The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Kal Penn Reports On Biden's Pardon For Weed Convictions | Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

Episode Date: March 15, 2023

Kal Penn takes on the latest news, including Biden approving a drilling project and offering pardons for weed convictions, the city of Newark entering a sister city deal with a fake city, flamingoes forming cliques, and a swimming pool sized asteroid heading towards Earth. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari discusses how his worldview on the climate crisis changed after experiencing unprecedented floods first-hand.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to the Daily Show. I'm CalPet. I'm back for night too. Now listen, after last night's show, this is very sweet. I got so many encouraging words from some of my political colleagues. I'm, I'm back for night, too. Now, listen, after last night's show, this is a, after throwne. thrown I got so many encouraging words from some of my political colleagues. And I wanted to read some of them for you. This is an email I got from Speaker Nancy Pelosi. It says, Cal, if you don't donate $5 by tonight, we're all going to die.

Thank you, Nancy. That was so touching. Anyway, we've got a great show for you tonight. Our guest tonight is the foreign minister of Pakistan. But first, let's get into the headlines. Okay, let's kick things off with a big announcement from President Joe Biden. You remember during the 2020 campaign, Biden said this. By the way, no more drilling on federal lands, period, period, period, period, period.

Period, period, period. Coma. Because now, Biden has approved a major oil drilling project on federal land in Alaska, which is disappointing. But hey, when you're that age, that's the only kind of drilling you can do. No, come on, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. This guy f****. The crazy part about this drilling project is that they'll be installing a device called a thermosyphon

that keeps the permafrost solid enough for drilling while it simultaneously melts due to global warming. Guess Kodako Phillips has an irony division? I mean keeping the permafrost alive so they can kill it slowly that's like some silence of the lamb serial killer shit. Would you f-fix the planet? Would you f-fee the planet? I'd f-feelea planet. I worked at the White House. Now, listen, listen, the good news is that Biden is also flip-flopping in a good way.

Now, listen, listen, the good news is that Biden is also flip-flopping in a good way. Because back in the day, Biden used to think marijuana was a gateway drug, but now he's doing stuff like this. President Biden is offering help to people who have a federal conviction for simple marijuana possession that can now apply for a presidential pardon to qualify. Applicants must have been charged or convicted in federal court or DC Superior Court before October 6th of last year. This is huge!

And this is long overdue, yeah! And look, heartfelt, this is a moment of special congrats to the advocates who have been pushing for this for so long. They really did it. Now, they convinced someone with five decades of experience in Washington to change his mind. That's not easy. That would be like convincing Mitch McConnell to let Democrats appoint judges or convincing Chuck Schumer that his glasses should be resting on the top of his nose.

In any case, if you're wondering what the Oval Office looks like now that Joe Biden is a total stoner, it probably looks something like this. It's the same. It's 2023! People who smoke weed don't put tapestries on their wall anymore. I mean, yeah, the portrait of George Washington does glow in black light now, but that's it. Mostly the same. Anyway, let's move on to some science news.

Apparently, NASA is tracking an asteroid that could slam into Earth on Valentine's Day in 2046, which means that friend of yours, who always does those sad Valentine's Day posts, like, I'm gonna die alone, actually is. Yeah. But if you're in a relationship, then in a way, it would kind of be kind to be to be to be to be beautiful to be beautiful be beautiful be beautiful be beautiful be beautiful be beautiful be beautiful be beautiful be beautiful be beautiful be beautiful be beautiful be beautiful to be beautiful to be beautiful to be beautiful to be beautiful to be beautiful to be beautiful to be beautiful to be beautiful to be beautiful to be a beautiful to be a then in a way it would kind of be beautiful to die on Valentine's Day. You know, making sweet love with your partner one last time.

Or if you're married, laying in bed, too full from dinner to have sex watching Paul Blart one last time. Either way, super romantic. In other scientific news, researchers did a study on flamingos. And it turns out that flamingos form clicks, just like high schoolers. This is one of those studies where I feel like we need to know more about the scientist who did this study.

Because maybe the flamingos just didn't want to hang out with them specifically. Seriously though, this sounds terrible. It's tough enough being a flamingo. Now you also have to deal with flamingo mean girls. They must be so cruel. Do you see how short her neck is? Oh my god, it's giving emu. And look at her legs. They're like a whole centimeter thick. It's like, paging Dr. Kankals. I heard she got a beak enhancement, and the zookeeper paid for it.

They're like totally fuck, right? Oh, wait, wait, wait, she's coming over here. Hi Jenny oh my god you know what you look incredible. Okay bye. Ugh I literally hate her. And finally, thank you. Ridiculous. And finally let's check in on my home state of New Jersey. I'm sure. I'm sure, I'm sure they're not doing anything incredibly stupid. The city of Newark is admitting it got scammed. Earlier this year, Mayor Rosbaraka invited who he thought was the Hindu nation of Kailasa

to city hall for a cultural trade agreement and to become sister cities. But it turns out, Kailasa isn't a real nation but rather the invention of a scam artist and fugitive who's from India who's been on the run since 2019. I have the immunity of non-prosecutable and immunity and protection as the head of the state. He was arrested there years earlier, accused of sexual assault charges by five women who say he abused them at a religious retreat. Back in New Jersey, a few days after this ceremony, the city says it realized it had been deceived, calling it, quote, a regrettable incident.

