'm pretty sure that Robert E. Lee was not a lepricon. Ah, I never fight uphill, me boys. That's not how to take back the North's pot of gold. You can't be fighting uphill, me buys. Also, minor point, but I'm pretty sure Robert Lee would not have told them never fight uphill, since he's the one who told them never fight uphill, since he's the one, who told them to f-finding fight uphill? He wasn't like, you know, they go up the hill, oh, I'm gonna be so mad if they do that. They go up the hill, Longstreet actually told him they'll go up the hill.

Robert Lee said, ah, me buys, they'll do what they want. Although to be fair to former president, Donald Trump, he does have a lot on his mind right now. Now to breaking news, the first ever criminal trial involving a former president will soon get underweight. Oh my God, Donald, don't run up that hill, me boy. Stay down, stay down the hill, me boy. Stay down. Stay down the Hill me, boy. Stay down. Yes, after years of anticipation, the first criminal trial of a former president has begun,

and by all accounts, it is absolutely riveting. 40 minutes ago, you wrote an observation that I was very surprised. Trump appears to be sleeping, his head keeps dropping down and his mouth goes slack. Tell us about that. Well, Jake, he appeared to be asleep. Jake, what part of head down ice clothes drool coming in his mouth? Do you not fucking get over here? He snore it. He's snoring. He's doing it? He's sleeping. He's A jig. What part of head down ice clothes drool coming in his mouth? Do you not fucking get over here? He snore it.

He's doing the honkshoe, he's doing the me-me-me-me. There's a piece of paper going up and down and up and down in his mouth. He's asleep. Imagine committing so many crimes, you get bored at your own trial. Move on to the good stuff. Now, in case you've lost track, this is the trial where Trump allegedly paid hush money to an adult film star that he slept with and then allegedly falsified business records to cover it up, or as Trump would put it.

This is political persecution. This is a persecution like never before. Nobody's ever seen it if they like it. And again, it's a case that you have never been brought. It's an assault America. And that's why I'm very proud to be here. Well, it's true. Trump is always very proud to be part of any assault on America. Look, even it... Oh. Oh. Oh, yes, Mr. Stewart, we agree. Look, even if the prosecution's a bit of a stretch, it's not persecution.

The guy's not Nelson Mandela or Jesus. I don't mind being Nelson Mandela because I'm doing it for a reason. Trump also shared two articles that compared him to Jesus Christ. One was titled, quote, the crucifixion of Donald Trump. I, don't let him crucify him, me, boy. We had full-team coverage down to the courthouse in Lower Manhattan. Today, here with an update on which martyr Trump more resembles Jesus or Nelson Mandela. It's Ronnie Chang and Jesus or Mandela?

Clearly Mandela, all right? Both are two heroes unjustly persecuted by a corrupt legal system, hmm? And as Mandela often said, and I quote, this is a witch hunt hoax I've never even met horseface. I totally disagree, Ronnie, Jesus Christ. I'm obviously Jesus Christ. He's obviously Jesus Christ. is a witch hunt hoax I've never even met horse face. I totally disagree, Ronnie. Jesus Christ. He's obviously Jesus Christ. It's right there in the New Testament,

or in its sequel, The Art of the Deal. Chapter 10, verse 8, and lo, he evicted the rent-controlled tenants, and it was good. And tremendous and vicious and beautiful. Jesus, wow. All right, all right. Hang on, hang on. Just think about this for a second. Okay? Trump and Mandela, they both had three wives.

Jesus didn't even have a serious girlfriend. Okay, the guy had no Riz. I don't think Riz is an appropriate. Anyway, Mandela was in prison for 27 years, Ronnie, so it's... Yes, but if you add up all the prison sentences Trump got for other people from January 6 and his campaign and his business, it's way more than 27 years, okay? Trump is like 10 Nelson Mandela's. No, Ronnie, Trump is Jesus. They both have a ton of buildings with their names on them,

filled with portraits of themselves to be worshipped. And they both sold sneakers, gold sneakers. Hold on, hold on. I'm sorry to interrupt. This is ridiculous, okay? Johnson, everybody, I'll'm sorry to interrupt. This is ridiculous. Okay? Josh Johnson, everybody. I'll say that's all. Josh.

