The Daily Show: Ears Edition - TDS Time Machine | Venezuela - The Backstory

Episode Date: January 10, 2026

As the U.S. takes apparent control of Venezuela, after capturing its head of state Nicolás Maduro, take a look back at how we got here with The Daily Show's coverage of Venezuelan political unrest through the years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. You're listening to Comedy Central. America's foreign policy largely focused in the Middle East, but did you know that there's a crazy anti-American strongman right in our own backyard? Meet Hugo Chavez. Earlier this week, the Venezuelan president told a group of students, quote, if U.S. forces get the crazy idea of coming to invade us, will make them bite the dust.

That's Hugo Chavez, preemptively attacking the United States with queen lyrics. from 1980. You will bite the dust, and I will. Take you to Funky Town. Chavez concluded his remarks with a stirring vision for his countrymen. And so, socialism is the only path. And now in the true spirit of socialism,

I will share with all of you one of my many pockets. Come, take a pocket. Chavez has a lot of buckets. This week, Chavez cut all ties to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, seen here outside your house right now. A State Department spokesman responded forcefully to the move. Venezuela is going to end cooperation with the Drug Enforcement Agency on fighting drug trafficking. Those are certainly regrettable.

And, and, uh, as for, um, as for, uh, reports that, that, um... Dude, uh, were you ever the spokesman for the drug enforcement agency? On we? With the continuing fallout from Monday's comments about Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, by Christian Coalition founder and two-time squint champion, Pat Robertson. He thinks we're trying to assassinate him. I think we really ought to go ahead and do it. We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability.

We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-armed dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with. Robertson added, and peace be with you. This morning, Robertson took to the airwaves to clarify his patois. I didn't say assassination. I said our special forces should, quote, take him out. He didn't say assassination. He said special forces should take him out.

Except, I think that's not cool. Can we play the original again? If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it. Well, to be fair, he did use it as a verb and not a noun, so I guess he's right. What was the reaction of Robertson's fellow evangelicals? the Traditional Values Coalition,

the Family Research Council, and the Christian Coalition, all told the New York Times they were too busy to comment. Although, all three groups have been frantically prepping protests for the new PlayStation 2 game, Homobortion City sexy additional. I'm gonna have a lot of touch with this to all that. I hope Senator Lott knows what he's doing.

Robertson's right-wing allies in the media also found themselves in a tight spot, how to defend a man of God calling for the killing of another human being. Well, there were three ways. First, strategy, dismiss the message. I think you have to understand the context of it. You know his program has one section of it that's a Christian exhortation

and in another section where he's a political pundit. See, what you don't understand is Robertson didn't make his comment during the time of day in which he's a Christian. By the way, very understandable. Have you ever tried to actually live your life by what this guy says? I mean... After an hour or so, you need some me time. Now, over on Fox News,

over on Fox News, a second strategy was employed, dismissed the messenger. Pat Robertson's day has long since passed. I agree with Morty. It really appears that his day has passed, that he's not a very influential player. And there's a danger in giving him too much credibility here. Well, look, I mean, he is ready for retirement.

and he's resurrected by the press because he's outrageous and because supposedly he speaks on behalf of a conservative America. It's a liberal media snow job is what it is. Who in their right mind would even pay attention to this guy anymore? Pat, welcome back, Reverend Robertson,

welcome back. Good to see you again. Yeah, good to see you, thank. I'll talk about the double standard. Hannity and Combs, clearly behind the Times, that was August 15th, so just a week. But the third, and to my mind, the most interesting way of dealing with Pat Robertson's remarks, dismiss critical thinking.

Has controversial Christian broadcaster, Pat Robertson, finally gone too far, or is he onto something? Late this afternoon, Pat Robertson issued a formal apology for his remarks. So far, Paula Zahn has not. How is democracy doing beyond our borders? That's the subject of tonight's democracy on the crawl. Where even their flag looks on happening.

Democracy's doing great. Monday's presidential election went smoothly and by a two million vote margin, the people have re-elected leftist America hater Hugo Chavez. Wow, why do we keep spreading democracy to places that resent our spreading of it? Don't they know we know what's best for them?

