The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Team Trump Torches the Environment for Big Business | Michael Scott Moore

Episode Date: July 25, 2018

A Japanese firm converts women's armpits into ad space, the Trump administration takes aim at environmental laws, and Michael Scott Moore discusses "The Desert and the Sea." Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The smartest way to hire. John Stewart here. Unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show. We're going to be talking about the election, economics, ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. July 24, 2018. From Comedy Central's World News Headquarters in New York. This is the Daily Show everybody.

Thank you so much for shooting in. I'm Trevor Noah. Our guest tonight, journalist Michael Scott Moore is here, everybody. He's here, he's here to discuss his book about how he was held hostage by Somali pirates. A really fascinating story about being held hostage by Somali pirates. So please no one and tell him that I'm African. But first, let's catch up on today's headlines. In the escalating trade war between the United States and everyone, one of the hardest hit groups has been U.S. farmers.

Secretary of Agriculture, Sunny Purdue just announcing moments ago that the Trump the the hardest hit groups has been U.S. farmers. Secretary of Agriculture, Sunny Purdue, just announcing moments ago that the Trump administration has approved $12 billion in aid, specifically going to farmers, an industry that has been hit very hard by what they call today illegal retaliatory tariffs from China. Farmers, many of whom were Trump voters, right? They've really been hurt by the President's trade wars. Okay, this is weird.

Because I'm not opposed to a president using government assistance to help people through a crisis, you know, like after a hurricane, but in this case, the president is the hurricane. He made this happen, right? Like, imagine if a hurricane went through your house, like, ah, ah, oh, he has $20 for the mess? Ah, ah, ah! That's what's basically happened here. So Donald Trump screwed a bunch of farmers, and now he has to pay them off. I guess now they know how it feels to be Stormy Daniels.

In other news, in other news, in other news, Ivanka Trump is shutting down her fashion company, yeah, to focus, to focus on being a full-time White House aide. Yeah. Oh, that took you guys on a journey. Yeah. No, but I mean, think about it. How are you supposed to run a successful business and stand in the background of pictures?

It can't be done. Over in Japan, this is an interesting story. Advertising space is getting so tight that they're cramming ads into every crevice. We go to Japan. A company there has found a new place for advertising on women's underarms. You pay to have a model walk around with your company logo under her arms, so every time she raises her hand your business gets noticed. Wow, okay. I think that's a pretty good idea but I do feel bad for guys with armpit fetishes, you know, because they're going to be like, how do I upgrade to the ad-free

version? And now, the city of New York, so what Japan is doing and in response, they've announced that they will be selling ad space on all of the subway masturbators. That's what we're going to be doing. Sir, sir, sir, slow down, I can't read the number. Slow down. All right, let's move on to our main story. The Trump administration, they're fighting so many battles that sometimes it's hard to keep track of all of their enemies.

You know, Crooked Hillary, fake news media, the deep state witch hunt, Canada. And then of course, their biggest enemy of all. The environment. The Trump administration has had a grudge against Mother Nature ever since wind. And yesterday, we learned how far they're willing to go to kick Captain Planet in his big blue marbles. Thousands of pages of emails show Interior Secretary Ryan Zicki and his age dismissing tourism benefits and archaeological discoveries in favor of shrinking national monuments for

logging, ranching and energy development. The Washington Post documents the Interior Department released this month then retracted a day later. Okay, I don't know what's worse. The fact that the Interior Department was scheming about how to handle a federal land to help oil and businesses,, the the the the the the the their their ti, ti, ti, ti, ti, ti, ti, ti, ti, ti, ti, ti, ti, ti, ti, ti, tipis, and tipis, tha, tha, and tha, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and tha, and tha, and touism, and touism, and touism, and toukikikikin, and touism, dismissing, dismissing, dismissing, dismissing, dismissing, dismissing, dismissing, dismissing, dismissing, dismissing, dismissing tipipipipe, dismissy tipe, tipe, tipe, tipe, tipe, tipe, tipe, tipe, tc-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, te, touki, thae, thae, disa, disa, disa, disa, disa, t't know what's worse. The fact that the Interior Department was scheming about how to handle a federal land to help oil and businesses, oil and timber businesses, or the fact that they thought that they could take back the emails that they had mistakenly sent out. Like when has that ever worked? You can't send an email to the, to me? work is my favorite place. to work work work. Work work. Work work. Work work. Work their their their their their their to work. Work. Work. Work. Work. Work, work. Work, work. Work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work is to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to help, to help, to to help, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to help, to help, to help, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their. their their, their. their, their, their, to to to help, to help, to help, to in the boiler room, and then send a follow-up email like, please disregard everything off the work

is my favorite place. It doesn't work. We know it now. Like, it's honestly wild to me that they would even dismiss priceless archaeological discoveries just to maybe get a little more oil. Like, imagine if Trump was president during Jurassic Park. Oh wow, what is that? That?