Trump is not Mandela or Jesus, okay? We all know that. Did you say OJ? Yeah, John. OJ. Trump, they were both iconic celebrities in the 80s. Plus, Donald J. Trump? Is the J for Juice? Probably.

But most importantly, their obvious guilt didn't deter their loyal fans who either think they're innocent, or don't care, they're guilty. Jesus had loyal fans. Not like this. So if he's OJ, you're saying that whether or not Trump slept with Stormy Daniels or paid Stormy Daniels hush money, it's not going to matter, he's walking away a free man. Yes. And personally, I'm excited for the moment in the trial when Trump will drop his pants and say, if the glove don't fit, you must acquit.

Well done. Ronnie, Jesse and Josh, everybody. We'll come back with David Sanger. Don't go away. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. 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, Mike, it's tonight. A White House, a national security correspondent for the New York Times, his latest book is called New Cold Wars, China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's struggle to defend the West. Please welcome back to the program, David Zanger. Sir. You wrote another bank. You wrote another bank. Uh, new co-wards. David, first of all, thank you. It's nice to see you again.

Good to be here. Uh, is the premise that the United States did a poor job of managing risk after the fall of the Soviet Union? Well, we certainly made a lot of false assumptions, bad assumptions. That doesn't sound like the way? Nah, it wouldn't be us. And the fundamental argument of the book is that we believed, somehow, we deluded ourselves, into believing that China and Russia, each for their to to to to to to to to to to see......... to see to see to see to see to see to see to see to see to see to see to see to the book is that we believed somehow, we deluded ourselves into believing that China and Russia, each for their own different reasons, would like

just sign up to the Western world. We were going to go say, look, we got this whole thing figured out, all you guys do is come in here and sign on the dotted line. Right. We're going to do a rules-based democratic foundation order and everybody would be cool with it. And that was supposed to be the end of history because right? Sure I remember the both. Francis Fugiami said it's the end of history. Western liberalism is triumphant and we can all just skate on the glorious booty that we get from it. Right now you can you can't blame just him, because there were a lot of other people who believe it.

I blame just him. Okay. And I signed on to a little bit of this myself, so I confess, but I got to tell you, this basically went on for 30 years, good 25 anyway, because we were busy doing the wars on terror. You were just talking about those a little while ago. Well, you talk about, in the book, there's a lot of stories of how George Bush thought that there would be a great reproachment with Putin over their shared dislike of terrorism.

And the two of them, I mean, there's stories in there that come out of James Bond. You're on a yacht thrack- th. George Bush and Putin and they've just seen a very dark version of the nutcracker. You're like, it's not even the regular nutcracker. It's the dark nutcracker. And you're like, I bet Bush really enjoyed that. I'm sure he loves anything, hi. So, so this was 2002. We were in St. Petersburg.

We were floating down the river. They were floating down the river with him. I was floating down in the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. It, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's. It's, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it. It. It. It's. It's. It's the dark. It's the dark. It's the dark. It's the dark. It's the dark. It's the dark. It's, it's, it's, the dark. It's, the dark. It's, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, it's, the dark. It's the dark. It's the dark. It's the the the the Neva River, they're in a great party boat. There's this guy serving... Wait, you were floating down the river with them. I was floating down in the boat behind it, we weren't even as well. What are you like tubing? They're in a yacht? That's what White House reporters do, isn't it? All right. No, no, we were in the the pools, just this sign the pool was a river, right? Okay, so, so so so so so we so we th so we th so, so, so we th so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, the the they, they. th. the the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thoo serving dinner. He's kind of big and hulking. It turns out it's Pregosian. Okay? You've Jenny Pregosian, the head of the terrible army. Well at the time he was a prudent chef.

Okay. His only job was make sure the meals were good. And he had really glowering look. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. So he's like Bobby Flay. And then he turns into the head of a mercenary army. Well, before he did that, he ran the internet research agency and tried to fix the 2016 election with disinformation.

They really are. They really is. That's tal mean that's talent. That's talent. So now, this appears to be going along until George Bush wants them to go after Islamic terrorism. And then at that point Putin wants them to go after Chechnine. Right, or at least Putin wants to use the excuse to go after Chechnine. That was the beginning of Bush beginning to think, you know, maybe, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, that th, that th, that th, that th, that th, th- that, that that's, that's, th-I thi, thi, thi, th-I th-I th-I th-I that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, 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-a, thi-a, thiii-a''a'a'a'a'a'a'er's tha'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'er's thi-a, thya. Right, or at least Putin wants to use the excuse to go after Chechnyan. That was the beginning of Bush, beginning to think, you know, maybe this guy isn't the one we thought he was. He looked into his soul.

