The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Ramaswamy Nearly Drops a Kid, Paxton's Ad Backfires & Trump Wants to Fix Your Clock | Aaron Sorkin

Episode Date: October 7, 2026

Michael Kosta breaks down the headlines as the GOP struggles ahead of the midterms: Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton drops an ad boasting that he tears down posters of missing children, Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy almost drops a literal child at a campaign rally, and Trump is no help to his flailing party as he focuses on “red-dye diesel” and the inconvenience of daylight saving time. Plus, Kosta chats with Mordok the Clock Keeper (Grace Kuhlenschmidt) to get his take on the cost of changing your clocks. Jordan Klepper sits down with a J6 insurrectionist demanding a payout for being...the victim? Academy Award-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin sits down with Michael to discuss writing and directing his new film, "The Social Reckoning." Sorkin discusses revisiting Mark Zuckerberg as an anti-hero 16 years after “The Social Network,” balancing his role as both writer and director of the film, and recounting how intense physicality during the writing process once landed him in the hospital with a broken nose. --Go to https://Quince.com/dailyshow for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. -- https://homeserve.com/tds -- The Daily Show airs weeknights at 11/10c on Comedy Central. Stream full episodes on Paramount+ Follow TDS: YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. While others follow the noise, we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com. You're listening to Comedy Central. From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central, it's America's only sorts for news. This is The Daily Show with your host, Michael Kastas. Donald Trump starts a new war with time.

Jan Sixers' storm, the legal system in Vivek Ramoswamy, drops the ball, and the ball is a child. Also, later on, Aaron Sorkin is going to be here. But first, Let's get into our continuing coverage of the 2026 midterms in our ongoing segment, the mid-a-see. I've heard the words epic. I've heard historic. That's what it is.

We are now just four weeks away from Election Day, the most important Tuesday of the year, after all, the Taco ones. And right now, Republicans are at a risk of losing in a lot of red states. I'm talking states like Texas, Iowa, Kansas, and even Alabama. Yeah. Yeah. guys didn't even know about Alabama because you're all wrapped up in your East Coast bubble. It may just be flyover country to you coastal elites, but to the hicks who live there,

it's home, okay? But one reason Republicans are struggling is that they aren't exactly fielding the best candidates. For example, in the Ohio governor's race, their nominee is Vivek Ramoswamy, former presidential candidate and guy with resting virgin face. His campaign really needs a little. lift, but lifting doesn't seem to be his strong

suit. See, this is why you can't skip lifting kids' day at the gym. Now, to be fair, this kid wasn't helping. I mean, look, he went full dead weight. That's the move my kid makes, but she

doesn't want to leave the playground, and I don't want to drop her because I'm a good dad, so typically I'd just leave her there. But this was not what Vivek needed, especially after after the last time he tried to show off his manliness. Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramoswamy has deleted a campaign video after the internet

mocked his baseball swing. There's 10 things I'm going to do for Ohio. Slash your property taxes. Abolish your state income tax. What are you laughing at? He swings the bat like Jeter. That's the name of my blind gay nephew. Damn, that swing is bad.

Please tell me his father died young. At least that's an excuse. His father didn't die young. We fact-checked it before the Joe. I mean, what a harsh way to find out everyone on your staff hates the living shit out of you. Hey, does this swing look good? Yeah, definitely.

That's how all the pros do it. Meanwhile, in the Texas Senate race, Republicans are running Ken Paxton, the Attorney General, who amazingly found someone to cheat on his wife with. He's running an ad trying to highlight his hard stance on human trafficking, but it's not exactly sending the right message.

A 16-year-old runaway from San Antonio trafficked around Texas until Ken Paxton's human trafficking unit stepped in. When missing posters go up, Ken Paxton takes them down. What a harsh way to find out everyone on your staff hates the living shit out of you. This doesn't make me look like I'm kidnapping girls and taking down the posters, right? No, of course not. That's how all the pros do it. Anyway, with teammates like this, it's no wonder that Donald Trump has decided to put them on his back

and carry them across the finish line himself. Last night, he hit the campaign trail in Nebraska, where he promised voters relief from the high gas prices that some moron inflicted on him. Tonight, I'm going to sign a historic executive order to officially waive the off-road requirement and allow anyone to purchase tax-free red-dye diesel for any reason.

