The Daily Show: Ears Edition - "No Kings" Protests Defy GOP Expectations & Jon Gives Trump a Royal Inspection | Sen. Bernie Sanders

Episode Date: October 21, 2025

Jon Stewart examines the "No Kings" protests that failed to meet Fox News’s violent expectations, why Trump fits the mold of a gold-smeared monarch, and how even the Declaration of Independence fore...shadowed Trump’s king-ish antics. “It’s got to be a bottom-on-up revolution, not a top-down.” Senator Bernie Sanders sits down with Jon to discuss his latest book, "Fight Oligarchy." They talk about harnessing the energy of the "No Kings" rallies to build a clear vision for the Democratic party, prioritizing universal healthcare and affordable housing expansion, how Trump has embraced some socialist policies, the danger of corporations and oligarchs regulating the government, and making AI work for working people. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:45 You're listening to Comedy Central. From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central, it's America's only source for news. This is The Daily Show with your host, John Stewart. Welcome to the daily show, ladies and gentlemen. We got a great show for you tonight. I didn't even want to tell you this. Senator Bernard Sanders, Independent Vermont.
Starting point is 00:01:58 I swear to God, I've never seen this before. You announce a guest, and a mosh pit forms. I just started going on there. You're hearing that, man. If you're watching tonight's program with a billionaire, you might want to get him some headphones because it's about to get all populist up in this bitch. That's for sure.
Starting point is 00:02:18 But first, it's exciting news. Believe me, I'm excited as well. We're going to start, though, with the major news from this weekend. New York's annual Halloween dog parade. That is not the picture we used in rehearsal. It's a great reminder each year. The dogs, like humans, are capable of experiencing humiliation. Perhaps you missed this year's annual dog parade because you remained inside
Starting point is 00:02:58 all weekend, because you knew that the No King's protests would be taking place, and you heard what that might be like. We call it the Hate America Rally. I bet you see pro-Hamas supporters. I bet you you see Antifa types. I bet you see the Marxist in full display. This crazy No King's rally this weekend, which is going to be the farthest left, the hardest core, the most unhinged in the Democratic Party.
Starting point is 00:03:27 what the not what not the hardest core i expected partial marxism and hardcore but not full display hardest core ha marxism it's gonna be like mad max out there with chuck schumer on flaming guitar that's a real that's a real photograph and so this weekend we sat in our bunkers doors locked windows boarded muskets and cyanide pills at the ready prepared for whatever the hardest core had in store do your worst display your max Marxism to its fullest an estimated seven million people gathered across some 2700 no kings rallies in cities from coast to coast and what has been described as one of the largest single-day demonstrations in U.S. history. Not only were they largely peaceful, they were often joyful.
Starting point is 00:04:38 It's not new. That's true. No! Not public domain folk classics. You monsters. Actually, it was kind of an incredible turnout that was somewhat inspiring. Seven million Americans, zero mass shootings. Zero!
Starting point is 00:05:05 Zero! That's just sad. No mass shootings. My God. I mean, has that even happened before? Even the dog parade had some nipping. It wasn't a hate America rally at all. I look forward to Republicans apologizing sincerely
Starting point is 00:05:33 for implying that these Americans were, what's the word I'm looking for? Deplorable. This to me is a colossal wasted time, and for these people, you wasted you Saturday. It's like a Comic-Con. They have costumes and hashtags. They're silly protesting, and they don't know how dumb they look.
Starting point is 00:05:52 Absurdist costumes. They look silly. They certainly don't look serious. I knew Antifa. I worked with Antifa. You people are not Antifa. Make up your mind, Fox. You complained it would be a terrifyingly shit-your-pants protest.
Starting point is 00:06:11 And now you are complaining about how boringly unpants-shitting it was. Although there was one knit you picked that really felt off-brand. The crowd made largely up of, What many are saying are gray hairs, boomers. A bunch of boomers. There's a lot of older, angry boomers. Angry boomers.
Starting point is 00:06:32 It's a sea of white people. It's all old white people. Extra, extra. Extra, extra. Read all about it. This country has too many angry old white people. Says, hold on. Fox News.