Yeah, well, you know, he may have looked at the wrong soul. So in 2007, Putin shows up at this thing called the Munich Security Conference. And he he he he the the th and he th and he th and he th and he th and he th and he th and he th and he th and he th and he th and he thus, and he was thus, and he was thus, thus, thus, thus, thus, thus, thus, thus, thinks, thinks, thinks, thinks, thinks, thinks, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, th. th. And, th. And, tho, than, than, than, than, than, than, than, than, than, than, than, than, than, thinks, than, than, than, than, than, than, thiiiiiii. thi. thi. thi, thi says, you know, there are parts of Russia that have been separated from us that really belong to us, that to the Russia that Peter the Great created. And remember, Putin isn't trying to recreate the Soviet Union. He thinks the guys who ran the Soviet Union were idiots. You go into his office, he's got a big bust of Peter the Great there. So who do you think he thinks he is? Forgozion. No, no, no, no, Peter the Great. How do we miss all of this and even if we had been on to it, what would we have done differently? So first it was a combination of sort of bad intelligence, wishful thinking. Oh sure, he's going to be troublesome but at the end of the

day he cares about his oil exports his gas exports more than he really cares about this and look up until the weekend before the invasion of Ukraine the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. So this is not this all past 2014 this is all yeah 2014 comes he takes Crimea Obama says I'm not going to war for something that used to belong to Russia. Nobody does sanctions for a year, right? And the next year, the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, signs the Nord Stream 2 agreement. It creates this pipeline that runs from Russia around Ukraine, so it doesn't get any revenue from it, and straight into Europe. And he says, she says, you know, Putin's a reliable supplier.

He's realistic. Yeah, right. Okay. Reasonable assumption maybe because he really hadn't cut off gas supplies. So what happens next? Seven years later, he goes after full-on Ukraine. The U.S. reveals the intelligence in starting in the late fall. They get this remarkable intelligence.

They send Bill Burns, the CIA director, who used to be ambassador to Russia, to say, this would be a really bad idea. Putin says, oh, I'm not doing anything. And the weekend before, everybody's back in Munich, and there are a bunch of Europeans saying to me, and everybody else, oh, he's not really going to invade. He's just bluffing.

He wouldn't risk his oil revenues. Four days later, he invades. The intelligence chief for Germany was in Kiev the morning of the invasion. They had to evacuate him because he didn't believe they would invade. So what did he think that noise was? He got out of town kind of fast. So this is all hindsight though, in truth, what could we other, when someone is imperialistic in that way, what can other powers do short of an actual shooting war to prevent these kinds of things? There's no guarantee that tougher sanctions after Crimea would have deterred him?

It sounds like this is kind of his destiny, and he's fulfilling that destiny come hell or high water. So that's the other piece of this, which is we impose our values on Russia, China, and we think, well, we're not going to do something that would get in the way of our economic interests. Neither would they. So China's a really interesting example. Shijin taipink comes in more than 10 years ago. Joe Biden spent a lot of time with him, traveled around with him, but the intelligence reports of as he are, this guy's not going to challenge the West.

He's going to tend to his economy, make sure all is good, right? We now discover, and you read about in the book, there are these secret speeches that he gave almost as soon as he came into office, saying, we're going to the size of the Russians and the Americans. We're going to make sure that we take our claims in the South China Sea. I was out in the Rose Garden of the White House when she came to visit and promised everybody he wasn't going to militarize these islands they're building in the South China Sea. A year or two later, you look on satellite photographs, there are fighter jets showing up on the islands. It kind of looks like military resistance.