Executive order on red dye diesel. What's red dye diesel? I mean, I know all of those words individually, but not altogether. Is that how they make fruit loops? Well, thankfully, the president is signing an executive order about it. So he'll explain it to us. Red dye diesel. Do you know what that is?

I don't know what the hell it is, but whatever it is, it's supposed to be very good. Does anybody want to explain it? If you're doing this to help us, shouldn't you at least know what it is? This feels like a doctor going, well, I finished your vasectomy. By the way, what do the balls do anyway? I don't think getting a discount off red-dye diesel

is going to get the country back on your side. You need to do something like end the war, or regulate AI, or stop bringing back diseases that you could only get on the Oregon Trail. Something big. Donald Trump wants to make. daylight savings permanent.

Sure. Okay. Daylight saving time. Sometimes I also start at the bottom of my to-do list. But okay, let's hear it. What's your pitch? We want to get away from this ridiculous way and custom of every twice a year, turning your klops back, turning it clocks forward,

being late for dinner. Yeah. Finally, a crisis that Trump takes seriously, being late for dinner. No president wants to get that terrible phone call, sir, they've already started serving the appetizers. I mean, it's 2026. There's like one clock in my entire house that doesn't change automatically. If Trump wants to permanently shift the entire country's daylight hours, he's going to need a better reason than it's annoying to change the clock. We don't want to change clock twice a year. It's very expensive.

It's expensive? How is it expensive to change your clocks? Are you hiring Showe-Otani to do it for you? Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but historically it's always cost me $0 to change my clocks. Mr. President, you've got to give us a better reason. Crime rates, car safety, GDP, something. They don't want to have to go around changing blocks.

People don't want to have to change their clocks twice a year. It's a lot of work for a lot of people. They're running around for two days changing all the clocks in their house. Okay. Okay. Now, that sounds like a lie I would make you up to avoid going to my daughter's recital. Sorry, honey. It's going to take me like two days

to change all the clocks. But I'm sure you'll do great considering you've practiced once in the last six months. But I'll admit, it is a lot of running around. And sadly, most fatal clock-changing accidents happen at home. The time of death, nobody knows. All Republicans want this as bad as Trump does.

In fact, the only thing standing in the way of Trump and his dream of permanent daylight is Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, so named because he's genetically half-cuitip. He's single-handedly blocking Trump's bill from coming to vote. And I'm sure Trump is going to be totally normal about that, right? Right? President Trump publicly shared on social media

what he said is the personal cell phone number of Republican Senator Tom Cotton in an apparent effort to pressure the lawmaker to support legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent. He released his personal cell phone number? Oh my God, what a dick

is what Tom Cotton probably thought when he got 60,000 unsolicited dick picks. Now, I know that sounds annoying, but it's not as annoying as going around your house for two days changing all your clocks. And if I can be totally honest, I would be happy to get rid of daylight saving time. I don't even know how it started in the first place.

T'was I. Wait, who said that? Lightning visage, for I am Mordock, the clockkeeper. It is here in the time realm that I doth control the flow of daylight and savings. Oh, okay. Is that why you're wearing a clock like Flav of Flav? For me.

He copied his whole thing for me. So you invented daylight saving time? Eater of daylight saving. And by galactic decree, I forbid you from canceling it. I understand. You probably care about children being safe in the daylight on their way to school. False.

It's because I love watching how confused you all get. You have to change all the clocks. You have to learn where the knobs are. You think it's five o'clock somewhere? No, it's only four. Or is it six? You'll never know. Hey, hey, hey.

That's not very nice, Moore, Doc. Now, personally, I really want to end daylight saving time. I like to watch TV without having to figure out what 9-8 Central means. That's a time zone thing, you moron. Turn with the time zone master. He's my stepfather, and we're not on speaking terms. Well, you know what? I want President Trump to get rid of that, too.

