The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Jordan Klepper Sits Down With AOC and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

Episode Date: May 29, 2023

Jordan Klepper and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez meet at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx to discuss a program that addresses violence as a public health issue, as well as her take on Clarence Thomas accepting luxury gifts, the attack on abortion rights, and Donald Trump's indictment. Then Klepper returns to his home state of Michigan to have a beer with Governor Gretchen Whitmer and discuss the future of gun reform and abortion rights in the state, and then lends a hand fixing the "damn roads." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Ditch the other hiring sites and let zip recruiter find what you're looking for, the needle in the haystack. Four out of five employers who post on zip recruiter get a quality candidate within the first day Try it for free at this exclusive web address zip recruiter dot com slash zip zip recruder the smartest way to hire You're listening to Comedy Central There's a lot of depressing news about gun violence in America, but the good news is that there are people working on solutions. I'm 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 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 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 the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the about gun violence in America, but the good news is that there are people working on solutions. I met up with New York Congresswoman Alexandria-Ocazio-Cortez to talk about one possible solution right here in New York City. I met with the Congresswoman at Jacoby Hospital in the Bronx to discuss its stand-up

to violence program, which has shown an impressive 46% reduction in retaliatory violence in its first few years. As a Democrat focused on violence, isn't that off-brand? Well, I'm from the Bronx, so it's on-brand for where I'm from. There is a lot of discussion around what progressives can do about violence in a big city. What the data has showed us is that if you respond to violence as a public health issue, instead of that's an incarceration issue. violence thiiiiii violence thii violence thi violence thi violence thi violence thi violence thi violence thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the the the the theateate thi. thi. theate. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. 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 the the the the. te. te. toe. toe. toean. toean. toean. toean. toean. toean. toea. toea. tea. te. te. t is that if you respond to violence as a public health issue, instead of as an incarceration issue, violence decreases. And that's what we're doing here at Jacoby Hospital.

Are there cops here at the hospital that are addressing the issue? Hell no. No, this is, listen, and there's security presence and police presence that is standard in any hospital. But that's not what this program is about. In the traditional traditional traditional trad traditional trad traditional the th traditional th traditional th traditional th traditional th traditional th traditional thudic thi thi thi response thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. tho-a tho-a tho-a-a-a, thus. tho-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a. to to to to to to to to to to th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the the the the the the th. th. th. th. th. th. tho. tho. tho. to-s. to-s. tho. to-s. to-s. to-s. to-s. to-s. to-a. to-a. tho. the. tha. in any hospital. But that's not what this program is about. In the traditional response to an incidence of violence, a shooting or a stabbing, you may go to the ER real quick, you get patched up, and then you go straight to the precinct. What we decided to do is that we said, hey, let's shift the response and see what happens when we make the center of response a hospital....... to, to, to, to, the to, the to, the, the, the, to. the, the, to. the to. the the the toe., is. the the th w me. th wa, the., is. the., is. toe., is. the toa, toa, to, to, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, is. the, is.a, is.a, is.a, is.a, is.a, is.a, is.a, is.a, is.a, is.a, is.a, is.a, is.a, is.a, is a.a, is a.a, is a the the the t a gunshot wound, the stand-up to violence team works

with the victim and members of the community to prevent violent retaliation. You're essentially talking about preventative medicine here. It is. It absolutely is. Which in America it's not exactly our thing. We're not known for that. We're more of a reactive medicine type society. And you know, we have case workers, we have social workers, we have therapists, and we also have people

who themselves were once incarcerated. Some of our most effective people in this work are the former gang members, former people who formerly spent time at Rikers. I can hear how Fox News would spin this as AOC tries to defund the police and fund gang members. If I spent my the the the time time time time time time time time time time time time time time time time time time time time time time time time time time time time times times times times times tom tom tom tom, tom, tha thoes, thoos, theaqqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqaqa, their, their, th, their, th, th, their, th. Ia, tha, tha, their, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, thaaa, thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, thaqaqaqa, tha, tha,OC tries to defund the police and fund gang members. If I spent my time worried about what Fox News said, I would, I mean, I wouldn't be here. We're here in New York City.

And you're talking about funding violence prevention outside of the police. And yet Eric Adams has just increased police wages by 28%. Is that misplaced? I think so. We are now at a point where officially most officers are paid more than a teacher with a master's degree serving these same kids involved in these same incidents. We are defunding safety, defunding our public schools, defunding our public pools, defunding our parks, defunding our public schools, defunding our public pools, defunding our parks, defunding

our libraries when we are taking all of those resources and demanding that every single department except the militarized one because we are sending a message about who and what we care about. Here in a hospital, do you ever get the vibes? Do you ever consider a career in the medical profession? It's funny you ask that when I went to college, I went in as a pre-medical student. Really?