That's not. Are we lying to them or are we lying to ourselves? I think more to ourselves. So you know, we did not want to conceive of a world in which we were back in superpower conflict. We wanted to live in the world in which the U.S. was the predominant power..S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S........................... And, to. And, to. And, to. And, to. And, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, to. And, to. And, to. And, to. And, to. And, to. And, to. And, to. And, to. And, to. And, to. And, toe. And, toe. And, toe. And, their, their, their, their, toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. the toe. their, their, their, their, their. And wanted to live in the world in which the US was the predominant power. We finally calmed down the Middle East. We're doing real well with that. And that we could go and focus on competing with China, some

containment of Russia. And you know Biden happened to be the one sitting in the office, when this all fell apart. And most of the book is the story of what happens when that fell apart. It's the story of how the Zoparizia nuclear plant in Ukraine, the biggest nuclear plant in Europe, suddenly everybody's afraid is going to become the world's biggest 30-bomb. Yeah, right. And there's an amazing story right from New York City two years ago, October of 2022, when President Biden shows up at a fundraiser at James Murdoch's house. They're nice. Not familiar with the last name, but go ahead. Yeah. He's actually sort of the black sheep of the family. He's the Democrat who raises money for Biden, among others.

So they're, you know, nice New Yorkers walking around with their wine looking at his the art the art the art the art the art the art the art the art their their their their th th th th th th th tho tho th of of of tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho-20 tho-c. thi thi. tho-cu-c-c-c- two- two- two- two- two- two- two- two-2 two-2 two-2 two-2 two-2 two-c. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. October. October, th. October, th. October, tho tho-co-co-co-co-co-coo-cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-c. th. th. th. th., he's the Democrat who raises money for Biden among others. So they're, you know, nice New Yorkers walking around with their wine looking at his art collection. The president comes in and says, by the way, we're going through something that is the closest to nuclear war we've had since the Cuban missile crisis. They're all looking at each other like... He drops that at a cocktail party? I'm sure they all thought that it that it that it th th tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho the tho tho tho the their tho tho their tho. they all thought that it was really the moment to get out for the Hamptons, don't you think? He drops that and then it's like, do you guys have Bree? Like what? He does. Actually, people in the White House were amazing. They now call it his Armageddon speech because he had just said the same thing in the Oval Office. Then then he turned to everybody and go, and my my my my their, and their, and their, they, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, th. tho, th. thi, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, thoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, then he turned to everybody and go, and my word is, don't. That's his big thing now. He tells, he tells dictators, don't. Don't. And they're

like, ooh, okay. Haven't we sowed the seeds of this with our own arrogance and cavalier approach to a lot of these foreign policy conflicts? A, we always frame things as this is a battle between democracy and the free world and liberation and authoritarianism. But the truth is, we're fighting for trade channels and resources. Like, this is all a function of competing capitalist powers and aren't we the ones, I mean we've invaded more countries than Russia and China combined. So how do we give ourselves somehow the pass as the white hat guys when a lot of our policy has created a lot of the chaos that they're taking advantage of? It is...

I'm done, I'm out of here. So, there's been a lot of that going on in American history for a long time. Teddy Roosevelt, you know, took over his fair share of territory. But I think in the Biden administration, we've had to sort of face these contradictions. Because at the beginning of the administration, the president was saying, just what you said. This is a battle between democracy and autocracy. And everyone says, OK, that's pretty clean. Then he goes to-

Just not true. Yeah, then he goes. Then he goes to Saudi Arabia. Does the fist bump with MBS, right? And I was on that trip. They weren't were weren't th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. th. tho. tho. tho. tho. that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, tho. tho. tho. 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. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. to. th. to. the. t. t. t. to. t. t. to. t. to. to. th. the. th. th. th. th.trip. They weren't quite sure how that was going to- Are you ever home? No? When you cover the White House, you've got to go where the president goes. It's part of the job. And then, you know, we move on to what's

been happening in Israel and the Israel-Hamas war. And as you said earlier, we are in the very odd position of both providing aid and providing the arms that are being dropped on Gaza. And I think this administration has had the hardest time trying to go right that. And obviously, it's causing a lot of pain, not only for Gazans, but for people in the administration, who are having a hard time living with it. Would it simplify our position if we stopped pretending our morals

were beyond the reproach of all these other countries? Would it help us to not have to scold everybody for failing to live up to principles that we very clearly do not uphold? Well at least we have some principles, okay? That's the one thing that could be that. But you know, you can't invade a country. What happened in Iraq? That's right. You can't call for regime change. What did we do in Libya?