Never. Try as he might. Donald Trump can never stop me. The chaos of the clock shall endure for eternity, and he shall not interfere. Hold on. I'm getting a textual message. Trump must have posted your phone number. God! I don't know. You're the clockkeeper.

All these clocks are off by like an hour. Kind of changing them. Uh, Mordock, the clockkeeper, everybody. Where some see heroes and others see egos. Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. A fad to some? The future of money to others. We see crypto's trillion-dollar swings.

the end of jobs or the end of human struggle. We see the endless funds fueling the AI hype. While others follow the noise, we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com. It's a dark day in our democracy's history, but one group of people are trying to make things right. Jordan Klepper has more. Trump's government has promised big payouts to many Americans.

From tariff rebates to those checks to perfectly legal voting, incentives. So if the Republicans win, you get $5,000. But the question remains, can you actually get money from the government if you aren't one of the president's sons? I'm in the nation's capital to talk to one American who is struggling to get her due. My name is Yvonne St. Cyr, and I am waiting on $2,270. How much money have you gotten so far? Nothing. Zero. Zero. That's bullshit. What's it for? January 6th. You were attacked on January 6th? No. It was money that I paid. for restitution, but I did not break anything.

Oh, you were doing the January 6th? Correct. Okay. And you want money back? Yeah. First insurrection is free, right? I think that's in the Constitution. That's right. Yvonne's efforts to stop the steel. Not only landed her in jail,

she also had to pay restitution to the U.S. government. But then Trump pardoned everybody, which means the attackers are now the victims of government overreach, and boy, are they victims. Okay, okay. What do you think the net effect of January 6 has been on January 6ers. It's been devastating.

People lost their businesses. Divorces happen, so it's been hard to watch. From what I'm hearing, it sounds like you guys were the victims of January 6th. Yes. It's still a little bit bonkers today. And I will get money back for all of it. You're going to get your money back. Oh, I'm going to get more than that money back.

We will be compensated. We will be vindicated. And you will feel like an ass for this interview someday. What? Yeah. USA! What Yvonne might be talking about, is the fact that numerous other pardoned J-6ers are now trying to cash in on an even bigger score.

Rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, you may recall, they are now suing the government. Seeking more than $18 million in damages. So I sat down with Democratic Congressman Joe Morelli, who is there on January 6th and is now co-sponsoring the No Rewards for Rioters Act. Congressman, why don't you want the victims of January 6th to get the money that they deserve? The victims like the United States Capitol Police who were injured and beaten, members of Congress,

the Vice President of the United States who was hunted that day. No, no, I'm talking about the victims that those victims were against. Why are you getting in the way of that? Yeah, we tend to think of them not as victims, but as perpetrators. I don't know if you understand

how devastating this was for so many of them. Some lost their jobs. They felt threatened at work. They were too scared to go into work. Do you have any idea what that feels like? Well, actually, on January 6th, I felt pretty unsafe at my workplace. Is this just sour grapes, though? Are you just jealous?

Nobody took a dump on your desk? It's without precedent in the United States that we would pay people who committed crimes against the country. And despite the fact they got a pardon. But Yvonne says there was no crime, and she deserves her refund, partly because the entrapment started on January 6th itself, when a peaceful protest was subverted by the deep state who was tracking her every move. How else would they have known that she was even in the Capitol that day? I filmed from a room.

Oh, well, there you go. Were you live streaming the whole experience? This is what you wanted. This is what you got. I was lost in the moment. If you, if you want to blame me for getting lost in the moment. I'm not going to judge you, but the only thing worse than being an interactionist

is being a content creator. Well, actually, I tried to live stream. There was no service. It wouldn't work anywhere until I got inside the Capitol. Weird, now the service works. You're talking the deep state has given you shoddy internet service? Well, come on, let's not try to make this look stupid. I think we do have a shadow government.

I mean, if you look at, if you go back and you study the extraterrestrials. There's a lot of whistleblowers that talk about... Wait, so ET shut off the internet? You don't think the government has control over the internet. You don't think there's people that control what you do and what you film on this air. You're controlled! I'm not being controlled. Hey, Jordan. Yeah? Can you say that one more time? I'm not being controlled.

Control. Let's talk about mind control. You know that there was actually a mind control specialist that showed the ability to control the human species with just repetition. You could say something over and over again, and people just start to believe it as truth. Correct. Build the wall. Build the wall. Correct.

Lock her up. Lock her up. Storm the capital. Storm the capital. Oh, for sure. Well, no. Humans are malleable like that. But not everyone can be swayed so easily.

These are hardworking Americans putting in the time to do the coup right. What is getting in the way from them getting a little bit of that payback? United States Congress, because we have to appropriate the money that would allow for those kinds of judgments we've done. Your United States Congress. Essentially, you're saying you don't want J-Sixers to take money that shouldn't be theirs from the Treasury. So you're basically saying stop the steal. Is that right? In this case, that is what I'm saying.

So the people standing in the way of the J-Sixers and their payouts is none other than their arch rival. Congress. Here we are. Here we are. Oh, my God. Are we doing this again? Yvonne only wants a fraction of that sweet J-6 cash. But I felt like it was a good idea to test her resolve

before we call in the other rioters, I mean protesters. So do we... Are we going to do it? We going to do what? Did you really want to walk into the Capitol? Well, I thought it was your thing. I thought we were going to do the thing. Yeah.

No. Do you need me to shaman? Would it help you if I shaman did? No. I'm not the same girl as I was then. That's kind of like life. You realize that. We try to control our outside circumstances, but again, I have no control over anything but me.

And that's the one thing I learned. I am not January 6th. Now I see it. Avon is proof that humans may be flawed, but if given the chance, they can evolve. Because what is America about, if not second chances? Let me ask you something. Would you do it all over again? Absolutely.

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Thank you for coming. Thanks for having me. I'm honored to talk with you. A few good men, Moneyball, Newsroom, Social Network. When do I get to talk to someone that's had such a creation of all these things? This is insane. It's awfully nice to say, thanks. This film is not a sequel.

No. But it is connected to the social network your film from 16 years ago. Here's what it is. It's another movie about Facebook by the writer who wrote the social network, and one of the characters from the social network is in the social reckoning. It's as if Henry Hill from Goodfellas showed up as a character in Casino. Okay, got it. Does that help? It does help. You could do like money balls. You could do more, a few more good men. I don't know. Where were you in the marketing meeting when we needed? How do you re-approach writing the same character, but 16 years later?

Yeah. This story, listen, the social network was about how Facebook was invented. The social reckoning is about what it's become, and it's told through, this is a true story. It centers a young woman named Francis Howgan. She was a middle-level engineer at Facebook. She's played by Mikey Madison. and she enlists the help of a Wall Street Journal reporter is played by Jeremy Allen White.

Together, they uncover these very dark secrets that Facebook has been keeping from us. And in there, Mark Zuckerberg is in there. He's played by Jeremy Strong. He was a thunderous performance in this. Yeah. You, I read that you actually worked with Mikey Madison with Francis's memoir to write the script.

I mean, explain that process. a little bit to me. Francis wrote a memoir. It's called The Power of One. And Jeff Horace, the reporter, also wrote a book called Broken Code. I wasn't that interested. I told both actors that I wasn't that interested in them doing a physical and vocal impersonation of those two characters, that I really wanted them to play the characters

and the script. Nonetheless, both the real people have seen it and seem to really like it a lot. It's a powerful film. I mean, rarely do I finish a film and then go watch. Francis' congressional hearing testimony. Yeah. You know, that's a good thing if you're watching and then wanting to learn and know more.

It is. I just don't want to give the audience the impression that they're gonna learn anything. This is a fun. We do the same thing here. Yeah. You slip in a few dick jokes, they forget that they learn something.

Yeah. People have been talking about the movie like it's important and that's the last thing that we want to do, yes. That I want. Speaking of important, you've talked about Mark Zuckerberg, being an anti-hero. What does that mean exactly? The difference being a villain

or an anti-hero is. A villain, what a villain wants is bad. They want the money, they want revenge. An anti-hero wants something good. What Mark wants is to connect everybody in the world. All right. But the decisions he has made along the way have been terrible and incomprehensible.

I mean, what you do so well in your films is you get me listening to and accepting ideas that I don't want to. And one of the things that happened when I watched the film was I was empathizing with some of what Mark Zuckerberg was saying. Facebook is not the ref. I believe in free speech. How does that play in with also censorship? I mean, that's kind of what we're talking about here.

There's an argument that lasts the length of the movie. And I think, Listen, I think that I gave Mark Zuckerberg the best version of his point of view. He makes a pretty good argument. I disagree with it, but he makes a pretty good argument. But I have to say that my first movie, which was based on my first play, was a few good men. And at the end of a few good men... Which is also...

I wasn't fishing for that. That was really nice. Well, now that we've stopped, it's also coming back to Broadway. There is going to be a Broadway revival. of a few good men. It starts previews Thursday night. At Lincoln Center with a great cast. It opens October 29th. Yes. So Jack Nicholson's character is this big speech in the courtroom.

It's that you can't handle the truth speech. And I was a kid when I wrote that. And I just remember standing behind someone in the theater. And at the end of the speech, turned to the person he was with and said, he's got a point. And that's always a good sign. You know, you can't handle the truth. I'm thinking of that with the Facebook algorithm

because we're talking about asking Facebook to moderate political ads and some of which are lies. And Facebook's argument is this isn't our job to police this. Why as humans do we want the simple explanation that sometimes is a lie? It's easier to digest that, isn't it? Yeah. Than the actual truth.

Sure. And that's why it can be easy to get people to believe lies. But there's a difference between an unpopular opinion, which deserves First Amendment protection. Yes. And a lie which does not deserve First Amendment protection. So the example that's used in the movie is Facebook will allow you to take out an ad on Facebook. They'll allow you to target, say, predominantly black zip codes, take out an ad in Facebook that says this year the election will be held on Wednesday.

Yeah. You shouldn't be allowed to you. Right. I agree with that. Not that you needed me to say that I agree with that, but I did. I like hearing that. This particular time that you look at Facebook is a very interesting because they start to lose engagement or users, right?

And that's kind of what got us to this disaster zone. They're losing engagement because their users are getting older. And because of competition from TikTok and things like that. And so they need to do something and they did something. They adjusted the algorithm to something that they call MSI stands for meaningful social interactions, which sounds nice. Yeah. Except that what it is, I don't want to be coy, but I don't want to give away too much in the movie. What it is is prioritizing reshares over likes.

Yeah. Way probably 30 times the power of a like. Why is that a big deal? Because they already knew that the things you're most likely to reshairs. share or anything that makes you angry. They had the data already. They know it's rage bait that you're going to reshare the most. They don't care.

It's going to increase engagement. That's what's going to keep you on the platform the longest. Are reshares and the stuff you're going to reshare the most are things that make you angry. So add that to a news feed which is powered by an algorithm, which means you're getting the news you want and I'm getting the news I want. You're getting the news that you want. And it means that somebody could be getting a daily dose of immigrants committing crimes. Right. For instance.

And I think that that's what the world has turned into, or immigrants committing crimes. I'm just going to summarize some of that for my mom who's watching at home. They are amplifying lies and things that will give us an emotional reaction. Yes. More negative than positive. They're not amplifying the baby picture. No, no, no, no. They're saying that what they're amplifying, the baby pictures.

But what they're amplifying, and I mean amplifying, that's 30 times the power of alike are things that, rage bait, things that make you angry. Insane. There's a very powerful moment when the character, Mikey's character representing Francis, says to the journalist, you're mad because Facebook has taken your journalism jobs. And the journalist says, I'm mad that it's bad job. Biasis isn't because tech has taken journalism jobs.