Chavez's campaign blanketed the country in his signature red. Also winning voters' hearts, the chain of Hugo Chavez lumber stores. lumber stores. That's Hugo Chavez lumber. Look for the giant Hugo Chavez. So socialism is spreading in South America, but not a problem. Because in between us and them sits Mexico. A bulwark against socialism, where the conservative candidate recently, oh boy, that's not going to. Funny story. Back in July, conservative Mexican presidential candidate Felipe Calderon barely defeated

leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who figured at least one of his names would win. Obrador. Well, last week, Calderon was finally due to get sworn in, causing leftists to riot outside Mexico's Congress. But, of course, inside, well, everything, oh boy, that's... Well, that's not two political parties fighting, just a spirited game of who's got the gavel. As for Obrador, he's gone so far. as far as to declare himself Mexico's legitimate president and has even set up a parallel government, sort of a bizarro Mexico, which Americans sneak into to not do the jobs bizarreo Mexicans want.

Also, there, in bizarro Mexico, pinatas are made out of candy, and kids break them open for the delicious paper mache inside. The weird place. Hugo Chavez, a bit of a thorn in America's side, pebble in our shoe, severed finger in our Taco Grande, if you will. Well, on Sunday, the Feisty Venezuelan president railed against pretty much everything having to do with America, except high school musical, too. He enjoyed it.

He made that clear in a marathon, six-hour speech, punctuated by an additional two hours of win-lose-drawer draw. South Pacific, gum disease. Pass. One of Chavez's topics, a constitutional reform abolishing president. term limits. El Hefe wants to be El Hefe for life foe. And the only way to do that is to silence your critics, which is why another move Chavez is making is to shut down an entire Venezuelan television station that provides a alternative voice to his unique brand of politics. But that may prove risky. Is there a risk here for Chavez that, you know, that television channel, very important

move by him to jerk it off the air? You don't mind me saying. That's certainly not something you to do on the air. Apparently, the people aren't the only thing this guy's strong arming. So anyway, is Chavez just a flake? Well, apparently he's going to be a well-armed one. As it turns out, Chavez is going to buy $3 billion worth of arms in preparation for a possible guerrilla-style war, quote, if the United States were to invade.

If the United States were to invade, why would America invade a country run by a dictator sitting atop billions and billions of untapped oil reserves? I got it! To tell us more about the world. is Hugo Chavez, a senior research fellow for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. His book, Hugo Chavez,

Oil Politics, and the Challenge to the United States is now out in paperback. Please welcome Nicholas Kozlov. Nicholas! Chavez, this is your book. Talk to me. Chavez. Revolutionary? Man of the people?

A crazy person? Demagogue? What are we dealing with here? Well, I think he's a pretty larger-than-life, bombastic character. And if you're in any doubt about that, then you can just go into YouTube and just see some recent videos, for example, when he denounce Bush,

and he has this imitation, he goes, in me mild English, in my bad English, Mr. Bush, you are a donkey. You know, and he goes on and on about the, you know, you are a coward.

Come on here to that as well. I'm waiting for you. Now, why do the pro wrestling thing? Why? Wouldn't his, you know, because if he is making poverty reforms in his country, doesn't he diminish himself and any positive that he does in Venezuela by acting the Holcogne?

Well, I think that Chavez definitely uses the media, but I think what's lost in this equation is that the media tends to pay a lot of attention to his persona, and I think that's natural, given that he's this larger-than-life character, but I think what's happened is that the media builds up these misconceptions. They basically play the tape of Chavez insulting Bush, and people don't have any context to know, well, why would Chavez actually be making these comments?

It seems like an utterly... Why would he call our president a donkey? Give me the context. Well, imagine if he's carrying coffee up a mountain. I can't speak to that particular word choice, but what I would say is that it's not as if Chavez does a lot of and have some reason for feeling paranoid about Bush. And I think that this is something that's lost

in the mainstream media. We're always told that Chavez is a threat to the US, which in my view is totally unfounded. I think that the United States definitely poses a threat to Venezuela. There is abundant evidence that we at least knew that a coup d'et was going to happen in April 2002. At the very least, we know.

But in South America, isn't that, isn't the coup midterm, isn't that? Isn't South American politics a slightly more rambunctious and powerful? And what are we to make of him changing the Constitution and trying to close down television stations? Well, I certainly, if he extends term limits, and that would definitely give me pause, but I think that whatever the internal politics of Venezuela might be, that in no way justifies U.S. intervention. And I think that there's a lot of evidence.

to support the claim that we didn't just collude in the coup of in 2002, that we had some hand in maybe directing it. As you yourself pointed out on your show, Cheney is very secretive. He has that man size safe and his... I said what? You know, I don't watch this show. I think it's cracks. What's his plan? What's he want?