Every time we say these things, we undercut our own position with, I mean, for God's sakes, the thanks, their enemy, th in 1953. That's right. So at what point do we just admit that this is how we're behaving? The odd thing is at the moment that presidents do admit that, they get chewed up for admitting to American error. Obama went and apologized to the Iranians for that. Not saying apologize, I'm just saying, like, take off the mask and go, you know what this is, it strikes me as, it's colonialism and imperialism in a more modern form. China is in Africa, trying to extract, we're trying to extract, we're militarizing economic rivalries and creating all kinds of chaos and death over what is

ostensibly trying to get better deals. Well some of it's better deals some of it is protecting technology and I argue in here that with China as opposed to Russia this is first of all this is incredible competitor and and it's a competitor in the military sphere in thethe technology sphere, in finance, in economic... And we're their best customer. And they are ours. Right.

And that's really what makes this different from the old cold war. So a reason there's new in new cold wars and there's a reason there's an S at the end. First of all, we're fighting two simultaneously. The old cold war, that wasn't wasn't wasn't wasn't wasn't wasn't that wasn't that wasn't that wasn't that wasn't old Cold War, that wasn't the case. Is fighting the wrong terminology because isn't that, look, the only people that never lose a war are the military industrial complex, are the people that sell the weapons. And if we continue to, if we continue to push that, you know, weaponization of these economic rivalries, aren't we just playing into that cycle?

We are playing into the cycle, but if you're in a world in which vacuums happen, if we say, okay, we're done with this, you're going to go back and build our big walls and sort of recede from it, someone fills that space. And that space is going to get filled largely by China, some by Russia, some by other authoritarian regimes and so we've got to make a really hard and bad choice which is do we want to be the one trying to to fill that void with our technology and our principles understanding that we violate them all the time or do we want to let an authoritarian regime go fill

that space which we know how that's going to look? It seems like what we should do is be honest about what our aims are in the way that China went into Africa and did Belt and Road, knowing that really it's about cobalt and lithium, and rather than us going into Africa and just building up all these small military huntas that end up creating all those dictatorships that create so much chaos and pain for those countries. Well, I'd argue that now we're not doing it with cobalt, we're doing it with semiconductors, right?

So the big story that we tell in here, went to Taiwan, spent a lot of time at Taiwan semiconductor, which is the biggest producer of the most advanced semiconductors in the world, and looked at the question, does that create a silicon shield for the United States and for Taiwan? In other words, that the Chinese would not dare take over Taiwan because they would lose access to Taiwan semiconductor. When are we going to learn any sentence that begins with would

they dare? Yes, they would dare and so would we. And so and so my argument here is it's a Silicon Shield for a little wild John but eventually the Chinese are going to learn how to make everything Taiwan semiconductor is making. And at that moment, we've got a real Taiwan crisis. And so the book is sort of a warning ahead to what these next 20 or 30 years are going to look like. Because this is not a world in which these new Cold Wars are going to end some time soon. They are going to be the dominant theme of the next 2030, 40 years. Long after Putin and she are gone, and long after Joe Biden and Donald Trump are gone.

I don't believe that last part. The Trump's never leaving. I think the two of them, honestly, it'll be like 2084. And they'll be like, it's another Biden-Trump rematch. I can't believe it. Two heads in a jar. New Cold Wars. It is available now, David Sanger. Thank you.

Thank you. That's it's a. 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. And let's show for tonight. Before we go, we check in with your host for the rest of the week.

Dulse Sloan, D'Ouse! Hey, and let's show for tonight. Before we go, we check in with your host for the rest of the week. Dose Sloan, Donse! Hello! Dose! Excited for you to host the week. What are we going to be looking at? John, I'll be continuing our coverage of the Trump trial, unless someone has the money to keep me quiet. Are you, are you, are you asking for Donald Trump to pay you hush money?

No, that broke bitch can't even pay his own bond. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm looking for the real players. I'm asking the Republican Party to pay me hush money. Well, that's a fair point. Don't say Sloan of this week. Wow. We did it. Wow. We did it. Let me say it again.

More sheep is not going to solve the wolf problem. My advice to the president today for what it's worth, Mr. President, don't. Stop it. Support Israel. With respect, go to Amazon and buy a spine online. Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by searching the Daily Show, wherever you get your podcasts. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime on Fairmount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast. Survivor 47 is here, which means we're bringing you a brand new season of the only official Survivor podcast on fire.

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