Starting point is 00:06:54 Fox News says, Why are old white people so angry? Fox News, mad that there are so many old white people in America. I don't think Fox News is bad. I think they're jealous. To be fair, to be fair to Fox News. They're kind of right to be dismissive. I mean, imagine a bunch of old white people in costumes
Starting point is 00:07:25 angrily protesting the direction and overreach of an ever-encroaching federal government. I mean, preposterous. That's in no way a movement that could sweep the midterms and then be harnessed by a charismatic demagogue to remake an entire political party. I mean, it's laughable. Republicans should be careful.
Starting point is 00:07:47 There is a tremendous amount of political potential energy coursing through these massive and, as of yet, unfocused gatherings. which is also not to insinuate that any random zoom and close-up of said gathering would show itself to be less American Patriot Tea Party and more Mad Hatter Tea Party. I don't know what that is. I don't know what they want. I'm assuming cheaper compressed air. Now, obviously, that's not to say
Starting point is 00:08:41 there weren't some hardened terrorist sympathizers practicing coordinated action. There ain't okay. There ain't okay in USA. Where was it up being got to be? I did not know Hamas had a jazzercise program. We must wage jihad against pre-diabetes and apparently rhythm. And while those performances were more joyful than provocative, I think we can all agree about the effectiveness of this installation.
Starting point is 00:09:25 ICE agents as lice agents being beaten by Uncle Sam while prison Trump meanders around the Constitution. Ladies and gentlemen, I cannot stress this enough. This is why you do not cut funding for the arts. You don't want to do this shit. it on the cheap. Clearly, it was a great day for democracy, and apparently an even better day for people across this country who always got cast as ensemble in their high school's musical.
Starting point is 00:10:13 At the end of the day, it wasn't the spectacle that upset Republican leaders. What really hurt their feelings was the insinuation behind the rallies. They're calling him a king. It's completely ridiculous. And I guarantee you that kings don't let you romp up and down the street in costume mocking him. If President Trump was a king, he would have closed the national parks
Starting point is 00:10:35 in a national mall so they couldn't have had the rally out here. Yeah, that's not as reassuring as you think it is. Oh, believe me, if this guy was king, there'd be no dissent. I mean, he wanted to shut the park. He Googled it. He showed us a picture of the park,
Starting point is 00:10:51 a big X. He said, what if we had them come and then just red-wedding the shit out of them. And we told him, Mr. President, we're not there. Yet. And the truth is, it's a bit hyperbole from the opposition
Starting point is 00:11:05 to think that this president is some sort of thin-skinned man-baby king sitting in his gilded throne room, demanding vengeance on his enemies while plotting baroque and lavish monuments to his own ego, while
Starting point is 00:11:23 Sicafans plead for his benevolence through exotic tokens of fealty. And the good flag comes off with a horning line. It's engraved for President Trump. It's a unique unit of one. It's from the Corning line. The most spectacular line in old engravings, my lord. It has a hole in the middle for your . You can place the corning line around your .
Starting point is 00:12:04 It'll look like a bishop wearing an Elizabethan collar. And see. Chuck, no, this one clear. This is a unique gift to the president, handmade and blown on the order of the CEO, and it still had to come in all that Apple packaging. Enjoy the gift.
Starting point is 00:12:40 If you can find it under all the secret compartments. Oh, and the gift needs a charger, and the package doesn't include an adapter. Oh, yeah. All right. So clearly, Trump has the lavish sensibility. of a king, the entitled mind of a king. But if he was really a king,
Starting point is 00:12:56 where's the broken down inbred body of a king? Saddled with the exotic infirmaries of royalty. Like this guy, King Charles II of Spain. Look, look at the picture. That's his official portrait.
Starting point is 00:13:13 That's the one he picked. Oh, I like the shading and a little filter. It makes it seem like my head is not an actual egg plant. Bring me my Corning line that I may place my beshriveled
Starting point is 00:13:38 f***. Say what you want about Trump. He doesn't have any of that stuff. There have been many questions about the president's health after a photograph surfaced of his swollen ankles and bruised hands. Okay, those are weird.
Starting point is 00:13:55 But a real king would have his minions dismiss said infirmaries. Recent photos of the president have shown minor bruising on the back of his hand. This is consistent with minor soft tissue irritation from frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin. Come on.
Starting point is 00:14:20 I've been in the business a large. top. I'm not the president, but I've shaken a lot of hands, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't cause a gangrene. You know what? Admittedly, it's starting to feel like there might
Starting point is 00:14:37 be something to this whole king thing. Let's go to the source. The original no king's protest, the revolution. Let's see what's in the Declaration of Independence. I just want to see very quickly, if we have, hold on a second. There's listed 27 specific grievances against the king time for a surprise inspection let me just see very
Starting point is 00:14:56 oh you know what's that there's no difference in color The actual color of my hair is store-bought colonial wig. All right, let's see what the declaration says. Give me a beat. Come on. The declaration. says, ah, he has kept among us in times of peace,
Starting point is 00:15:55 standing armies without the consent of our legislatures. Done. Cutting off our trade with all parts of the world. That does sound familiar. He has obstructed the administration of justice. It's getting hot in here. And here's one more. Oh, he has excited domestic insurrections amongst us.
Starting point is 00:16:28 I mean, come on. I'm calling it. Look, maybe Trump isn't an all-powerful king, the kind who can do whatever he wants. But he's undeniably king-adjacent, king-esque, moving for more. He's the imitation crab of kings right now. I can't believe it's not king. And the ironic part about Republicans complaining that he is being dubbed a king is that in their minds, he has already surpassed that title anyway and moved on to a much higher calling.
Starting point is 00:17:00 He's a miracle worker. Trump just performed an actual miracle before our eyes. He was saved to do things like he did today. He's got just a special anointing. Prophecy, destiny, and divine purpose. President Trump is God's chosen. instrument for this moment in time. I've seen the hand of God on him for a very long time.
Starting point is 00:17:21 You know, we're saving Christianity. We're saving God. To Republicans, king is a demotion. He's not a king? He's a deity. Sent by God to bring peace to all of mankind. A Jesus-like figure. I mean, I get it.
Starting point is 00:17:37 There is a lot of crossover. It's why tonight I thought we'd end our program with some fun and play the hottest new game show on Basic Cable. Jesus or Trump. All right, here we go. Here's out we're going to play. I'll read a quote, and you try and figure out if it was said by Donald J. Trump or Jesus H. Christ.
Starting point is 00:18:11 Get out your scorecards. First quote. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. I'm starting off with a tough one, purposefully. Give everybody a second to lock in their answers. Jesus Christ, that's true. Got about 60% in the audience, guy. Number two, be on your guard against all kinds of greed.
Starting point is 00:18:41 Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. That's another tricky one. I want you to take... Jesus again. That was really two previews on that. I'm trying another one. I did try and fuck her.
Starting point is 00:19:10 Please wait till after I finished the quote before you walk in your... Please. I did try and fuck her. married. And I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture.
Starting point is 00:19:27 I said, I'll show you where they have some nice furniture. Ma'am. Please respect the other contestants. I moved on her like a bitch. But I couldn't, don't boo, it could be Jesus. And you are risking eternal life. But I couldn't get there and she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her, she's now got the big, phony tits and everything.
Starting point is 00:20:05 She's totally changed her look, end quote. Lock in. That one was Trump. Bing, bong. You got that. Listen, you guys are very good at this game. So if you ask, is Trump a king? Nay, nay, nay.
Starting point is 00:20:30 He is the king of kings. And that, my friends, is a reason to rejoice. Not like that. When we come back, Senator Bernie Sanders will be joining us. Don't go away. All right in the Daily Show, I guess tonight, he is an independent senator from Vermont. His latest book is called Fight Oligarchy. Please welcome to the program, Senator Bernie Sanders.
Starting point is 00:21:17 Bernie, very, very, very, very nice. Been here 20 years. Never as much as a, John, John. Only you, brother. First of all, thank you for being here. How were these no king rallies? You were. You were. went, you addressed one. Where did you speak? What was the rally line? I was in D.C. There was some 200,000 people out in D.C. There was some 7 million people out in 2,600 events all over the country, not only in big cities, but in small towns. Bottom line,
Starting point is 00:22:06 extraordinary. People came out. They said no to Trumpism, no to authoritarianism, no to oligarchy. And it grew from the previous expression of those. And obviously you can go back and you can say, well, it's, you know, maybe the left is building a similar thing to the Tea Party with all this potential energy that's moving in that direction. How do you harness that for purpose, for being directional? There are not a lot of people out there other than yourself.
Starting point is 00:22:47 other than Representative Cortez, who are very clearly delineated about a point of view that people can rally behind. Well, let me just say two things. We are in an extraordinarily dangerous time, as you know, you've got an authoritarian president who wants more and more power, doesn't respect the Constitution, doesn't respect the law. Well, Supreme Court that's granting it to him. Right. That's true. I mean, that's part of the process.
Starting point is 00:23:09 I mean, you've got a Republican Party that's now lockstep. It's kind of a cult of the individual. We've got to stop them. But there's something else that we've got to do, John. We have to have a vision for the future of this country. And I think that many of my colleagues in the Democratic Party have not had that vision. And what that means is that we should not accept the fact that we have so much income and wealth inequality. That you've got one guy, Mr. Musk, only more wealth on the bottom, 52%.
Starting point is 00:23:47 of the American people, that we have a corrupt campaign finance system that allows billionaires in both parties to determine who wins and who loses elections. Right. And the vision has got to be, and I want people to think about this, in this extraordinarily great country, wealthy country, why don't we guarantee health care to every man, woman, and child is the human rights? So, this is where the government needs to learn.
Starting point is 00:24:14 In this moment, all this potential energy, there is clearly a thirst in this country for leadership and smart politics. You know, I know Kamala's book was 107 days, this shortened time that she had to run the campaign. But the Democrats have had now a much longer time frame. Yes. And yet, to my mind, have not articulated a simple, clear vision addressing those very things.
Starting point is 00:24:41 Not all. In fact, I would go further. There seems to be a whole thing where they say, let's not address that vision. What we need to do is not bother anybody and be just totally... You're not far from wrong. It's a conscious decision. I mean, look... It's my GPS.
Starting point is 00:25:02 I'm near right. Look, and a lot of that gets back to money. Basically, if you're a political party, you've got to make a decision. Do you go where the money is, where the billionaires are, where the super... PACs are and kind of do what these guys want? Or do you go where the working class and the middle class of this country are? And those are people who are hurting, who want real change. You know, I'll give Donald Trump. He may be crazy. He may be a pathological liar, but he's not stupid. I'm going to say something. That's a rather passive-aggressive comment, I think.
Starting point is 00:25:37 It's classic. But what I mean by that is the message that he gives off in one way or another is the system. is broken, right? Yes. And I alone can fix the system. Well, the truth is the system is broken. He is making it worse. But the Democrats have got to acknowledge that the system is broken.
Starting point is 00:26:01 I'll go you one better. You know, if you think about, because your message, it's always been consistent. And you've spoken this way since you first came on the scene for a very long time, and you've always been clear about it. You could almost make a case that the true inheritor of the Sanders revolution is Trump. He's the most socialist president of my lifetime. Taking a percentage of companies to do business, that's a Bernie Sanders idea. Doing a Trump R.X where the government is involved in selling pharmaceuticals, that's a Bernie Sanders idea.
Starting point is 00:26:31 But it's not only his, some of his policies, some of his other policies, let's not forget, is throwing 15 million people off the health care they have and doubling health care premiums. He's not perfect. And giving a trick. I didn't say he was perfect. a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the 1%. Is it frustrating that the thing that you fought for your whole career, Democrats are the ones who run away from scared, and he's
Starting point is 00:26:56 embraced some of it. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. All right. So what are we got to do? I mean, first of all, you've got to acknowledge bloody reality. Health care system is broken. Boom. All right. We need to do what every other major country does. Guarantee out get every man, woman, a child, take on
Starting point is 00:27:12 the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance companies. Okay? We're spending more than enough money to guarantee good quality health care to every person. All right. What else do you got to do? We need the Democratic Party to be very clear. The campaign system, current campaign finance system, is broken. You've got to get rid of Citizens United.
Starting point is 00:27:32 You've got to move to public funding of elections. Give everybody a chance to participate in our democracy. Right. All right. If you were triaging, so let's say you're triaging that idea because Citizens United, look, Those decisions about corporations being people and money being speech make things very difficult. Yes. But they do seem like generational plays to try and reverse things like that.
Starting point is 00:27:57 This health care thing seems more immediate. Is that if you're triaging the apatient of America, what's the first thing you want to address? I happen, you know, I've always been deeply concerned about health care as a human right. Right. And this is something that is so doable. We are the odd guy out as a country. I live 50 miles away from Canada. You spend a month in a hospital and county.
Starting point is 00:28:19 You know what the bill is when you come out? Zero. They spend half as much per capita as we do on health care. They guarantee health care to all of their people. This can be done, absolutely doable. The other thing we could do, young people today, finding it extremely hard to buy their own home. Cost of housing is off the charts.
Starting point is 00:28:37 Why aren't we building four or five million units of low-income and affordable housing? Well, to be fair, we are building one or two, four or five million dollars homes. So I think that on average. Well, that's a point. That's a fair point. But let me ask you this question then, because this is where I get in my head about those prescriptions seem a charismatic leader making a forceful case for that would very much appeal to the American people. But what Democrats find themselves in a place is we've shut down the government to protect subsidies for an insurance marketplace that funnels $800 billion a year into the pockets of all these insurance companies. have Democrats boxed themselves into a corner
Starting point is 00:29:32 fighting for a system that ultimately to get the thing that you want that I think the American people want, they're going to have to abandon. Yes. Look, here's where we are right now, and I think it's not been made as clear as it should. If Trump gets away with what he wants, we are looking at 15 million people
Starting point is 00:29:54 losing their health insurance, and according to studies, John, 50,000 low-income and working-class people dying every year unnecessary. Based on a lack of accessibility to health. Right. You're low-income, you're working-class, you don't have any health, you have a chronic ill. You die. That's what they're saying.
Starting point is 00:30:10 On top of that, all over the country, you're very clear. You do die anyway. You do die anyway. But you don't have to die. You don't have to die just because you can't get to a doctor. That is disgusting. Right. All right.
Starting point is 00:30:21 And then on top of that, because of the cuts to the ACA, you're looking at some 20-plus million people seeing a doubling of their premiums at a time when they can't even afford health care right now. Right. All right. So your point is, is this a good system? No. Is this a good system to defend?
Starting point is 00:30:39 To defend today, yes. All right. But obviously, obviously. Right. It is a system designed to make huge profits to the insurance companies and the drug companies. Right. Period. We have got to move to a Medicare for All single-payer program.
Starting point is 00:30:52 Absolutely. We'll... Is that something in your caucus that when that's raised, what are the objections that come back to you? Now, I'm assuming that within even your caucus for the Democratic Party that you're considered an outlier in those kinds of things. Maybe more people are coming along there. What is their reluctance? The irony is, in the caucus I am outside of the caucus, in the real world, I am not. Right.
Starting point is 00:31:25 That's the point. Yeah. All right. I think there is, oh, Bernie, it's too radical. Oh, Bernie, you know, money from insurance companies, drug companies, you know, all that. So we've got to all kinds of oppositions. Well, people ever say to you, like, Bernie, I'd love to do that, but you don't understand. Etna's throwing me a party. You can't, you know, I can't. Well, these are nonverbal communications. I mean, a little nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
Starting point is 00:31:50 Yeah. I mean, look, these guys, last count, they were 1,500. lobbyists from the pharmaceutical industry in Washington, D.C., okay? And that's why you are paying by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. All right, but then you got other things. 70 years ago, I don't know how many people know this, most or many, public colleges and universities with tuition free in America. Sure.
Starting point is 00:32:16 My parents are on City College. There you go. Great universities. California, highest quality education tuition free. And now working class families can't afford to send their kids to college. But again, this gets to the Democratic solutions have never been to directly provides. It's always been a subsidy to a middleman. But what happens is when the government promises endless funds to insurance companies or private universities without any cost controls, and Trump seems to understand this, prices rise far beyond the rate of inflation.
Starting point is 00:32:55 And we've seen it in tuition, and we've seen it in pharmaceutical, and we've seen it in health care. So my question is, will Democrats recognize the poison pill that they've often placed into well-intentioned policy? Right, right. What they end up doing is coming up with very complicated proposals. You make $48,964. Yes. You will get this thing. You make a dollar more.
Starting point is 00:33:24 You're finished and blah, blah, blah, blah. Look, we have got to make it simple. In the wealthiest country in the history of the world, should health care be a human right? Yes, it should be. Should we have the best quality education in the world from child care to graduate school? Yes, we should.
Starting point is 00:33:40 Right, but these are... How do you... Let's get there. All right, then the question is, all right, these are... I'm writing this down, Sanders. All right, the Republicans are, you getting violent here, you know? You're right, right. I get excited when you're around. All right.
Starting point is 00:33:58 You know, and what we need is a very simple, straightforward agenda, which says, by the way, and this is really a sticky point, you've got to finally say to the oligarchs who have never, ever had it so good, they're making money hand over fist. All right? And you've got to say to them, sorry, guys, a billion dollars is enough. You ain't going to have 200 billion or 300 billion. try to survive on the ability you're going to start paying your fair share of taxes. And this is like, so
Starting point is 00:34:33 when you see Donald Trump go to, and only in this one area, but go to them and say, you're giving me 10% of your company if we're going to help you out, or we're going to do that, but here's the thing, Pfizer, you're not going to charge these people anymore. Does that change the calculus now for Democrats to governs, to govern with more balls.
Starting point is 00:34:55 I think it does. I think it does. I mean, they've seen a boldness on the part of Trump using his power in a way that we have never seen before. So I hope it awakens Democrats to understand. You want Luke Skywalker to look at Darth and go, I could do that. I could just nicer.
Starting point is 00:35:17 Nicer without the people in the masks. But the revolution. The political revolution that we need also means an involvement. And this is what we're so exciting about the No King's Day, at 7 million people coming out. We need all of you to be involved in this process. It's got to be a bottom-on-up revolution, not a top-down. No, it makes sense.
Starting point is 00:35:41 I wonder if we've lost the purpose in the sense of, you know, of viewing government as a bulwark. You know, when the founders design a system, and they talk about checks and balances, and congressional checks and judicial and executive and the balance all there. I don't know that they factored in corporate power. And I don't know that there's an entity
Starting point is 00:36:00 large enough or with enough leverage to be a counterweight to that type of corporate power. You're raising a very important issue. I knew I'd get to it at some point. Finally, I've been waiting, John. You finally said something relevant here. Yes. Look, I know people say,
Starting point is 00:36:21 Oh, we don't want the government to regulate, you know, corporate. The truth of the matter is, it's quite the opposite right now. It is the corporate world. It is the oligarchs who are regulating the government. They have far more power. Right. And we have got to create a political movement, a grassroots movement, which takes control of the future of this country.
Starting point is 00:36:41 Let me give you one example. Right now, we are in the midst, as everybody knows, of these, the musks of the world and the Bezos and all these guys, putting hundreds of billions of dollars into AI and robotics, right? This is going to transform our world. It's going to transform our economy. In my view, in the view of a number of economists, it means millions and millions of workers
Starting point is 00:37:03 are going to be displaced from their jobs. Who is engaging in that discussion to say, hey, Mr. Musk, you can't make the decision for the future of humanity. We are going to make the future. And that is, if AI works, it's going to work for working people, not just billionaires.
Starting point is 00:37:22 I'll go you one further. Why are you always going to me one further? I'm not radical. I'll go you one further with this. Let's get really radical. You know, these AI data farms are going to need more and more electricity. Absolutely.
Starting point is 00:37:34 And these oligarchs or the people that control that are trying to cut deals to get cheaper electricity for themselves, even though that's going to raise prices for the rest of us. Absolutely. And it's being there being resisted all, the country. It's electricity, it's water. Scarce water is going to be used.
Starting point is 00:37:54 I like both of those! All right, but the bottom line is these technologies are going to transform the world. We have got to make sure that they work for working people, not just enrich the people on top. What does that mean? Well, among other things, if we increase worker productivity, we can lower the work week from 40 hours a week
Starting point is 00:38:16 to at least 32 hours a week. All right? But we are, in many ways, you know, if you look at productivity over time, productivity for the American worker has shot through the roof. American workers are unbelievably productive. That's my point. But wages have not. That is the profound point.