Is he trying to consolidate? Does he see himself as sort of a bolivar? Is he a guy that thinks, I will unite South America and... Well, indeed, you know, I just got back from a long trip through South America, and I interviewed a lot of folks. And I think that the United States is confronting a very different political milieu, which is a lot more challenging for us.

And I think to a great degree that has to do with Chavez, and you go to places like Bolivia and elsewhere, and Chavez is regarded very favorably. Right. So, I'm actually... Well, populism is always, I mean, this is a guy bringing some hope to, you know, indigenous peoples and things like that. But when the price of oil goes down, like, you know, the similar thing happened in the 70s with South America. As soon as the price of oil goes down, is he suddenly, then he's got to call Russia and go, I can only pay for two tanks.

And, you know, what happens then? Well, I think that's a true litmus test of his progressive politics. As a result of the high price of oil, he's been able to push these ambitious... social programs. But I think you're right. I think time will tell. But in the meantime, I think despite what the media says, Chavez has a lot of popularity in Venezuela and throughout the hemisphere, unlike Bush, he's at 40% or 40% popularity or Congress at 17%. He's at 40% in South America? He could be their president. Because here in America, he's only like 30, I think. Or maybe even 10. I don't really know.

Is he really, you know, the talk is now that he is thinking about arming himself. Is this just playing to the base? He's a guy who's just, you know. I mean, typically you bring in Sean Penn, Harry Belafonte. How are you playing to the South American base there? Well, I think that he's not just appealed to Hollywood figures. I've spoken to a lot of people who've benefited from the social programs. According to opinion polls, he's got about 70% popularity.

And this claim that he's a threat to wider South America is totally bogus. I spoke to people throughout... Are they balanced out by Brazil? Is Brazil the big dog still? Yeah, I think that some Brazilians may not regard him with a lot of seriousness, but it's not like in the U.S. where he's demonized and there's no possibility. In the U.S., we really don't. I mean, the idea that Chavez is demonized, I think he still appears to be a fringe.

We don't know that much about South America. I certainly don't. But I think that Americans might want to pay more attention. That's why I wrote the book, because also I thought that... That may be the best line I've ever heard on the show. See, that's kind of why I wrote the book. But it is a very interesting book. It's about Hugo Chavez, and it's on the bookshelves now in paperback.

Nicholas Kozlov. Thank you so very much. This week in Demogh. That is incredibly professional-looking. We begin in Geneva, Switzerland, where the world's tiniest autocrat, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or, as we like to refer to him,

Hummel Hitler, spoke at a UN conference whose aim was to stamp out intolerance worldwide, which should work as well as that time, Captain Ahab, headline, the Save the Wales Foundation dinner. Unfortunately, just as Ahmadinejad was about to launch into his famed you know you're a Holocaust denier if routine, the esteemed representative from Circusstan began to heckle. began to heckle.

Al-handole-l-l-Lah-Rabbe al-Aulam-e. He added, de-de-de-de-le-le-te-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee. You know, as bad as throwing a shoe is in the Muslim world, think of what throwing a clown shoe would mean. Devastating. The European delegations also walked out on Ahmadinejad's speech, either in opposition to his predictable tirade,

or to see how the clown show would end in the hallway. Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad's comrade in lack of charms, Hugo Chavez attended the summit of the Americas, a gathering of Western Hemisphere leaders held in Trinidad. Hey, you know, I think Barack Obama's supposed to attend that. Well, I'm sure they'll take great pains to keep the two of those guys a... But no!

Smiling, handshake with Chavez on the heels of a bow to the Saudi king? Obama! Add that to your Christmas card from last year. I mean, actually, the summit was a chance for Barack Obama to meet with such southern hemispheric luminaries as Nicaragua's Ortega, El Salvador's Antonio Saga, Ecuador's Rafael Korea, Brazil's Pele, and Chili's baby-back ribs. Chili's national anthem always makes me so hungry.

Obama's contact with Chavez was not all fun in games. Cameras picked up a more tense interaction where our president appears to be pressing a point with the Venezuelan leader that the translator is scared to relay. Mr. Obama. Fortunately, Daily Show lip readers were able to decipher the conversation.