It's because you're doing them so badly. I should have asked you because you wrote the script. Sure. But I have to say, after one viewing, you know a lot of it. I'm impressed. Well, let's talk about your writing because, my God, what you've been able to do as a writer, and I was, you know, studying your process, and you're a physical writer. You walk and you move.

That's not what I think of writing. Yeah. I'm up and I'm down. I'm saying all the lines out loud. once broke my nose writing. Because I had this... What? Were you skiing in writing?

So you want an explanation for that? I got an idea for what I thought was a funny moment, this was in the newsroom, and I thought it was a funny moment. I was going to have a character just kind of lunge at another character. Two people were going to hold them back. It's a comedy staple. It says, let me out of him. let me out a moment.

And I was very excited about this. And I was acting it out. And I managed, like, while I was acting it out, traveled into my bathroom and lunged forward, but there weren't the two people to hold me back. So right into the mirror. And if it had been a Scorsese film, he would have said, I, cut, let's do that again, but this time just less blood. Right.

The nose is not a good one. Yeah, yeah. But so I called that friend that you can call at midnight when you've broken your nose writing. And asked her to come over. Just take a look at me. And she came over, you know, my God, we have to take you to the emergency room. And I said, yeah, but read this because I think it's really fun. So are you, you know, that resonated with me about the physicality of writing because when I write stand-up comedy,

I find it's better when I'm moving and playing the part a little bit. But is your laptop open and you're also popping in and doing that? Or is it you're keeping in your memory? It's a little of both. It's a desktop. Okay. My apologies. I don't know.

That's okay. I'll get ahead of myself. It'll start writing and I'm just excited and I'm walking around and I'll realize it's been a while since I've typed anything. I should probably memorialize this somehow. For years when I lived in L.A., I would see crazy people walking around screaming. I didn't know they were writing a board-winning screenplay. That's what they're doing.

I, during the West Wing, the president of NBC, a messenger came with a package for me from the president of NBC. It was a headset meant to be paired with my car phone. And it was a note that said, I was next to you at a red light this morning. Please wear this any time you're in your car by yourself. You look like a madman.

That's hilarious. I'm curious. What would Aaron Sorkin, the writer, say to Aaron Sork and the director, those aren't always the same people. I mean, you're directing a film knowing exactly what the writer thought. Yes. Is that helpful? Is that...

You know, along the way there were studio executives who'd say, you know, listen, Aaron, the director has to kick the writer out of the room and that kind of thing. I promise you, what the director wants and what the writer wants are exactly the same in those cases. Right. I'm curious, do you think Facebook timed the release of muse to distract us from this film? I mean, for real, that did

cross my mind. I mean, they are very deliberate, correct? No, they are. And sometimes for the good, you know, 16 years ago, when the social network came out, about two weeks before the movie opened, in order to kind of mitigate

the bad press that Mark knew was coming his way, he donated $200 million to the Newark Public School System. So, that's not bad. No, that's good. I mean, it reminds me of the movie where how do you get people to change, and it's either money or pain.

And he obviously felt that pain was coming. And I didn't realize this whole time if I just donated $200 million to the school system, I could increase my public figure. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's great. Last question for you. Thank you for chatting with us. This is an honor for me to talk with you.

Young people out there that are wanting to write from journalism to screenplays. It can feel so daunting. Maybe you don't live in L.A. Maybe you don't live in New York. You're not aware that these can be professions for people. What's your advice or thoughts for young people that want to write? You know, read screenplays. If you want to write screenplays, read screenplays.

Go to the movies and try it. Do it. Yeah. Read and try. Uh-huh. I love it. That's great. Aaron, thank you so much for being.

I appreciate it so much. Stationwide, October 9th. Aaron Sorkin, everybody. All right, great. We're right back after this. You're the man. Thank you so much. Where some see heroes and others see egos.

Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. While others follow the noise, we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com. President Trump's also, my friend. He feels strongly about it. The president, as we know, can be sometimes He exists loudly. He can be tempestuous.

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