Starting point is 00:38:35 Over the last 52 years, with all of the increase in worker productivity and technology, the average American worker, blue-collar workers, earning less today than he did then. That's insane. Why are you able to make these cases so easily? and talk like a normal human being. And these other, I mean, that's part of the problem in the Democratic Party. Sometimes you listen to them, and you just, you can almost see the consultant behind their eye going. Don't frame it like that.
Starting point is 00:39:02 Talk like a person. Well, you know, I think sadly it gets back the money again. You know, if you don't want to say things that antagonize your campaign donors, then you have to wiggle them all. Trust me. the United States government is always going to be a trough. It's just a question of people are always going to make, corporations are always going to be able to make a huge profit off of the contracts that come from the American government.
Starting point is 00:39:27 The question is, can we deliver those contracts with less corruption? You know, everybody talks about waste fraud and abuse, as though that's only done from people down the chain, people that get, you know, food stamps and all those things. They don't even look at the real corruption at the contractor level, at the subsidy level. John, the Pentagon. I voted against this, but Congress is going to pass a trillion dollar.
Starting point is 00:39:51 Trillion dollars. For the military. The Pentagon... Never passed an audit. Exactly. They have the only major government agency not to pass it. No one denies that there is massive way. They don't even know what they own, all right?
Starting point is 00:40:05 And they're paying the, you know, the salaries of the people of Lockheed Martin and all this other stuff off the charts. So your point is well taken. And we've got to take a look at the... incredible greed. You know, these people on top of very religious people, do you know that? They're very religious people. Very godly. Their religion is greed.
Starting point is 00:40:27 They worship at the altar of money. But the government has leverage. They've got to use it. God damn right. So let's talk about this. In conclusion, look, you've been doing this a long time. A couple of years. Is there a couple of years now? I want to know in your mind, you've been in the rooms with these folks,
Starting point is 00:40:43 you've been in the weeds with these folks. What is your appraisal? of their willingness to recognize this moment, to recognize the potential energy and thirst that exists out in this country for true leadership and simple common sense that reflects a government that reflects the needs of its people. What is your sense of their ability? I have the room. The door is locked and, you know, there are some very, very serious discussions about what
Starting point is 00:41:15 we have to do to prevent this country becoming an authoritarian society. But, John, the answer is not just within the room of the people currently elected. What we are seeing all over this country right now are great young people like Mr. Mamdani right here in the city of New York. And it's not just him. You're beginning to see good candidates who have the guts to say, I am going to take on the oligarchs, I am going to stand with the working class. That is what we have got to develop in this country. Bernie Sanders. The book is fight oligarchy.
Starting point is 00:41:49 They can't thank you enough. Thank you. Bernie Sanders, everybody. We're going to take a break. Come up right up next. Cheese. Craving and Escape. Bring the vibrant flavors of Mexican street-eat energy to life in your kitchen.
Starting point is 00:42:15 with Tia Rosa Tortillas. Born in Mexico, Tia Rosa knows how to turn your next taco night at home into the real deal. Find Tia Rosa Tartillas at select grocery stores and get the good vibes going.
Starting point is 00:42:25 Tia Rosa, Tia Rosa. Tia Rosa. Tia Rosa. Hey, a lot of us go up for the night. Before we go, we're going to check in with your host for the rest of the week,
Starting point is 00:42:43 Mr. Michael Costa. Michael! Nice to see you, sir. Nice to see you. What do you got on tap for the week? Well, John, because of Trump's tariffs, China's not buying American soybeans, which means our farmers are hurting.
Starting point is 00:42:57 So, I'm doing my part by eating soybeans 24-Sev-365, John. Uh... And how... How's that going, Michael? Awful. Is it wrecking havoc on my colon, John? Yes. Is it causing irreversible damage to my bones?
Starting point is 00:43:31 Of course. But do I sleep easier at night knowing I'm helping out Americans' farmers? Well, do you? No, I'm up all night farting, John. Because of the bee. of the beans you see you know you know Michael you could just buy the beans and not eat yes yes I could Michael Costa everybody here it is your moment is that neighborhood Burger King and joined my no king's day with some traditional flame broiled goodness in my hand
Starting point is 00:44:24 right now we don't have a king in this country we've got a president he's doing a pretty darn good job you make sure explore more shows from the daily show podcast universe by searching the daily show wherever you get your podcasts watch the daily show weeknights at 11 10 central on comedy central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus.

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