That's nothing. Now let's frac the shit out of this place. Now obviously the Interior Department was embarrassed because its emails showed that they know that they're doing something super shady, right? But we shouldn't be surprised. I mean, considering all of the stuff that the administration is doing to the environment out in the open. The Trump administration this week is expected. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. thi. thi. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the thi, thi, the the the thi, to, the to, the to, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their out in the open. The Trump administration this week is expected to open a new front in America's environmental battle, and California is the target. The administration will now try to shut down California's authority

to regulate vehicle exhaust greenhouse gas emissions and the sale of electric cars. Environmentalist charge, the bottom line would be devastating after years of cleaning up the air in California. I know the president hates California, but that's just mean. California has worked so hard to clean up its air. And it's true that a lot of that progress came from deporting Seth Rogan to Arizona, but... But it was also from the state's strong car emission standards. So if the administration kills them off, it could put the health of millions of people at risk. But I mean, let's be honest, who cares about people, right? I mean, they're gross. They really are. But sadly, it turns out that the administration is coming

for our furry friends, too. The Trump administration is calling for sweeping changes to the law that protects hundreds of animals and plant species from extinction. The proposal would end automatic protections and limit habitat safeguards provided by the Endangered Species Act, and decisions on shielding threatened species would be made on a case-by-case basis. What the f-h-hawks? This is insane. Like, if the Trump administration gets its way,

instead of automatically protecting endangered species, it would decide the fate of each species on a case-by-case basis. And you know that's going to be arbitrary as hell, right? It's just going to be Trump like, I've decided to let you live, Turtle. You're green and you have a shell which makes you the closest thing we have to that sexy M&M. Ooh those curves baby. And now you may be wondering why would anyone want to weaken the Endangered Species Act? Well it's the same reason the Trump administration does anything. Money. Experts say it'll lead to easier

construction of pipelines. Environmentalists say all of it is dangerous. It will probably over time and collectively degrade many of the natural areas that are part of America's heritage. This is really about rewarding the largest corporate polluters. That's right, Trump is willing to kill off whole animal species in favor of pipelines. Because, I mean, who doesn't love a nice adorable pipeline, yeah? Yeah, I don't know about you, but I spent all my time watching BuzzFeed videos

about adorable pipelines, like, like, I never when the big pipeline and the small,, the small, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. thioli, thi, thi, thi, thi, adorable pipelines. Like, I never when the big pipeline and the small pipeline becomes friends. It's like, oh, that's so cute. What are the odds? So look, the truth is, this administration loves big business. So this is going to go on for a while, unless the endangered species come together and create their own lobby and send one of their own to petition the president. And personally, if they do that, I hope they send the same guy they sent last time. We'll be right back. Finding great candidates to hire can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

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who post on Zip Recruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. Try it for free at this exclusive web address, ziprecruter.com slash zip. Again, that's zip recruiter.com slash zip. Zip recruiter, the smartest way to hire. John Stewart here. Unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, the weekly show, we're going to be talking about the election,

economics, ingredient to Ratio on sandwiches. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back to the Daily Show. My guest tonight is a journalist and author whose new book is called The Desert and the Sea, 977 days captive on the Somali pirate coast. Please welcome Michael Scott Moore. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Good to see you. This is one of those stories that halfway through the book you have to stop and keep reminding yourself that it is real. It is real. It reads like a novel. Every story has so much detail. But let's start at the beginning.

The question that my grandmother would ask if she were interviewing you, and that is, what were you doing in Somalia? Why did I go? Yeah, right. I was writing a book about pirates. I went because I had covered a trial of 10 Somali pirates in Hamburg. I was working in Germany at the time in Berlin. And it turned out half of them were from this one town in Central Somalia.

And I was already interested in the history of piracy because piracy had sort of exploded off the Somali coast. And I had a fabulous idea for a book. And so you went there. And you and you and you the and you the story the story the story the story the story the story the story the story the story the story the story the story the story the story the story the story the story the story the story the storyali coast. And I had a fabulous idea for a book. And so you went there and you tell the story in the beginning of the book about how, you know, these people surround your car, there's a group of guys, and you think to yourself, oh, they're probably just going to check my passport. You don't think that in this moment you were being kidnapped. My mind actually recoiled, the first thing I thought about was my family.