Jesus Newark, how can an entire city get catfished? Not a single person realized they never heard of this country before? Not on a globe, not at the Olympics, not as a stage in street fighter? Look, if you can't find it as a cuisine on grubhub, it's not a real country. There must have been so many red flags. The biggest one being that anyone wanted to be sister cities with Newark. Although, look, to be fair, just because a country was started by a sex criminal doesn't mean it's fake. Just ask Thomas Jefferson. For more on this, please give it up for Desi Leidic. Desi-Di- What did... What did you make of this story?

Oh, well, Cal, as a white person, I would like to know what you think of this story. Because for me, I don't know, this is a little dicey. I don't want to upset anybody with any statements about whether Kailas is a real country. Okay, well it's not. It's not a real country. It's a cult. Right. Right. But even so, I honor its culture and its rich traditions. Because what is culture, if not culture? Desi, come on, look how they're dressed. Does that look real to you? Uh, yes? No? No? No. No, come on. Those are just costumes. Whoa, Cal, their culture is not a costume.

No, no. That is literally a costume. Desi, I understand what you're trying to do. I, I, I, I understand what you're trying to do. I, I, I, look. Look. Look. Look, look. Look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look. Look. Look. Look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, th, th, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, look, look, look, look, look, look, th, look, look, th, look, look, look, look, look, look, th, look, look, th, look, th, th, look, th, th, I, I, I, Cal, their culture is not a costume. No, no, that is literally a costume. Desi, I understand what you're trying to do. You want to be an ally. I definitely appreciate that. But Kailasa does not deserve your allyship. It's leader as a sexual predator. Oh, absolutely. Yes. And I condemn all sexual predators. At the same time, it is important to support diversity among sexual

predators. No, no, no, it's not. Desi, stop. This is a cult and they scammed the city of Newark. Of course they did. Yes, yes they did. And they've been forced into cult, into cult behaviors by Western imperialism. And isn't that the real scam? No, no! No! No! Well, no! Well, they've been forced into sexual predators. the their, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, to, to, to to to Western imperialism and isn't that the real scam? No, no, well yes, yes, but no, wait, now you're confusing me. Hold on. There is no Western imperialism against Kailasa. There is no Kailasa. There are no Kailasians.

We say Kailasians X now. No we don't! Desi, look, look, I, uh, I am giving you permission to criticize this fake country. On behalf of brown people, it's okay. Oh, I'm not worried about brown people, Cal. I'm worried about other white people. If I disrespect this fake nation, they'll make my real Twitter a living hell. Does Kailasa look like a scammy cult? Yes. Do I trust twe white twe white th white th white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people 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 to to to to to to their their their their their their their their their their their their their thi. I their their their their their their their their the. I their the. I the. I the. I the. I thi. I this fake nation, they'll make my real Twitter a living hell.

Does Kailasa look like a scammy cult? Yes, do I trust white people on Twitter to know the difference? No. Which is why I am proud to announce that the Daily Show hosted by Cal Penn is now also a sister city with Kailasa. What? No, no, don't put my name on No, don't put my name on that. You pulled me into this. No, oh my gosh, no, you put me in this. I'm going to take you

out of here. All right, Desi Lydic everyone. Next, I'll be taking you on a tour of my favorite sport. We'll be right back. Oh my gosh. Oh, thank. Thank you. Welcome back to the Daily Show. Look, a lot of people would be surprised to know that one of my favorite sports is a NASCAR. Now, I know I don't look like your stereotypical NASCAR fan, but I also don't look like your stereotypical Abercrombie and Fitch homosexual. Yet here we are. So what do I love about NASCAR? Take a look. Yeah, I know you're looking at me and you're like, seriously, Cal. You've been fan for 12 years Yes, my full of blue state libbs grab a beer and come with me

NASCAR has it all day drinking grilling whoever this guy is and whoever this guy is wait is that kid rock This is so fucking cool And I can yell there to fuck you I don't know how this fucking hearsay You get here in this track and you feel the rumble inside you when those cars are going around I'm getting chills just thinking about it right now. I felt the rumble in my dick. Yeah, exactly. I wasn't mad about it.

I'm mad about it either. Yes. Okay, here's the deal. NASCAR is different from what you probably think. I feel like people think it's just really like a redneck thing. I I I I I I I mean I th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. that that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, thi, that, that, that, I'm, I'm, I'm th. th. that, I'm th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th, the the the the th, the th. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. t too too too too too too ttttoo too too too thaeee. I'm thae. I'm too's just really like a redneck thing. And I mean, it kind of is, but it's for everyone, you know. I'm like, I've watched NASCAR since I was like 12 or before then because of my parents going to NASCAR races. Black people love races.

People may not realize how much African Americans love not just to thrown. Bubba Wallace is one of the biggest stars in the sport, and he happens to agree. I think, you know, from outside looking in, especially minorities, feel the stigma's been there that they're not welcome. And I've always been like, that's not really true. You know, I've been in NASCAR. This is my career has been 20 years. Yeah, 20 years is like 29? Okay. Wow. I can tell you you you th you th you th you 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 tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho that thi that tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho thi. thi. thi. 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. thi. the. the. theeea. thea. toea. thea. to. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thi. the tell you right now there is no New Jersey parent would let their kid drive at 9. So I always get the question what's it like

being an Indian-American actor? I would imagine it also drives you insane to get the question oh what's it like being a black driver? So what's it like being a black driver? So quick bait and news outlets they have to get their viewership up and the way they do th.. the way. the way. the way. the way. their their their their their their their to their to to to their to their their to their their their their their their to their to their to to to their? their th. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. I's their. I their. I their. I I I their. I I I I I their. I I I I I their. I I I I I I I I I their. I I I is is is is is to be. I I is to be. I is to be. I is to be. I is th. I's to bea. I's th. I's to bea. to the. toe. toe. tea. I'm tea. tea. I'm tea. I'm te. te. I'm th. I'm to the. I'm their viewership up. And the way they do that is Black Driver. I don't walk around saying, I'm the Black Driver. So, yeah, you embrace it and you go out and then enjoy what you do. After I got my media click bait, we moved on to an issue that everyday Americans actually care about. All right, a lot of people really want to know this. How do you pee in the tree, tree, t. t. t. t. t. t. t. th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th. th. th. th. thin, thin, th. thin, and th. th. And, and thin, and thr. And, and you're to embrace, and you're to embrace, and you're thr. thr- and you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and you. And, and you. And, to to to to to to to to to to th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, thin, thin, thr. And, thr. And, to embrace, to embrace, thr. And, to embrace, to embrace, thr. And, to embrace, thr. thro. So have you ever been in a high adrenaline moment? Well, once. I once wrote a cheetah in a movie.

Did you have a feeder in that moment? Uh, no. Exactly. So you're really in the zone then for that? Yeah, you're in the zone then? Yeah, that's awesome. And they always say, if you do peeved. You're not going to do it. Here's, here's, here's. Here's another stereotype. Drivers aren't real athletes. They just lazily sit there making left turns.

The athleticism side of it, to me, you know, our heart rates peak at about 170. And then during the race, you're around the 140 area. I mean, that's a high heart rate for a sustained long period of time. Higration is huge. I. I. the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th, th, th, thi. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, the, the, the, thi, th, thi, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th. That's, th. That's, th. That's, th. That's, th. That's, th. That's, th. That's, th. And, thi. And, thi. And, thi. And, thi. And, thi. thi. the. the. thea. thea. thea. thea. thaa. theaua. theaaa. tha. tha. tha. Aeato about seven pounds in the race on a hot day. In one race? Yes sir. Oh can I drive this race? I would love to look a good physique man. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. And the drivers aren't the only jocks on the track. Meet Delonda and a former college athlete who trained as a tire after being recruited thr-inneu-in-a. the the the the the tha-in, tire, tha-in, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you the-in, you the-in, you the-in, you the-in, I the-o, I've-in, I've-in, I would-in, you've thr-a-a-in, I would-in, you've-you-you-you, you've thr-you, you've thrified-I I would thrip, I would thi, I would thi, I would thi, I I I thi, I I I I to-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-s I thrc-s I would thrc-s I would-s I would thrc-s I would thrcried trivedease, I would thrc-s would trivedease, I would thrc-s would thracea-wooo, I would thrc-woer, I would thrc-a initiative. Everybody knows how to change the tire, well, I don't know how to change a tire, but what's the big deal about changing tires? It's just about how fast you can do it. One tire can take like, maybe two, three seconds.

We did reps after reps after reps every time because I think two tens of seconds cost a lot of money for teams if you make. As someone who was recently told he had a good physique, I knew that joining the pit crew would be easy. So like the Jack man's jacking the car up, I'm like, deck that shit up, he jacks it up, the guy's giving up some gas. I grab the other tire because I got to take it out. And I bring it back like this, and I kick it over there. And then everyone's like, you're almost going to to to f f f f f fthe race and we win a lot of money. Yeah in theory I think we missed a couple steps. Oh shit yeah and that's a penalty. After crushing it with the pick crew I wanted to see if there were any indoor jobs with air condition. There's just so much more data and science that goes into it, then I think anybody really realizes when they see cars going around in circles, right? So data comes from the car, and then the car has its speed, it's got its, it's

RPM and the gear that it's in. That's like, is the car loose, like wants to spin out, or is it tight? We look at what the driver is doing with the wheel, and then we try and tell him, hey, more. This sounds like cheating. Tom Brady fans would love this. Absolutely. As a number crunching genius, JR represents the new NASCAR and has had a front row seat to the sports evolution. The sports way different than it has been in the past. You know, my husband and I talk about it all the time, even myself working for Bubba, you know, I think a lot of people have always thought that this sport was kind of out of reach, not thi thi thi thi th. thi. thi. thi. the sport, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the sport, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi, thi. thi. thi, thi, the, the, the, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thr. thr-a, thru. thrown. thrown, throwne. throwne. trowne. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. truuu. tr sport, but also because they wouldn't be accepted by the sport. I think that just being out there and being vocal is super important and I never thought 12-year-old me would be doing it.

Well this was 12-year-old me, and he would have been terrified by what I'm about to do. Where do I connect the Bluetooth for the podcast? Oh, I wish.. T th th th th th th th think think think think thi thi thi thi thi thi thi's they's they's they's thi's their thi's thi's thi. I'm thoen, thoomoten, I'm thi. Oh, thi. I'm a thoomoomorrow. I'm thoomoomoomorrow. I'm, thoomoom. I'm thoom. I'm thoom. I'm thoom. Well. Well. Well. Well. Well. Well. Well. Well. Well. Well. Well. Well. Well. Well. Well. Well. Well. Well. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. thi. the. thea. totea. totea. toge. toge. toge. toge. the. the. the. the. th go fast, so anything extra, we just pull out of the car. Okay. I can't drive stick. Is that a problem? No, you're good. Okay. He basically just put you forth here, just push you off, man. Do only the snowflake drivers get the push since we can't drive stick? Pretty muchthe clutch give a gapp, I'm clutch give you gas, give a gas, give a gas. That left pedal. Push it in and grab that stick and put it all the way down to the right. What's it? But Schifter is that big stick in the middle right there in that car.

Okay, push your thing forward., you're doing good out there. All good, this is awesome. Oh, I kept feeling my feet. Whoa! We're scared at first, right? Yeah. But then I was like getting into it. And then after I peed my pants, it was such a relief. That was awesome.

Okay, that was fun and I lost two pounds, but there is a more social way to enjoy racing. Hey guys, can I come up? Yes. Yes, thank you. This is the infield, where families camp out for the weekend to watch the races up close. Are you thirsty? Sure. Thank're all family. You definitely have the best view. And that's really what NASCAR's all about.

Family, speed, and crushing beers on top of an RV with a group of new friends. Cheers. All right, stay tuned because when we come back, the foreign minister of Pakistan will be joining me, so don't go away. Welcome back to the Daily Show. My guest tonight is the Foreign Minister of Pakistan. Please welcome Billowal Bhutto Zardari. How are you? Good to see him, a long day. Have to see you, I have to see you.

Welcome. Welcome. Thank you, thankanks for being here. For folks who don't know, your mom was former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007. But now you are the youngest foreign minister in Pakistan's history, you're 34. And you're a very young country, I think the median age in Pakistan is only 20, something like that, roughly 20? Yeah, 60% of our population beneath the age are 35.

Wow. So how does your age create an opportunity for leadership in a country that's so young? Oh, that's an interesting question. I think that most of, if you look at the politics in Pakistan, are the political landscape, it's one or two generations above me that are the main players. So I'm sure that, given that I am so young, I bring a unique perspective, and I think that's so important because everybody who's in power right now are in positions of influence and making decision for our country, they'll live for 10, 20 years. We have to think about sort of the long picture and how climate change and poverty and all the income inequality and discrimination and discrimination that people 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 thi thi, thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi, bring thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi, bring thi, bring thi, the the the the the the the their their their their their their their their their thin thin, thin, their their thinin, theyyiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, bring thi, their thethink about sort of the long picture and how climate change and poverty and all the

income inequality and discrimination that people are facing across the country. How are we going to address those issues in the long term? Do you feel like there's ever a generational divide between the people who you think absolutely? I think it's been an experience working with people from a whole host of different age groups? And absolutely I felt of course sort of of throughout my political career, just as a result of my age, perhaps the same ideas, same suggestions given from other people of a more senior age would be taken more seriously, as opposed to coming from a younger perspective. But at the same time, I think I'd like to say I've proven over the course of time whether I was in opposition or as foreign minister that

ages just a number, and we can still get quite a lot done. So it's timely having you here tonight. Right now, Pakistan is facing some unrest over the imminent arrest of former Prime Minister and Ron. Mr. Khan says that your government wants him arrested so that he's disqualified from upcoming elections. Is that true? Okay, so unfortunately Pakistan is facing a perfect store. Not only do we have heightened partisanship and political polarization to the extent

that political parties or political stakeholders aren't even in a position to sit in a room and discuss issues amongst themselves. We're also facing an economic crisis. We're facing a security threat and security crisis in the fallout from the fall of the Afghan government and the increasing terrorist attacks that are taking place with increasing frequency in Pakistan. We just face the biggest government and the terrorist attacks that are taking place with increasing frequency. In Pakistan, we just face the biggest climate catastrophe of our history where a third of the land mass of our country was underwater. That's something that my generation, generations to come are going to be paying the price

for the decisions that others have taken. And unfortunately, in all this chaos and in all these, while we're facing these simultaneous crises, we have the question of Mr. Khan, who believes that the Pakistani Constitution doesn't apply to him, the Pakistani law doesn't apply to him that he can get up and leave, he's resigned from parliament and run away from the system. In this particular instance, it's not a question of me wanting to arrest, Mr. Hahn. I've, I come from a family who faced genuine arrest in the face of military dictatorships.

My mom, my mother, when she was younger than me, she battled an Islamist dictator at the time who threw her in prison. My father spent 11 and a half years in prison and was tortured without a conviction. I would never want any politician in the th th thi thi thi thi thi thi th thi th thi th thi th th th th thi the thi thi th thi thi th thi thi the the the tho tho tho-in the the the the the the th th th th tho- tho- tho-in, 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 the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the toe thean. thean. toean. I thean. I thean. I thean thean thean thean. theeee the the threw her in prison. My father spent 11 and a half years in prison and was tortured without a conviction. I would never want any politician in my country or any country to go to jail for political reasons. In Mr. Khan's case, he's under the threat of arrest because of his ego. He says the courts are saying that he has to come to court and fight his cases, whatever cases are against them. And he says, I'm in Imran Khan and I'm too important and I'm not going to turn up to court. And what we've seen over the last couple of weeks has been a complete mockery of the judicial system in Pakistan, of rule or law of the Constitution in Pakistan. Where had he

he gone to court, there's probably instructed the police to produce him before court. But he's called on his citizen, on his workers, on his supporters, to come and confront the police. The police went to him with no intention of violence, and as you may be aware, the Pakistan's histories, full of politicians who have gone to prison right wrong or otherwise. In this case, Mr. Khan is refusing to even present himself before court. He's refusing to defend himself. I'm sure if he's innocent he'll be able to clear his name through the judicial system. So we're caught in a situation where

there's this political chaos playing out on the streets and distracting from the real issues that are affecting everyday Pakistanis. What does that that that say about the state the state the state the state the state the state the state the state the state the state the state the state the state the state the state the state the state the state the state the state the state the state the state the state the state the state the the the the the the the their their their their their their their to to to to to to to to their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their is is is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is the state is the state is the state is the state of the. thea. their their tea. their c. their c. their c. their their their their their their their distracting from the real issues that are affecting everyday Pakistanis. What does that say about the state of democracy in Pakistan? Is it fragile right now? No, absolutely. Pakistan has been most of our history under direct military dictatorship. After the assassination of my mother, there was a brief period of democratic transition.

Political parties came together. They reached a consensus that we removed all the dictator's laws from the Constitution, devolved power to parliament, had peaceful transfer of power for the first time in our history for one government to another. And those people or those forces that benefit from undemocratic rule in Pakistan, didn't like that. So they supported Mr. Khan and brought him into power. That's now blown up not only in those individuals faced, but has had severe consequences for our

country. You talked about your own family, and so I just wanted to expand on that, because I think for an American audience especially, you see a lot of politicians, not just in Pakistan, but obviously many countries, regardless of political party who are accused of corruption, accused of other charges in and out of prison, or violence. How do you know whether someone has committed a credible violation of law or whether something is politically motivated? What's the litmus there and how do your voters, not just from your party, but overall in Pakistan? How do they respond to that and how do you take

that temperature? So that is something that I've lived with my entire life because my mother was Prime Minister of Pakistan for a few years but she spent most of her life in opposition either in country, in prison or in exile fighting not one but two militaryhips. She spent those 30 years of her life fighting politically motivated cases where the perception was built in the media and otherwise, this corruption and whole host of allegations. After she was assassinated, her name has been cleared from each and every single case that was lodged against her in her lifetime. And I, as her

son and who's someone who lived through that, really wish that was lodged against her in her lifetime. And I, as her son and who's someone who lived through that, really wished that it happened while she was still here and amongst us. Unfortunately, that was the tradition of Pakistani politics. After my mother's assassination, the big political parties in Pakistan came together and they said, look, if we're going to be fighting amongst ourselves all the time and taking our political differences as personal differences and whoever's in power, they arrest the opposition, then we're never going to get anything done as a country. And we saw a gap of 10 years where we didn't go after each

other, with two different political parties came into power. They saved up, they served up, they served out their term, were voted out from the people, and the next political party came into place. Mr. Khan is the one who unfortunately broke those precedences. So you're talking about essentially what sounds like a fragile democracy and things that are malleable and moving back and forth. To what extent does that impact economics in Pakistan? I know that right now the IMF and you are sort of at odds and I know that they're withholding some money until tax reforms are met. I believe that was, correct me if I'm wrong, that was negotiated by a previous government, but now you're

in power. Your party needs to follow up on what was negotiated. So how does that political instability then affect economic? So two things. As far as the how democratic are we right now? I'd say we're in a democratic transition and I hope that this goes well and we transition towards a more democratic society because I believe that Pakistan is facing a whole host of problems but no matter the problem the answer is in more democracy but I might be wrong and it could go the problem. The answer is in more democracy, but I might be wrong and it could go the other way. As far as our economic situation is concerned, as I mentioned, we're in the perfect storm. You're absolutely right. The deal with

the IMF is made by the previous government, and the previous government violated that deal with the IMF that put Pakistan in an extremely precarious economic situation. We've also, like the rest of the world, feeling the economic impacts of the war in Ukraine, of the COVID pandemic. And at the same time, as a result, from the fall of Kabul a year ago, we've seen the return to terrorism in our country, an increase in terrorist activity that has its own impact on economics,

and the climate catastrophe. The floods that took out 5 million acres of standing crops, 1 in 7 Pakistanis, that's 33 million people were affected. Many people are still affected. All of these things coming together, all of these things coming together, put our economy under incredible strain and stress. And you're absolutely right. Our negotiations are still ongoing and have not been concluded with the IMF.

And I completely, I'm actually left to center political party who, within our own politics, calls for an increase in tax revenue, equal, sort of addressing the income inequalities, et cetera. But at this point of time, I addressing the income inequalities, etc. But at this point of time, I think that when Pakistan is facing such a perfect storm, some problems of our own creation, but some, like the flood and others that are not of our own, that the conversation with the IMF really should take that into account. I don't think it is at the moment. But in terms of how the tax structure works in Pakistan, I don't want to get two in the weeds on tax

structure. I know that's not that's not your job but one of the things that I was reminded of when I was when I was prepping for a conversation I know that historically from a relatively wealthyir fair share and all that big topic here. Is there a version of that in Pakistan? Can the wealthiest families do something to sort of help economically in a way? I think that's so interesting that you answer that question. From the Pakistan People's Party, and we are the left-of-center political party. Today we're a left-of-center political party. When we started out, we were actually a socialist

political party. And my grandfather was heading the party at the time, became the country's prime minister, and that's exactly what he did. He rebelled against his own class because he was a rich, wealthy landlord that owned masses of land. But he led land reforms which took away vast amounts of lands for the wealthy and redistributed it amongst the landless people of the area. He read industrial reforms where 22 families in Pakistan had like a death grip on our economy and they own all the industry in our country so then he nationalized the industry so that it worked for the many and not for the few Malabani. At the moment unfortunately

where we are in Pakistan is very far away from the vision that the founders of my party laid out or the efforts that my mother did as far as addressing the gap between the rich and poor. And what we have is a system where the elites like myself can weather these storms without much pain or without feeling much difference. But whether it is our deals with the IMF or our own internal economic policy, there's an outside burden on the poorest of the poor.

There's an outside version, a burden, on the bottom of the pyramid. And what we'd like to see, I believe, the only way for us to have a functioning economy that works for everyone would be not only for everyone to pay their fair share as far as taxation is concerned, but we do need a fundamental reform about how we talk about our economy and what decisions we take domestically in order to achieve that. I know that last year you did a lot of work raising awareness on the fact that a third of your country was underwater from those devastating floods. That's obviously faded from international news.

Since then, can you give us an update on the status of the people affected? Thank you so much for asking, we're a country that has experienced floods and monsoons consistently. This was something apocalyptic out of sort of, you know, like Noah's Ark's Floods scale. I've never seen anything like it. And we're still battling with the consequences. I absolutely have been raising awareness. I'm very grateful that the international community stood with Pakistan on not one but two occasions.

One at the COP, where Pakistan was the chair of the developing countries group of G77 and we helped push for lost and damage to be included on a COPS agenda, which I think is, and th, and th, and th, and th, and th, and th, and th, and th, and th, th, th, th th th th th th th th th th th th thi, and thi, and th thi, and we thi, and we thi, thi, thi, thi, and we thi, and we thi, and we thi, and we thi, and we thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi thi thi th th th th th th th th th th thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thin, thin, thin, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thiiiii, thi, thi, thi, they thi, thi, the chair of the developing countries group of G77 and we helped push for lost and damage to be included on COPS agenda, which I think is a big achievement as far as the climate movement is concerned and the future of developing countries. And the second is when we held a resilient climate-resilient Pakistan conference in Geneva where the international community stood with us and pledged some money for reconstruction. As far as attention is concerned. Of course, international media attention, span is very small and that has moved on.

But the sad thing is that domestic attention is moved on. I come from the province of Synth, which is the most devastated, two-thirds of our province was underwater, the political conversation is moved on. We're talking about whether Iran Khan's going to get arrested or not, and we're not talking about the millions of people who are at the moment in danger of, you know, I don't like to throw about words like famine, but there's a food scarcity issue for them. The people that are thrown into poverty. I mean, there's this impression, right, that these, oh it's a completely impoverished people that had no hope and

they still poor. I mean it's awful that anybody get affected by floods but I just want to emphasize that of these people, 33 million people that were affected some of these people, I mean they're not living the most elitist lives or the most well-off lives but they were their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their the most well-off lives, but they were getting by. They had their little shop, they had their little bit of land that they were eking a living out of, and they've been thrown into poverty and it's going to take us a while to claw back from that. And until we do so, unfortunately, I wish I could stand here and say that my country was paying the attention that it should to this issue but unfortunately I'm afraid to admit we're being distracted.

I want to ask you about solutions also. You mentioned loss and damage? Is that what you said? Yeah, loss and damage or cop? Absolutely. Can you talk about what that is and then also what are sort of the plans on addressing climate longer term for bucks? Okay so the two arguments around the sort of the loss loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, the most, the, the, the, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, 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 the, the, the, to to to the, the, the, to the, the, to to to the, to the, to to to the, to to to to to the, the plans on addressing climate longer term for bucks. Okay, so the two arguments around the sort of the loss and damage debate at Coppin. The sort of the more basic sort of more activist approach to that conversation is that rich countries, industrialized countries have created this crisis and they're a whole host of countries. The climate crisis. And as a result of, it's their industrialization, right? It's the rich world's industrialization that the poor world the whole the whole the whole the whole the world the world the world the world the world is the world the world the world is the world is climate climate climate climate climate the world the the the the the the the the their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their. their. their. their. It's is their. It's their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their the's their industrialization, right? It's the rich world's industrialization, that the poor world is paying the cost off in the form of massive floods or massive droughts,

and there should be some loss of damage for this. Some people advocate for reparations. I'm actually not one of those people. I like to be sort of, you know, left in our approach to politics and things, but I also like to get things done. I mean, reparations wise I feel like India, Pakistan and the US could get some shit from the UK. That's exactly what I mean, right? So we haven't got any postcolonial reparations. And slavery reparations, the conversation hasn't go anyway. I mean, fair enough, the activists who want to argue for that should, and it's a legitimate

point to me. But I think a practical approach is for us to say, okay, loss and damage exists. Let's decide who's going to pay for it later, but actually it's a problem that we all have to address together. And international financial institutions are just not equipped to deal with even one climate tragedy to the scale of what we faced. Now the unfortunate thing is not just one country. We have historic floods in Pakistan, so we have historic droughts in China, and at the same time you've got forest fires here in California or it's flooding.

And so we need to rework international financial institutions, rather than looking this as reparations, how are we going to work together to come up with the money to address to address to address to address to address to address to address to address to address to address to address to address to address to address to address to address to address to address to address to address to address to address, how are we going to work together to come up with the money to address loss and damage as a result of climate change? The fight to put loss and damage onto the agenda is a 30-year-old fight. At the last clock, it was achieved under the chairmanship of Egypt, that it's now going to be on the agenda. It's going to take a while for this to be argued out and the international community to come to a

decision. It's an important, it's an important achievement, but rather than I don't want us to pit the global north against the global south and try and find solutions to climate change like that. I believe that this is a problem too big for just America to deal with on their own or just China to deal with on their own. This is something that the world has to come together and decide, are we going to be distracted by war and conflict and the politics as usual, or are we going to find a solution to this problem? And I have just experienced this from the Pakistani perspective. And I have just experienced this from the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, has, has, has the world, has the world, has the world, has the world, has tha, has thi, has thi, has thi, has thi, has thi, has to come has to come has to come has to come has to come has to come has to come has to come has to come has to come has to come has to come has to come has to come has th has th has th has has th has has has has has has th has th has has has th has thi, has thi, has thi, has thi, has thi, has the world, has the world, has the world, has the world, has the world, has the world, has the world, has the world, has the world, has the world, has the world, has the world, has to come, has to come, has to come, has the world, has the world, has the world, has the world I've just experienced this from the Pakistani perspective, from this one flood that wiped out so much and caused so much devastation, that we're not

equipped for that. I see how, whether it's domestic politics or geopolitics, get in the way of things we even can do now. So I hope that, I mean, I know that your president has done a lot of stuff domestically on climate and I really hope that that sort of approach, that sort of mentality is translated out into the world stage and we can work together to sort this out. Otherwise, Pakistan is, we've contributed less than 0.1% to the global carbon footprint. But we are amongst the 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 the most the most that that thiiiiiiiiii. that that that thi. thi. thi. thi. I thi. thi. I that that that that that that that that that that that that's, that's, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that's, I I I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I, I. I, I. I, I, I, I, I. I is, I. I. I, I is, I th. th. I thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the the the the thi. the thi. thi. thi. the thi. the the th. I'm th. I'm thi. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm thi. I'm thi. I% the global carbon footprint. But we are amongst the 10 most climate stress countries on the planet. Did you know that there's a third pole, there's a north pole and a south pole that we all

knew about and we're worried about it's melting. The third pole is in Pakistan in the Himalayan regions of our country. Is this real? Is this real? We like our numbers to go up, but I just, you know... The third pole is technically in Patistan. The largest number of glaciers are on the peaks of the mountain ranges between our two countries. And I'm, as a result of climate change, obviously the north and south pole are going to be melting, but the third pole is going to be melting. Our rivers are feds are feds. fed by these glaciers. So what that means is in the short term as these as this pole melts, as these glaciers melts, we will be faced by floods. The

flood that we just experienced by the way, not a riverine flood, a flood that came from the skies. We're predicted to face far more greater flooding from the rivers as these glaciers melt. Once these glaciers melt our water, the water thrown. throwns, the the thii, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, thi, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, they, they, they, they, th. th. th, th. th, th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, thr-n, they, they's, thr-s, thr-s, they's, they's, they's, they's, they's, they's, they's, they drinking water to the people that live in my country. This is one country's problem when it comes to climate change. There are a whole host of other countries that are facing for them and for us, the crisis is here and now. This is not a tomorrow issue. For all of these issues, is there capacity to take action both in the short or long term for you? Or is that something that something that, that, to be, to be, to be, the, to be, to be, the, to be, thiiiiii, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, is thi, their, is, is their, is, is tho, is tho, is tho, is their, is their, is their, is their, is their, is, is, is their, is, is, is, is their, is, is their, is their, is their, is their, is their, is their, is their, is their, is their, is their, is their, is thi, is thi, is thi, thr.a, thr-a.a.a.a.a, thooanananan, thoan, thoan, thoan, thr-a. And, is thr-a, is thi, is term for you or is that something that is being worked out? And I'm asking that also in the context of you are clearly very passionate about this issue. This almost goes back to my first question about

you being a young leader in Pakistan I would imagine you feel this issue a lot more than others might. So the two things. First of all I'm very proud of the fact that my mother's last manifesto in 2007 before she's assassinated. She was the first Pakistani politician to have climate on her agenda and I often think that had we started addressing things then in 2007-89, maybe we wouldn't be here today. But despite all of that, I was not the you know the most hyper of climate activist. Okay I got it, we'll do some wind, we'll do some solar and hopefully things will be fine. My worldview changed overnight when my home the villages around it the people that I know it was suddenly just water as far as the eye could see it it's and and now yeah frankly I go Greta I I'm completely as an it, it is, we've been forced,

forth from, until it, you know, until it doesn't happen to you, you don't really know what's coming. And now that it's happened to us, the thought that this could happen regularly, it devastate me because I've never felt so disempowered in that moment. What do you do when overnight, 33 million people need your help? You don't have the tenths, you don't have the rations, you can't, you don't, we're usually used to drought, we don't have boats, how do we get out to this? It was

the most difficult period in my public life and it's not on the agenda, it's not on the media conversation but on the ground it's we not in the media conversation, but on the ground, it's, we're feeling this like a civil. Well, this is why I wanted to ask you about it. I thought it was important work that you're doing. You know, the Taliban is back in power in Afghanistan. I think my biggest curiosity, since they are the government in Afghanistan, they're your neighbor, what's it like negotiating with them?

What's it like when you have to meet the front? So that's an interesting question. Okay, so the Taliban in Afghanistan are now in the interim government there, and that is a result of the Doha deal process that they negotiated directly with the United States. And we, being their neighbor, even though, like the rest of the world, we haven't recognized them diplomatically, etc., are forced to engage with the reality on our border. We can't afford to sort of wash our hands and turn our backs and pretend that nothing is changed. And we are advocating not only for ourselves but for

the international community to also engage with them. I believe that we were off to a positive start initially, but given what's happened with women's education and their right to access education, it's becoming incredibly difficult for me or others like me who do want to engage with them, do want to find solutions to the problems the people of Afghanistan are facing. Because they're taking these decisions that at the very least, I mean to say it the most diplomatically than I can, I mean it's not helping us help them. And our consistent concern is that whatever happens in Afghanistan,

Pakistan's going to be the first people to fill the consequences. This is this old saying that if Kabul sneezes, Islamabad catches a cold. And we're already seeing that. We have the United Nations says that 97% of the population in Afghanistan are falling beneath the poverty line. That means that the number of refugees and the population in Afghanistan are falling beneath the poverty line. That means that the number of refugees and their exodus is going to be affected. Pakistan has already accepted millions of refugees in the past, but hundreds of thousands

of refugees have come over since the fall of Kabul. The more the economic situation deteriorates in Afghanistan, the more cannon fodder the terrorist groups over there are going to have, the more people they're going to be able to recruit to their cause. And we have seen, since the fall of Kabul, a steady uptick of terrorist activity in Pakistan. If there's a regime that says that girls can't get education in Afghanistan, it's not going to be too long till politicians are going to start popping up in my neck of the wood saying that we should also not let girls have access to education. So I think A, it's incredibly important to engage with them, but at the same time my request to

them and through your TV show to them would be like let girls learn, guys. The contrast that you just set up is certainly pronounced. And, you know, the contrast that you just set up is certainly pronounced. And, you know, most Americans, I think, still associate Pakistan with harboring bin Laden with issues of terror. How do we move beyond that? In terms of U.S.-Bakistan relations, what's next? Look, I get, so how do we move beyond that? I think that at that, whatever happened during the sort of war on terror and the entire period

that followed, there's a fog of war, and that colors everyone's decision-making, everyone's perception. What we have now is a reality in Afghanistan, a reality that has very serious consequences, first for Pakistan, but all the issues I mentioned, whether it's the refugees or terrorism. It's Pakistan's problem today, tomorrow it'll be other countries problem. We have to get serious about engaging on the topic of Afghanistan. I believe that in the,to get serious about engaging on the topic of Afghanistan. I believe that based on the facts on the ground, the position and perspective of Pakistan and the United States actually we meet eye-to-eye.

We see things quite sim- I mean, you know, we're basically on the same page. And whatever has happened in the past, we should be able to have honest conversations about that and there can be many studies and analysis about what went wrong where, but it's also time for us to get working together and what we're gonna do about the future. What we're gonna do about the present day? And that's what I've been working on with my counterparts,

Secretary Blinkin. I have one last question for you. or your political opposition. Clearly you are the youngest person to serve in this role. What's your message to other young people who feel called to serve? Oh, never give up and give you your best shot. I can't tell you the amount of times, for example, when we removed Mr. Khan from his prime ministers, it was the first time in Pakistan's history that a dictator didn't come in and kick out a prime minister, that a judge didn't order the removal of a prime minister, but for the first time our parliament voted them out. And that idea that proposition came from me, but it

took me two years to convince everybody else because no one believed that it would happen and ultimately it did. So the one thing that I've learned from what I'm doing, that it's difficult and it's tough, to to be to be difficult, to be difficult, to be difficult, and it's difficult, and it's difficult, and it's to be, and it's difficult, and it's the to be a to be a the the to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a the the, the the, to be, to be, 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, I I'll, I'm, I'm, today, thea, I'm, today, thea, thea, today, thea, thea, thea, the the one one one one, the the, the the, the the, I'm doing, that it's difficult and it's tough and all those other things. But the more young people we have who get to look at things for the long-term and not just sort of the imminent future, the short-term solution, but actually have to live with the consequences of their decisions, the better decisions we can make. Thank you for your candor. I really appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Bartlett. I appreciate it. Okay, we're going to take a quick break, but we'll be right back after this. Thank you so much. Really detailed, the climate stuff. All right, that's our show for tonight, but before we go, please consider supporting South Asian youth action.

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