Hey, Holmes, it's great to meet you. Your last president was a real Diablo Grande. Hopefully our two countries can find some covered ground with the stuff and then the jello and the CEO and the kids are slated on the same, you know. That's it. Wyatt. Wyatt, is that you back there?

Is that you doing the chance? Yeah, I'm a lip reader. I learned it before regular reading. Well, that's great, but Obama and Chavez, they don't sound like that, so... Yeah, I know. But those are the only two voices I can do. But that is what they're saying. All right, well, thank you, Wyatt.

I appreciate it. Voice. Wyatt Senac. Perhaps the most awkward Shavez-O-Bama interaction occurred when Obama sat down. for a panel discussion only to get bum-rushed by Chavez with what I can only assume is a script his cousin wrote about a handsome yet charismatic South American leader named Mugo Mavez. Actually, the book he handed him was,

Open Vanes of Latin America, Five centuries of the pillage of a continent. It's an anti-imperialist diatribe by left-wing scholar Eduardo Galliano, and you'll never guess who plays the imperialist pillagers. My favorite part of Chavez getting his son, Facebook moment with Obama? Hillary Clinton's reaction in the background. You've got to check it out.

Look at her. She's laughing her ass off at this. She knows this ain't going to play well, and she thinks it's, I believe that's the former presidential rival version of. Honestly, though, isn't the entire point of this summit to meet other leaders? It's not going to play that badly at home. It was like laughing, hugging. Obama plays kissy face with him.

Embracing him and fist bumping and making lovey. in the hotel, God knows what went on behind closed doors. Do you think they touched wieners? Because as everyone knows, they are Hombres del Fuego. I'm going to call it. Tuesday, April 21st, 2009, Fox News officially crosses the line from reporting to fan fiction. But more importantly than the pundits,

what does one of the America's most beloved political figures and diplomatic extraordinaire think of this? The position we took in the Bush administration was to ignore it. I think that was the right thing to do. But you were always wrong. Seriously. Why do we keep asking Cheney questions about things? Hey, I want to catch the roadrunner. Wiley Coyote, what do you think I should do?

Now, the nation of Venezuela is not having a good time. The country is bankrupt. There's food shortages, and something tells me everyone is not a fan of the president. Next to the alleged assassination attempt playing out on live TV, the president of Venezuela speaking in a public square, interrupted by a series of blast. His bodyguards jumping in to protect him, holding up shields. The president says it was an attack by drones armed with bombs.

Okay, that is insane. Why are they trying to protect the president with yoga mats? Like, what is going on there? I knew that they were pretty left-leaning down there, but that's next level. Quickly, get into downward dog, sir! Now, luckily for Maduro, he survived that attack.

But I wouldn't be too secure if I were him because he's holding his military parade. But did you see how they reacted when the explosion goes off? Innocency... What the hell is that military? It's like, left, right, left, right. Oh, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right.

So it's still developing, and this is really a weird story. I don't know what to make of it, other than I like how Maduro wears a sash. It's like he won Venezuela in a beauty pageant. I love it. Venezuela. Once South America's most affluent nation, it has recently descended into chaos and violence.

Kind of like how Best Buy is usually a chilled place, but then on Black Friday, someone gets murdered over a toaster. And that's not a joke, by the way. It's a true story. I'll miss you, Uncle Billy. But I told you that was my toaster. Anyway, Venezuelans have been taking to the streets to protest food shortages and a collapsing economy

with 10 million percent inflation. The man responsible for, of this is Venezuela's authoritarian leader, Nicholas Maduro. The people tried to vote him out last year, but he rigged the election. And so now, an opposition leader has stepped up to say, Basta! A violent power struggle playing out in Venezuela, opposition leader Juan Guido swore himself in as president, declaring that President Nicholas Maduro was unconstitutionally sworn in for a second term.

On a stage in downtown Caracas, in front of a crowd of thousands, 35-year-old Juan Guido raised his right hand and administered his own. own oath of office. I swear to formally assume the powers of the national executive as the president in charge of Venezuela. This is pretty historic. A 35-year-old just swore himself in as the new president of Venezuela.

Yeah, the world's first selfie inauguration. Very millennial, very millennial. And not only do a ton of Venezuelan support, Juan Guido, he also has the support of major world leaders, including Trump, Merkel, Trudeau, and Tony the Tiger. This is a big deal. And now, moving on to another formerly prosperous country

that is now falling into unrest, the United States. If you were planning a vacation to Venezuela this week, I hope you've got trip insurance. Breaking news out of Venezuela where an attempted coup is underway there. You heard that right. Opposition leader Juan Guido calling for the military to oust the sitting president, Nicholas Maduro. In an early morning video, Guido is saying,

quote, the moment is now. calling for his supporters to take to the streets, and many answering that call. That's right. As we speak, Venezuela is in the throes of an attempted coup. After five years of repression and economic crisis, the country has just finally reached a tipping point. It's either that, or everyone was just super inspired

by watching Avengers and Game of Thrones in the same weekend, and they're like, we can do it! Although I say it's a coup, but according to John Bolton, President Trump's National Security Advice, and janitor who ate his own mop, this is not a coup. No, the U.S. government says it's not a coup because the U.S. government recognizes

Juan Guaido as the legitimate president. Yeah, so they say it's not a coup. And you've got to admit, America's pretty gangster about this, yeah? Yeah, if it likes the people overthrowing the government, it's not a coup. It's just cool. All right, moving on, from people who don't want to go back to work to one guy who really does. You may remember that Venezuela is a country in chaos right now.

The economy has crashed. People can't afford food, Two men both claimed to be the rightful leader, President Nicolas Maduro and the head of the Venezuelan Congress, Juan Guido. And over the weekend, there was an awkward moment when Guido showed up at the office and found that Maduro had changed the locks. There was chaos outside Venezuela's opposition-controlled National Assembly. Security forces blocked opposition leader Juan Guido from presiding over a special session of Congress to elect a leader.

At one point, yesterday, Guido tried to climb a fence but was prevented from entering. Wido has been recognized as Venezuela's head by more than 50 nations, including the U.S. Opposition leaders blamed President Nicholas Maduro for the move to try and oust Wido. God damn! What is going on in Venezuela? Like, South American Ninja Warrior, what is that? Politicians are trying to climb over the fence just to vote. That would never happen in America.

Can you imagine Mitch McConnell climbing a fence to try to get into Congress? Although he probably wouldn't climb. He would just try and ooze through the bars. He'd just be like, yeah, I'm mostly scared. Mew-W-W-W-A-W-H. Seriously, I'm very impressed by Guaido, because there's no vote that would be important enough for me to try and jump a fence

that had all of those sharp points on top of it. I'd be like, uh, is this a vote to replace my testicles for free? Oh, then no, I'm gonna wait outside. I bet there was one politician inside the building who was like, I wonder which way Guido's gonna vote, because right now, he seems to be on the fence, get it? Get it? Just me? Okay. Some strange non-Corona news coming out of Venezuela.

This morning, President Trump says the United States had nothing to do with an alleged coup on Venezuela. This video that you're seeing shows two American mercenaries who were arrested there on Monday. President Nicholas Maduro of Venezuela claims that the men were sent to that country to assassinate him. Both are former U.S. Special Forces soldiers with ties to a Florida-based security company named Silver Corp. Silver Corp's CEO admitted that he was leading a mission to infiltrate Venezuela and capture President Maduro. What we've learned publicly thus far about this operation

is it appears to be somewhat of a clown show and not of the caliber one would expect if it were a operation that had been arranged by our intelligence community. Okay, I know this sounds like the sequel to Tiger King, but it's actually true. Here's what happened. As far as we know, American mercenaries,

just a group of random guys who may have worked as security guards at Donald Trump rallies, put together a small team of people which they thought was going to be enough to take down the entire Venezuelan government. And one reason the operation didn't work out is that the security company. The security company tweeted about the operation

while it was underway. And I don't know what's more embarrassing. The fact that they live tweeted their coup or that the coup attempt only got like six likes. Ouch. And you know this whole story? This whole story just makes me wish that social media existed in the past

because it probably would have stopped a lot of bad things from happening. Like Abraham Lincoln would have been like, honey, this John Wilkes Booth guy keeps tweeting me the gun emoji, skull emoji, and the top hat emoji. I think we should just stay home and watch Netflix tonight.

Oh, come now, Abraham. One night at the theater's not gonna kill you. 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. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.