I mean, I knew that I was, from that moment on, it was gonna be miserable for my mother and for the rest of my family and friends. Right, and you were kidnapped by these pirates. And what I love about this book, like if I was recommending a trainee on was I'd say it's not about the results like spoiler alert you're here I made it out right yeah it's not about that it really is about the journey the 977 days because you you you talk about the pirates and honestly what I found commendable is that you humanize them thank you why would you do that they kidnapped you that was that that's what I wanted to do with the book I that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that th. the? the. the. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the. the. the. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. that's what I wanted to do with the book.

I, you know, I spent a lot of time with them. It was not 24 hours of hatred all the time. And it's impossible to live like that, as a matter of fact. And one thing I noticed when I got out, I saw a movie by Abderra Man Sasaako called Timbuktu that made the Islamists who were coming into Timbuktu ridiculous but human, and that was my experience of the pirates. You also talk about in the book how the Somali pirate problem started as a reaction to colonialism. You talk about how countries like China rubbed the fishermen of their livelihood.

You talk about how these countries were thrust into poverty, and it's an interesting idea, but, but it's it's not it's not it's not it's not it's not it's not it's not th it's not th it's not th it's not th it's not thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi- thi- thi- thi- thi-a thi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-aaaaa.-i-i-i-i-i-a.-i-a.-i. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thia. talk about how these countries were thrust into poverty, and it's an interesting idea, but it's not an excuse to pillage and plunder. Like, when you are sitting in captivity, are you thinking to yourself? Well, I also understand how they got here. You're not thinking it at that time. No, because the roots of Somali piracy are definitely in illegal fishing, but by the time they were capturing

big cargo ships, and especially by the time they were capturing me, it was no longer about illegal fishing. It was simply about greed. It was about getting a lot of money. And it had become a business. We've seen it now. to organize crime. their right. It's now gotten to a place where people just accepted. their to go, Somali-s, their pirate pirate pirate pirate pirate pirate pirate pirate pirate pirate pirate pirate pirate pirate pirate pirate, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it's, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was their. their. It was, it was, it was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. their, it, it, it, it's, it. the the the the the the the the the the to. the the the to. the the to, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their, it was, it was I really loved about the book, though, is you have a few moments where there's humor in what many people would think is a completely humorless situation where you're laughing with your captors. Like, at one point you talk about exercising,

and I really loved it because you decided to teach the Somali pirates yoga. Yes. Okay, it didn't prison house that looked like it was going to be My home for a while right so I asked them for a mat because I didn't think I was going to be able to jog around the room without them shooting at me So I decided to get a mat and I started to do yoga, I was I had this idea that I would do it while they were not their the thiiii. I?? the they. I? I? I their I their. I their. I their. I their. I their. I their. I their. I their I their I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was I was I was I was I was I had their. I had their. their. I was I was I had to do to do to do it. I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. the the the the the th to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. the the looking. So I started to do yoga and they started to, they thought it was funny.

And so they came in and imitated me. And slowly, a few of them weren't joking, I realized, and I started to correct their postures. So I might actually be the only Westerner who's taught yoga to Somali pirates. You see, like moments like that it really really I mean illuminate you know how how amazing your journey was in in this experience because you go through moments of joy, fragments of joy and then I mean there's a lot of pain throughout the story. One of the most powerful quotes you have in the

book and I'll paraphrase it is basically where you talk about hope and how dangerous hope can be. It's horrible. Why do you say that? Because it was it you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you know, you know, you know how you you you know how you know how you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you th. th. th. th. tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho thoo thoo thooooo thoo thooooooooooooooo thooooooo the the tho I'll paraphrase it, is basically where you talk about hope and how dangerous hope can be. Why do you say that? It's horrible. Because it was, I think the line is hope was like heroin for a hostage and it could be just as destructive. And that was because you start to feel hope. the pirates actually cultivated that. They said, Michael, you're going to go out in one month, you know, and you would believe, and you would believe, and you would believe, and you would believe, and you would believe, and you would believe, and you would believe, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their, the their, the the the, the, the, their, their, their, their, their, their, I, I, I, I was, I, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I, I was, I was, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I........a, I.a, I's, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, th.a.a. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the the the the the the the the the the the, and you would believe it at first, and then you'd be hopeful and then afterwards it would be despair.