I wanted to be in OBGYM, actually. But, you know, life takes us and where it takes us. I considered going into the medical profession. I thought tho tho th thought tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho. I to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the the. the. the the the. the the. the ta. ta. ta. ta. too. too. to to to to to the medical profession. I thought I could play a handsome doctor on TV. Didn't pan out. While we were on the subject of national embarrassment, I had to ask the Congresswoman about Clarence Thomas and his BFF, Nazi swag collector, Harlan Crow. I want to talk a little bit about Clarence Thomas. You've said you would even draft articles of impeachment for the things that he's done. Has there been any quid pro quo? And I said quid pro quo partially because it took all that effort to learn what quid pro quo met back in the Ukraine days and it feels apropos of now.

And I don't think I used apropos correctly. I think that quid pro quo is that bar that doesn't even need to be met. The justice is required by law law law law law law law the law the law the law the law to the law to to to be met. The justice is required by law to disclose something like that and he hasn't been. Can you empathize though? Beyonce came through here and wanted to take you on a sweet vacation? Wouldn't you say yes? Let her show her Nazi memorabilia? You got to tell someone about it. But hey, hey, don't put Bay's name on that like that. I'm not saying if she invested in Nazi memorabilia to show that she hates Nazi memorabilia she'd want to show it off. And that whole thing is just I mean bizarre. You also don't keep the linens around. Which linens? Oh the Nazi linens? Yeah who does that? Don't you think if you had a billion dollars and you bought

everything you'd probably eventually get to Nazi linens? This is the distraction of that whole issue? You're right. We're just 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. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, I I I I thi, I thi, I I thi, I I I th. I I I I th. I I's, I I I's, I I I's, I's, I I I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's th. th. I'm thi. thi. I'm thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm th the distraction of that whole issue. You're right, we're just focused on that as opposed to all the money that's going over to Clarence Towns. Although if you're a billionaire, can't billionaires have friends? They can. Supreme Court justices are required if they are receiving money from people. They shouldn't even be receiving money from people. This is why we pay salaries to public servants. And if they want to live that kind of lifestyle, then they can resign from the court. They can retire. Now I want to talk about the court. It's looking as if the Supreme Court is going to rule on some of the conflicting rulings around Mifapristow. Who do you think is going to write the final decision that takes away these vital rights from women? Is it going to be the guy who cried over beer, or is it going to be the buddy with the Nazi memorabilia guy?

You know, my hope is that we do not get to that point. But we also have to face the reality that the Supreme Court has chosen to give up huge swathes of their own legitimacy. Chief Justice Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, the Republican Party, in them give up huge swaths of their own legitimacy. Chief Justice Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, the Republican Party, in them giving up, trying to take seriously the legitimacy, the standards, the integrity of the court, they have given up a very large degree of their authority.

The new news in Florida this week is the six-week abortion ban. How do women approach that or fight back against something? against against against against against against against the the the the the the the the the the the the the Republican the Republican their authority. The new news in Florida this week is the six-week abortion ban. How do women approach that or fight back against something like that that's happening in Florida? Of course, there's the standard vote and mobilize, but I'm going to put that aside for a second. We do not have to accept tyranny. And this is a form of tyranny. It is a form of violence. Women will die, people will die because of this decision. And it will be, by and large,

the men who sign these laws that are killing the women that will die by them. And we have a responsibility to help one another, whether that is supporting organizations that mail Mifapristone, which has significantly reduced risk, certainly safer than medications like Viagra. But ultimately, we cannot continue to accept people in power who will abuse others for their own game. Indipement week was last week. It might also be a month from now, too. We could have a lot of indictment weeks.

How do you think New Yorkers treated former President Donald Trump? I think they treated him like a Florida man. He don't belong to us no more, okay? He's not from Queens anymore. He's a citizen Marlonville, I go like this. And you saw New Yorkers treating him as such? Yeah. Why wouldn't we? Do you think people were weeping when he was booked, as he claims?

Um, maybe George Santos and Marry Tele the Gwere but not me. Kick it back to LaGuardia, maybe. Kick it back to LaGuardia? Which is in your district? Yes, it's in my district. And so is Rikers. And so we have, I have to go in every single day, watching people get treated far worse for doing far less.

And then, you know, it's like this red carpet that gets rolled out. I mean, if you hurt one person, you get 10 years in prison, but if you hurt millions of people, you get your name on a building. Congresswoman, thanks for talking to me. Of course. Thanks for having you. We'll come back. I'm going home. Don't go away.

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looking for, the needle in the haystack. Four out of five employers who post on Zip Recruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. Try it for free at this exclusive web address. Zip Recruiter.com slash zip. Again that's Zip Recruiter. The smartest way to hire. Florida gets a lot of attention because of how Florida it is, but it's not the only state out there. That's why I traveled to Michigan my home state to interview its governor Gretchen Whitmer about how she's making Michigan the opposite of Florida. Last fall, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer cruise to re-election with a double-digit win against a Trump-backed election denier. Democratic control of both the State House and Senate has allowed her to make unfettered progress on infrastructure,

abortion rights, and gun regulations. And now just passed 100 days into her second term, I wanted to hear what's next, so I went back home to Michigan to lend my support to the vital local beer making economy. In Michigan, we pre-game with our friends and families before Wolverine Saturday and now apparently before interviews with the governor. We'll do a Michigan test to see your sobriety. Can you spell YPSI-N-A-R-B-O-R? Wow. Okay, you pass. That's good. Thank you. Governor, is this sort of like an

opposite AOC? You know, a successful politician becomes a bartender? Yeah, I mean I'm gonna have to have some skills after this is done. I just want to remind you the governor cannot accept any cash tips, but I can. So whatever you want to leave, that'd be great. And remember things cost three times as much in New York, so typically. Well, he should move back to Michigan, am I right? Cheers, Governor. Thank you for for meeting me. Glad to be here with you. It's happy to be here in a Michigan health food store, a microbrewery. It doesn't get better. It's Michigan agriculture, Michigan beer. Right? This is did you put that in the baby book? I mean, in Michigan, that's statistically likely.

It's either going to be at a micro brewery or a Myers parking lot. So Michigan goes Trump in 2016, Biden in 2020. It goes you overwhelmingly in 2022. What's happening in Michigan? We are the most diverse swing state in the country. And I think that's what makes it so great. It's also why you've got to listen to people. You've got to talk to people and you've got to try to solve problems instead of just feed fronzies and anger. Yeah, here in Michigan, the head of the GOP, internally elected,

Q&O and the GOP, internally elected, election denier, calling Democrats demonic? Well, the head of the GOP to your point said that both Beyonce and Yoga are Satanic. You have to walk the line on Satanic, Beyonce? No. I'm always going to make it a sea at the table for someone who actually wants to solve problems regardless of what their political bent is, but I don't have time for people who want to call Beyonce Satanic. Yeah. It big hunting culture here in Michigan, and you're about to pass some big gun control measures here. What do you say to the gun owners here who still really, really want to kill deer? You don't need fancy words, you don't need any gimmicks. You can still hunt and enjoy, you can still be a lawful gun owner? Most gun owners believe that there should be background checks and safe storage.

I mean, you know, Indiana has done this, and these are not wild, you know, changes. It's just simply trying to make people safer. I like how you say that. I mean, if Indiana can do it, we can do it. I mean, right? Abortion is usually a topic Democrats run from, or at least making a centerpiece of their campaigns. You did, and you've taken bold action on that. Is that a recipe for national elections? The Midwest is a great place to see that you can win on abortion.

People expect to have these rights. We've had them for 50 years. We expect our kids to be able to make their own decisions about their bodies and their futures. Now you repealed a 1931 abortion law? Are there any other laws on the books from back then that are worth looking back into? Is there like a- Oh, yeah. We got a lot of zombies. Are they in there? Spring in Michigan means potholes are everywhere, and the governor has invested billions

on infrastructure as part of her promise to fix the damn roads. As someone who blew a few tires here in my high school days, I knew it was my duty to help. All working men and women wear a car. And so does Jordan. Okay. All right, governor. All right. Ready to do some work? So, hey, you got kind of pretty shoes on. Dress for the job you want.

And for me, I'd like to be foreman or whatever corporate person is in the air conditioning office. Bellins, let me pull out my watch. What time is it? Time to fix the damn road. You know what this is right here? This is a spatula, right? This is what we call work around here. So we handing you a little work and I know you got nice pants on, so try not to get too much work on.

Yeah, if this is actually an impediment, I can actually stand and I can watch the work and see how it goes. Don't do that. Okay. We pick some potholes, drank some Oberons, and perhaps most importantly, established that my home state is definitely not Florida. Other states are waging kind of wars against different parts of their population. I think a lot of politicians just want to pick fights and get headlines, whether it's

picking a fight with Mickey Mouse or moving backwards to the early 1900s, it's so much easier to show up and to listen to people and know it really matters. So we're trying to make Michigan a place where every business can thrive and every person has rights and freedoms to make their own decisions and to live the life they want and be successful here in Michigan. You're progressive on guns, on abortion rights. It feels like the Michigan hand, it's a welcoming hand. It is, it's a freedom.

It's freedom. If Michigan is a hand, what is Florida? It looks like a... What? I mean, it looks like a... I'm not going there. I'm just saying, and it's... One peninsula that's urinating on our democracy at times.

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