Each time through the cycle would be worse than the time before. So you went through the cycle itself became destructive and you had to sort of detach yourself from that, from the hope as well as the despair. So if I'm understanding you correctly, what you're saying is the best way for you to cope with, the the to cope, the to cope, the the the to cope, the the to cope, the the the the the the to cope, the to cope, the to cope, the the the the the to, the to, thi, thi, thi, thi, the the the, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, the, the, the, the, the cycle, the cycle, the cycle, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, their, their, their, their, is.eea.ea.coughea.coughea.coughe.e.coughe.e.e.e.to let go of hope. That's right. That's right. At some point, I knew that there was at least a 50% chance I wasn't going to make it out alive. So I had to let go of that notion that I might die or I might live. The whole idea of a future had to sort of go away. And there are moments where you talk about your wish to be free. I mean, you know, there's a part in the book where you talk about seeing an unattended

gun. Yeah. And that's one of those moments where, when I'm reading it, I've played way too many times. So I'm like, oh yeah, you grab the gun. That's how you do it. Yeah, exactly. But when you're in that situation, you see the gun, you think about grabbing the gun, like how many times, does that also mess with you in a way?

I did that several times. There was, first of all, there were always guns lying around. But in a few, on a few occasions, there was just the gun and the pirate had left the room. And I went through all the motions in my head. And I thought very carefully about doing that. And I would have have the the the the the the the the the th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, first thi, first tho, first tho, first tho, first tho, first tho, first tho, first, first, first, first tho, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, th. And, th. And, first, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, first, th. And, first, thi. And, first, first, first, first, thi. And, first, they. And, first, the they. And, first, first of the there, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, trained to do it. Right. And even then it might have been suicidal. In any case there were always too many guards for me to have done it, you know, in any way that wasn't suicidal. So I had to think about that often and wrestle with it and eventually I wound up, you know, settling myself. You also have a story of how the pirates moved you around and and obviously this was so that that th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thin thin thin thin thin thin they thi the thi their thi. their thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. their thi. I thi. I had thi. I'd thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. I was th. I was was th. th. th. th. to be to be to be to be th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi. It, thi. It's, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thee. I was, toee. I'm, toeeeeeeeea. I was, toeeee. I was, thea. We's, the so that they wouldn't get caught and you talk about how at one point they took you onto a Japanese tuna fishing boat. It's a tuna vessel.

Tunis company. Oh, it's Taiwanese, right. So you're on this Taiwanese vessel. It was used for tuna fishing. And what I like is in the book you say you had the best food during your time because you're eating sashimi every day. No, no, not every day. But it was a tuna vessel with something like a hundred tons of tuna on board. Right. Frozen. And when they first took me on board, I was terrified. I thought, you know, my life is over and you know, this is it. And first of all I met 28 new host thua th new thua th new th new th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thus thus. thus. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. But, th. But, but th. But, but th. But, but th. But, but th. But, but th. But, but th. But, but th. But, but th. But, but th. But, but th. But, but th. But, but th. But, but th. But, th. But, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the. the. th. the. the. th. the. the. th. th. the. But, th. But the food was good, that's true.

And the food was good because the kitchen was still operating. It was an operating fishing vessel with Chinese food that came out of the kitchen. Much better than the slop we were fed on land. And every two weeks or so, they would haul out of frozen tuna, carve it up with a power saw, cook the tuna, and if the, and whatever they didn't cook, they left a little red brick aside, right, actually sliced it up for sashimi. Do you, do you, in those moments, I know it's a crazy thing, but that's what I picked up in your book is, in those moments did you like a, like a weird little bubble of joy in that moment when it's just you and your sushi on a pirate ship? Happily it was me and 30 other guys, 30 hostages enjoying sashimi.

And that was something they did when they were at sea. Right. Every now and then they treated themselves. They couldn't do that after the ship gave out. And those guys spent almost five years in captivity. I was only there for two years and eight months. Wow, you say only there for two years and eight months. It really is a fascinating story. And one part in the book that really blew my mind is when you get home.

And like I say, if you're going to read the book, there's way too much for me to get through it. It's a beautiful story. But you get back to Germany and you open your Facebook and you open the pirates had sent you a message. Yes, it took, actually it took a couple of weeks, and we're not Facebook friends or anything like that, but I have been messaged through that app by a former guard, yeah. Mm-hmm. Muhammad. Your first instinct is to block. Yeah. But then you went, no, I'm going to catch up with Mohammed. Your first instinct is to block. Yeah. But then you went, no, I'm going to catch up with Mohammed.

I caught up with Mohammed. We've had an ongoing sort of slow-burning conversation, yeah. And if he sent you a friend request, would you accept? No. I don't blame you. I don't blame you. It's such a beautiful book. It's a fascinating story.

I'm so glad you are out th so much for being on the show. Glad you liked it. Thank you. Thank you, Lord. The desert and the sea is available now. It's a beautiful story. Michael Scott Moore, everybody. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. The Daily Show with Cover Noa, Ears Edition. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 1110 Central on Comedy Central and the Comedy Central app. Watch full episodes and videos at

the Daily Show.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and more. This has been a Comedy Central podcast. John Stewart here. Unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show. We're going to be talking about the election, economics, ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast.