The Daily Show: Ears Edition - The Precap | Ronny Chieng on Trump's Venezuela Surprise

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

This week's Daily Show host Ronny Chieng is joined by writer Ashton Womack to recap what they missed over the holidays, and preview what might be to come. They dig in to the surprise operation to capture Venezuela's president Maduro, the incompetent redaction of the Epstein files, and Marjorie Taylor Greene's apology tour as she leaves congress. Looking ahead, they anticipate the anniversary of January 6th, the new American imperialism, and, of course, rap beefs with Lil Wayne. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Comedy Central. Yo, yo, what up? Oh, no, I lost the mic. Here we go. We're back. If you're hearing this voice, then you know it's your favorite writer on the show. If not, then you clearly aren't paying attention. No, it's your boy, Ashtra Womack, and you are listening right now to the pre-cap with The Daily Show.

And right now, I'm joined by one of just genuinely my favorite people. I'm not saying that just because he's in the room. I'm not saying that you genuinely, bro, you are like, I fucking love this guy. No, please. I'm going to have to gas up my homies. No, please don't gas me. I'm gassing up the homies. You're hyping it up too much now.

No, but you already know who it is, the great, the powerful. Ronnie Ting, everybody. Hey, good day, people. Thanks, Ashton. Thanks for doing this. No, of course. I got out of doing my job This is not work

This is not work Hey do you want to write jokes or just talk to Ronnie? I will go talk to Ronnie right now But yeah Welcome to the pre-cap This is the show where we talk about Things that are coming up on the week That Ronnie's hosting which is this week

And we try to talk about stuff we missed While we weren't here And if you do If you're a daily show listener You probably know that we were gone For Christmas break Winter break What a Hanukkah

Kwanza Whatever you're celebrating, you know, we were gone. And so... A lot of people don't know that, eh. Because of Kwanza? No, people don't know that we are away. Oh, yeah. They're like, hey!

Yeah, people don't know that we take breaks. My family is like, what are you doing here? I'm like, I'm on... When I tell my family, I'm on winter break, they're always like, I have to work 365 days. Yeah, because of the name of the show. The daily show really makes people think we work. People think we're here. Every single 24-7 to make fun of this.

And I'm glad for the... I've never had a job that had a winter break I've always had to work straight through so this is by far my favorite best job in comedy for sure

hands down might be the last job but uh but we were gone for the winter break and one of my favorite things happens

when we're gone for the winter break what war you know I fuck with a little bit of war yeah you know I'm a fan a little bit guns are cool No, I'm just kidding.

Damn. No, but honestly, that's a good question I want to ask you. When we're going for a break, how do you, like, do you ignore the news? Do you? Yeah. So, I have been cultivating a more offline life. I saw you post that. You were like, get off the, uh, uh, yeah, get off.

I posted on social media. So there you got get off. But I think that's the people who need to hear it, right? For sure. So it's like, get off, read more books. You know, don't be so online. offline one is the new luxury and two offline is

a form of resistance you know so either your if you're boogie go offline because that's what rich people do if you're poor do it because that's what that's what the resistance does so that actually might work yeah so either way if you're rich or poor offline is where it's at

so I so answer your question I've been I've been kind of offline so the entire Christmas news cycle caught me by a surprise that's what's always funny that one the the I also try to like avoid I'm not I'm still online I just avoid the the important sections like like like the news the front page you go to the sports section like I'm watching tracks NYC go crazy and uh I don't know if you saw the diamond the the video because you're offline you

probably didn't see it but there's a jeweler in New York City oh yeah yeah the guy spit on the guy yeah that's that's I just watched that the whole Christmas shirt but I did what I did find for that because we're worked this job and it's very politically you're you're just in it all the time yes yes getting a chance to like process something on your own time yeah is it's a luxury yes that everybody else has I forget I'm like oh I'm used to like having to like news have a take news have a take yes this is like the first this break but it felt so good just to like charge, yeah, processed Venezuela stuff at my own pace. I was like, oh, I can't, I don't, I don't need to have an opinion right now.

I genuinely was excited about that. I think most people, it's okay to not have an opinion, so it's, you know, we, our jobs have an opinion, so that's separate, we're professional. Yes, yes. I'm just saying, yeah, it's good to not have to. 100%. On that offline, no, I mean, this is what I've been using lately. I've been using an Apple watch, like a pager.

So this is my new. Does that even count? Do you're technically still? You get notifications? Yeah, so I can take calls on this, like on, like Liam Neeson and Taken. My boy, Ronnie is, when he said he was like, it's the new level of bourgeoisie. He's not, he's on his Rick Rubin, Shane Laugh. I'm trying.

I'm trying. Well, then now we got thrown into his news cycle. So, yeah. Yeah, no. Well, I do want to talk about the news cycle, but I also want to talk about your break. You're always working. Oh, I love how you. We have this crazy new cycle, but we're still trying to.

Talk about. Yo, so what did you get for Christmas? I care about you. Sure, thank you. You have a whole, this is, first off, this is the pre-cap. We talk about what happened before and after this. Sure, sure, sure. We're getting into all that.

But I do, just as a human, want to know. That's very kind. How does Ronnie, and the fan, the people want to know. People don't want to know. They want our jokes to be good and they don't care about, no, I'm just all right. They do care about, they do, I guess they care about us. I had a decent Christmas.

Let me see what happened. My wife made me put up a Christmas tree. Was this your first Christmas tree? No, I mean, I have. had one when I was a kid but I kind of fell out of that that's good you get I like that I like that you're getting into the I mean it's so funny that you

on the show I'm not going to say it's a character but you do play like the it is me though I kind of I'm so over Christmas I don't care about it but both because I'm anti-abrahamic religions and also because my boy Buddha I'm also not I'm a grown ass 40 old man I don't need presents

or tree That is very fair But everyone else around me needs it So I have I'm forced to participate Also you're the one with the money Hey man Put the trees

No no it's not about money In fact if anything I'm anti-consumerist So I'm trying to not I feel like this culture of presents When we don't need to give presents But I'm just a weird though Look I don't want to

I'm sure you had a different experience You're a Texas guy Big on Christmas right We are big on Christmas But none of us Everybody's old Once you're old It's like Christmas is for

My 16 year old cousin and none of us were like would you get me anything I want would you get me yeah I'm like anything I want I'll buy myself like and then I'm like I can't be like my mom my mom's like what do you want for Christmas I'm like weed no she's not gonna

can you get me weed oh my god that's very funny that's under the Christmas tree it's the only thing he actually wanted but like the other things also the older you get the more specific like you know what you want like down to the model to the strain of weed so it's like

Other people getting you stuff, it's like, oh, man, I got to now, I got to deal with this now. You got to find a place. I got a place for, you know. Yeah. I said, I like, sell there on eBay. You say you like anime one time and then now you're whole, you got Naruto posters. Yeah, I don't mean Naruto posters. Yeah, I'm like, bro.

But no, okay, well, I'm glad to know you had some type. Anti-consumerous, anti-religion. And just like, I guess I'm a grumpy dude, so I don't know. You're, you're, you're, what I call, that's like spiritually clean, bro. Oh, oh, maybe. Yeah, I mean, I tell my wife that, because she takes up, so. So she doesn't, yeah, she wants, anyway, we, we, for the first time in New York City, I got a tree, I had to go buy one from, you know, I shouldn't say I got it. She got it. She got the, yeah. Well, it's, it sounds cute. I'll say that. It was nice. It was pretty. It was cute. And you work a lot, bro. So hearing you do like, just something, you know, not to say, because you're always working. Part of my break was seeing you at work. Oh, no, that's, again, I mean, you're giving me too much credit because I think the dream, if you do comedy, is to, do comedy. Yeah, for sure. So I don't, it doesn't feel like work. A thousand percent. Yeah, it feels like

a dream. Yeah, doing shows is like a dream. I'll talk about what we're, yeah, we should talk about how the world is being destroyed before. But that goes into our next topic. I'm sure you've heard. You guys had a decent Christmas because right after, right after your new year, after you got out of your drunken haze of a new year's, your boy, we all just, we went back into our old empire phase. old school old school I'm talking 1950s Latin American type stuff but you know how you know how like 2025 everything moves so much faster than 1950s thousand percent

so there's a coups the coups are like I know that's so crazy yeah we have a TikTok attention span coup it's like these things used to take months well that is a big I mean that is like a big thing people are saying like there's not just the people's attention spans or shortening but our government's attention span and like things we do is shortening and things we we coup two seconds and it's the world is moving very fast

it's so fast to like it's hard it's like almost faster than you can process and be like okay I'm thinking about this coup and the next thing you know oh we're also about to invade Greenland by the way yeah well about Greenland and then let's stop from the top on this so much to unpack with this Venezuela thing so what happened

what happened the eyes as far as I know so if you're unaware We all woke up I think it was January 2nd or 3rd-ish I can't give you the exact date But we all Woke up and Trump apparently Conducted a military strike in Venezuela

Where he then You know I would say Kidnapped Sitting President No I think that's I think rendition is kidnapping Yes

That's what I would say Yes is yes The comment sections on anything Oh completely They're like This was within his powers. Really? I genuinely don't read the comment section.

I'm surprised that the comment section are with this. Oh, my God. That's the part that's scaring me the most about this is how the willingness of, I'm not going to say obviously the U.S. people, but like the online faction, they'll tell you that we all see, we've watched history, not just the Latin American regime changes, not just Iraq, stuff that we all. Malcolm X. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Things that happen domestically.

Literally. I'm thinking these are all lessons we all learned collectively but then this happens and immediately you just see people who are like who are just like no this the president has

he can do this without Congress's approval well as someone who went to law school study international humanitarian law and international human rights law I have no idea what the fuck's going on I do think that yeah the president can do it

without Congress because he did it and that's what the comments are saying like well he did it but sorry my my broader point to this was like I think also in this situation more than almost any situation the comment section might not even be real people I agree so that we don't even know what is in the comment section so don't put too much weight on that because for some reason

the you've heard of a dead internet theory right yeah so where the whole internet is actually no, there's no one actually on it. Yeah, I agree. And it gets worse because, like, I was on threads. And I saw, like, I'm seeing, as soon as I go on threads, I see all these, like, super anti-Mamondi posts. Yeah.

As if I'm, I don't even, like, subscribe to that, like, echo chamber. So the fact that it was, like, coming up, I was like, this has to be, like, AstroTurf with bots. And. Astro turfs with bots, yeah. I think that, like, with AI, people are, like, making front-facing videos. A lot of times, I think these bots are also using, like, AI, to create six-second videos.

1,000 percent. To look like a real. No, 1,000%. It's... The comment section already was not real 10 years ago. 10 years ago it was people trolling. Now maybe it's AI trolling us. So you don't know what you're seeing down in the comment section.

I think avoid it. I do think like it's funny how the soviet, the remnants of the Soviet Union and communism, I guess, discovered capitalism's weak spot is, is making, saying something that's pro-diddy or something in the comments. in the comments and that's how they managed to fragment our society, you know? Because it's so weird that that's the angle, vector of attack was the comment section. Everyone feels demoralized. But I don't know.

Let's not go to the comment section, but let's discuss this thing like. No, absolutely. Let's break it down here. So Venezuela, this guy, I didn't even, I knew it was an issue because they were bombing the boats that were coming from Venezuela.

Is that? No, they were, it started with, we were all on this media campaign watching Pete Hegset. try to, I would say, manufacture consent for this war by being like, these are, these farm, these are fishing, fishermen are actually drug dealers. And we have no evidence that they actually are drug dealers. They're just, like, this is the equivalent of weapons of mass destruction.

Sure. But that, that was the, uh, the justification for why we were going over and taking over Venezuela, because they, because they keep sending drugs to America. Because they keep sending drugs to America. Mind you, they, they lay drugs. Specifically. Not weed, it's like. No, no, it's like, I'm pretty sure it's like cocaine and opioids and like the good stuff.

Oh, right. I actually, I don't, I don't know the type of drugs. Yeah. But that's, that's the, it was very vague in, in its, uh, justification in the first place. Sure. But, uh, that, and it's all like very hip. You probably take over Sackler as well, you know that? Can you go take over?

No, that's what. I'm like, bro. Amazoonicals. He literally called the opioid epidemic. Venezuelan causing it, yeah. How is the Sackler family not in jail? And how are they not being paraded around New York City right now?

Right. And it's also... Also, this cocaine, it's also like... Yeah, I mean, these evil Venezuelans forcing all these rich New Yorkers to take cocaine at gunpoint. I think they're doing that without the Maduro. Stop forcing Americans to take cocaine at gunpoint, Venezuela. Yeah, and it's like, yeah, okay, so we kidnap Maduro.

All the Americans are going to be. be like, well, we're going to get our cocaine from somewhere. We're going to... No, no, actually, all Americans will be out. You know what? Maybe we should not do cocaine. Now that Mondaro's in jail, maybe you should. I guess I'll get clean.

This is what did it. This is what did it. Thank you. Top of the year. I appreciate. You knew what my New Year's resolution. Get sober. Mandoros in jail gets sober.

Apparently it was like a six months operation where they were like... They trained for it. They built it. They literally did like a Nathan for you. Like, for real. They built up like a mock rehearsal. A rehearsal. Yeah.

We go in. we're going to practice this over and over and then we're going to go in. Yeah, and then they took him, and apparently, do you see that thing where they said part of the reason Trump was motivated to do it was because Maduro kept dancing, kept dancing? That is hysterical. Kept dancing at the threats. The things that get that guy upset is very funny because the dances were worse than Diddy's

dancing. They were just like, he was, also, if the United States Empire is threatening to come get you. Man, I was, it's not like he was like shaking. I'm nervous dance. I'm dancing when I'm nervous when I know there's a drone watching me. But you also don't know what you're watching because, you know, we all saw the video of him dancing, right? But we don't know if he was dancing in response to Trump's threats. It's just a video of him. He could just be dancing for Christmas or something. And then they're like, look at this guy dancing. We're going to get him. And he's like, damn, it was, you know, it was Christmas. He might have did one of Trump's moves and

that was like, oh, yeah, he probably hit him with the, he hit him with the double dick. Double Donald Dix. Stole his double dick move. And he was like, no. Nah, don't steal my moves. Just getting him out of here. And then they took him, and then now he's in Brooklyn. That is the craziest.

Can you not bring him to Brooklyn? We got enough to deal with in Brooklyn. I felt bad because everybody was like, Zora, now's your chance to shine. He's like, I can't. This is a federal. Yeah, it's a federal. It's what do you all want me to do? Yeah, take on the.

So he's in Brooklyn with Diddy and Luigi. I believe so. Yeah, which is like. That prism is the hottest prison in America. Literally, all the, I wonder if everybody was like, eh, it's wild in that prison right now. Who knows Diddy, Luigi, and who else is? There's a few people.

I mean, I love New York City. I think it's the cultural capital of America, but even I'm like, do we need to put all these people in Brooklyn? In one just celebrity prison? Can we move them? I mean, did. I guess he was he was

Luigi but you know these were New York jurisdiction but Mundaro is this random what does it have to do with New York now I have literally

no idea why this man is it was random and they were just like parading him around New York City as a show of force Oh did they parade him I didn't know that Oh literally so like

Helicopters came I remember they drew him a helicopter The highways were packed Like uh but yeah It's a parade People were saying it was he was being paraded by around and it felt like that it's like why is this guy why are y'all driving him around in tanks right yeah I think he had like a

clothes change it was like maybe maybe it was just new year's traffic they couldn't you know I know they couldn't get through it no I also I I that could be the situation you maybe don't drive him through Times Square on New Year's this is a bad security idea yeah yeah go MMM store you want to go on the subway we're going to show you some Showtime performers yeah so yeah this really came out nowhere for me I'm someone who reads the news and I read the I read the newspaper every day I read Foreign Affairs magazine I didn't know this was gonna happen so I I get get confused it like do the American people no longer have a say in the thing

that's why congressional approval was important to me why it upset me because it made me go I know that they say like well the president can do what you want because we voted for him in office no no that's not legally it works yeah yeah I was like I just learn checks and balances in school checks and balances separate but equal branch of government but Congress has power to declare war but these guys are not declaring war so I guess it's I don't know what they're doing it's specifically confusing because they've labeled Maduro right a narco drug terrorist but Trump only like a little bit ago, pardoned an actual drug,

drug, narco-president terrorist. Right. So there's no ideological consistency to it. Also, it's weird Venezuela hasn't declared war. I mean, it would be balzy, but, I mean, within that rights, if you kidnap our president, probably you should declare war. I don't know. That is fair.

The other part is the vice president that was there is now president. So she's like, I mean, I think she's like, I just got a promotion. You think she's like, she's down for it? I haven't even, I don't know what she's down for. I've heard the administration, Trump administration speak. And they talk like she still has power. Yes. But they also talk like at any moment they can remove her and put in their people.

Right. So is Venezuela, do you think it's going to be the new state? Well, if Venezuela gets statehood, statehood before Puerto Rico. That would be crazy. Oh my God. That would be, Puerto Ricans, they'd be all in the streets. And we'd be like, is that a parade or y'all mad? Yeah, well, this Puerto Rican Day Parade or y'all just upset right now?

Yeah, unfortunately, because this snuck up on me, I haven't been able to read up enough background on what this all's as well. Dude, it snuck up, well, they, one, they have been, like, ceding it? Yeah, like, they've been framing it in our mind. They've been, like, constantly, like, putting us in, like, the little things in our head to be like, uh, Venezuela. Yeah, yeah, I've been hearing more about Venezuela and drugs lately, but, but it is truly unprecedented to kidnap. a president from a foreign country? I mean... Can't even fat...

When did that ever happen? It just feels like all rails are loose. It feels like all like we... I mean, we always say we live in like an unprecedented times. It's always felt like that ever since this dude came into our lives. Yeah. But each... He never ceases to amaze me.

No, no. He's always... You gotta say something about that guy. He knows how to like keep upping the ante. Yeah, he definitely finds new angles on being president, for sure. Got to keep it fresh, baby. Keeping it very fresh, yes. But, yeah, that's the Venezuelan situation.

But a lot of other things happened while we were gone. Namely, the Epstein files were released. I don't know if you had time to digest the quote-unquote redacted-ish Epstein files that got released. Oh, no. Yeah. So this was a bunch of stuff dropped. This was the, I think, didn't we cover this where they dropped stuff but then they redacted it? but it was like interns who it redacted it so you could just like copy and paste not only was it just interns they found out that because bad redaction well they canceled this adobe subscription is that true is that true it's true dude that is so funny the redactions didn't stick because they canceled Adobe because they fired I think it was like specifically like they fired the people who yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes actually do this when they had something to do with the Adobe contract and so now we're

when they released it basic people who have just basic knowledge of Adobe were like I can see this yeah you can just copy and paste it in which by the way

like proper redaction is like it's like something I said interns did this that's not even giving interns enough credit interns would have executed on this correctly

yeah they would know how to do if you're a trained professional like redacting is the number I mean for for bullshit legal cases much as goddamn national security issues you know dude these dudes

the leaky administration. If I was a spy right now, if I was a working, I'd be... You could work from home if you were a spy. Dude, I'd be nervous. I'd be, I don't want to... Oh, yeah. These guys are leaky boat, man. Bro. Didn't China like...

A leak of our... They got access to spies there who were in China. Oh my God. And they just like... Spreadsheets, some spreadsheet. These guys are... Yeah, that is... It's probably...

It's definitely a weird time. Probably the worst administration absolutely to be a spy for. But it also feels like they're just like... Like, they're just like, they're just, like, celebrating. Like, they're just winning. I don't, like, even though this is, like, the worst time for everybody. Yeah, it feels like they're winning. Like, they're just, like, champion.

Like, they're just championship bottles, like, uh, yeah. I think that champion, they're winning in the playoffs, but the locker room is a mess, I think. I think probably is what is happening. But, uh, oh, yeah, the Kennedy Center got renamed. Renamed one wheel away yeah Trump renames Kennedy Center what's it is it is it the Trump Kennedy Center? What's it called? Yeah, it's called the Trump Kennedy Center and Can you even do that? I think he He made himself the chairman of the board there. How do you add your name? Yeah to something that already has someone else's name? Yeah, Kennedy's name as well, you know

It's like putting your name on top of like someone else's homework, but you don't like erase the other person's name Well, this might be United States of Trump soon, you know? He might rename America, Trump. That's just like his thing. It's just add Trump to him. He loves putting his name on building. We could dodge a lot of stuff if we just put Trump the date show. The Trump show.

We calls us the Trump show. I mean, at some point, we are. The Trump Daily show is very funny. Yeah, he put his name on it. I think if I'm not wrong, he actually needs congressional approval as well, this. But so I think what will happen is probably when he leaves. If he ever leaves, they'll probably change it back. I think.

I'm assuming and the very claim would be like improper renaming you know he didn't go through a process I do think that's going to happen like all the

I think that's like the easiest reversal of Trump stuff just get all his names off that'll do a lot for people symbolically but it's all the other stuff

that I'm he has his name I think his name being put on everything is surface level what I get caught up in is how entrenched his family is

in just the economy and the wealth yeah yeah that's small Jared Kushner being part of massive deals with Saudi Arabia. I think more of the long-term effects of being, we're about to be stuck with this family for a minute. Yeah, they made a ton of money.

They made a truly gross amount of money. And not to mention part of the fortune, which is a substantial amount, is like in crypto. So it's untraceable. So, you know, it's intangible, untraceable, just making, you know. So these guys are bawling out. And speaking of like somebody made a polymarket bet on like Maduro being Oh yeah I saw that yeah like they made a pop that which like the I can't help but think like

Okay these guys are inside inside or inside or I obviously inside of trading giving them like insider knowledge and you don't even need stocks to inside of trade anymore you can make a poly market bet on something is so A news anti-democratic like we're about to yeah kidnap a sitting president. Yeah that's crazy I didn't even yeah Sorry, just so people who don't know. So someone made a polymarket bet that Munderow would be captured by the U.S. like a day before it happened or something and they won like 300 grand. Crazy, crazy. Hey, did you see the polymarket bet about Jesus coming back in 2026? No, what?

Yeah, it pays like 5% or something. So I feel like it just beats treasury bills as an investment. So it might be worth, you know, if you're like me who's like, yeah, this isn't, you know. We got a bet on that. Or bet on Jesus not coming in him. Or bet on him not coming back? Yeah. I was going to say bet on him coming back.

Oh, it pays like $5,000. If he comes back, it's like $5,000. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah. Now, Jesus, will Jesus count? Well, this is what I'm worried about is that they're going to say, you know, someone's going to be like, what do you mean he came back in our hearts. He's in all, you know, some stupid bullshit. I also want to talk about this.

I know we're moving around from story to story. No, please. This is hilarious. You know, part of it is what jumping around. Part of it is this is the world we live in. So I don't know what you want us to do here. We do live in somewhat of a schizophrenic. Yes, it was Epstein, and then it was Venezuela.

Venezuela. But my favorite story so far, this is like a really effective. Marjorie Taylor Green. Oh, yeah, MTG. She left the squad. She left the team. She didn't just leave. She's also, like, weirdly apologetic.

Yeah. Yeah. Like something, like she was hit on the head and the station, the clear, it came back. Right. And she was like, yes. She's been taking a... It's very rare to see a politician. Take accountability.

I don't see that on the left. I don't see that on the... She is the first... I cannot believe I'm giving this woman credit for real. No, I give her credit too, yeah. For... It's confusing, but it's also refreshing. It's refreshing.

It's actually what society needs now. Is even people who you dislike for whatever reason, kind of, you know, going like, my bad. Dude, it's... That is so healing to society. I you know on whoever says I my bad you know it's it's it's I can genuinely see the authenticity yes in her yes and like meaning it and because they because the news when she comes on the news still pokes and prods and they're like you said that the what was

it the COVID COVID was like the Holocaust and she's like well actually I said the yes having COVID cards or having that's that's it's nothing is nothing is as bad as the Holocaust I let me get that clear no good she's like genuinely taking We're making steps to make sure I take accountability for those words. Yes. I see you wanting to keep dragging me into these fire fights. Yes. But I, I'm sorry.

Yes. That is crazy. It is crazy. Also, it requires not just so much contrition and kind of will to do it. It also requires a lot of intelligence to just say like this is what, to understand what they're doing. Meaning part of accountability is being dragged through it. a little bit. You know what I mean? Like, of course. You can't come through this without people kind of coming at you. It's the definition of an apology. Yeah. You can't,

you can't be unscathed. Yeah. If you've hurt somebody. Yeah. And then you come to apologize, their emotional state, yes. You're responsible for in a sense. And so even if you can apologize and name like, ah, I fucking hate you. I done it. And that's part of it. That is absolutely part of it. That's part of it. And, and no, understanding that is actually a higher level of enlightenment. And it seems like she does understand that, you know, taking a But like the interesting thing, I just want to say on this podcast, I called this. I called this on the year-end review. I said, I take her at face value.

I think she's out. I don't think she's trying to run for office anymore. Everyone around me or these other daily show hosts were like, she's trying, this is her angle, this agenda. You know, pulling the clip of me saying freaking, I called it. Kind of sad to see MTG go. You think she's gone? Oh. I think I based on my room.

read of her, the way she's giving speeches now, my read is she's gone and gone. I can see the true belief in her of like, I'm out. Really? I think she's playing the long game. And I was going to give her a shout out for being the most compelling character just in terms of like having a real character arc. Yeah, her arc is great. Yeah, great character.

Very bingeable. MTG is out. I take her at face value. Why didn't you make a polymarket bet? You can be up so much money right now. No, to be fair, I called it after she said she's out. I just said, I was only one who took her at Faith's Valley. Everyone else thinks she's running for governor or something.

My jaw was dropped the entire time. I could not believe. To me, that's like, this is a metaphor probably only a few rap fans will get, but it's like when Little Wayne left cash money. Like cash money, like cash money, Trump is Birdman. Wait, I didn't, this is how out of it I am. I didn't know Little Wayne left cash money years ago. Little Wayne left for cash money years ago because they owed him $50 million.

$50 million? And he was beefing with Birdman. He was talking noise. There was a whole era where Birdman and Little Wayne not talking at all. Wait, are they back together? Now they've, they've read because the bigger label cut Little Wayne a check. And so that brought him back. He's still not cash money.

He's still not Birdman. Yeah, but why would you ever be down with Birdman again after that? Most likely they still have years relationships. But, you know, Little Wayne, I don't know him at all, but he sounds like someone who's like, he's not, you know, he's not someone who would be forgiving after you cross him, especially when there's no contrition. I'm going to honestly say, I do not know, because Little Wayne's a little confusing to me. He was pardoned by Trump. And as soon as he was pardoned, he went and performed the Kamala. Yes.

Oh, he did? He did? He got invited to a Kamala event. Yeah, he did. Oh, that's funny. So I'm like, I don't know. He plays both sides. Yeah, I have no idea with this guy.

But wasn't, wasn't Drake connected to Lil Wayne? Of course. A Little Wayne discovered Drake. Yes. And does he still get checks from Drake? I, that's a good question. I think. Probably not, right?

He, I think, that's a good question. I don't know if anymore, because Drake is no longer signed to Little Wayne. Drake has his own. Yes. He got his own OVO stuff going on. Do you think, do you think Birdman gets a cut of Drake? I do think Birdman probably. Oh, shit.

Birdman's getting Drake money? I do think Birdman gets, I think that's like, I think that's why everybody's mad at Birdman is because he did such shady contracts all his all of his artists have some sort of ill will like he would buy them like hey playboy look at this look at this Lamborghini I got you right right meanwhile you don't know that's from the money right he's making from you because you so that's like a birdman oh damn and I've heard yeah I've heard Drake talk about that quite often well as in a bad way yeah he's wrapped about it he's like I keep the lights on in this building like talking talking shit to Birdman oh he's like

I pay for the lights of cash money. But if I was building, I'd be like, keep rapping, man. Every time you diss me, I actually make money off this. That is hilarious. But anyway, I feel like they're going to cut all of this. But please don't cut it. No, whatever, whatever you need to do. But we're talking about what we missed over the break.

But let's talk about what's coming up now. What are we talking about this week on the show? Oh, my God. We haven't gone to this yet. I thought we're wrapping up the podcast. Oh, my God. I'm exhausted. Okay.

Let's speed run. Okay, let's speed run this. What's coming up? tomorrow's January 6th anniversary of Jan 6 is coming up oh my god yeah Jan 6 6 I was in a used bookstore yesterday in Beacon New York's New York and there was the thickest Jan 6 report like a real one no the actual report like the book is like it looks like the dictionary that's and you can buy it for like you know five dollars and read through it if you want to see all the crimes that happen that will never get you know prosecuted well got

prosecuted everyone got pardon so that's coming up I guess Jan 6 is the new July 4th yeah I guess we celebrate mega yeah so will America ever agree on what happened that day probably not that's it's I think I that's what I always get confused by is it the I think I feel like a majority of Americans do agree that that was I think most Americans agree what happened I think a global consensus it's hard to like I think the global consensus is like yo I think is that yes I think it's the definition of gas lighting when people try to tell us what happened that day because And I think that the people who say that are the minority.

And unfortunately, this is a, you know, a 15-year-old media tactic. The people and the minority saying outrageous things hijacks the news cycle. And so we think that that's the majority. But I think most people agree on what happened, Jan 6. But I also think that it doesn't mean that how much you want to prosecute that case varies. Just because you agree with what happened doesn't mean you want the same outcome. And I mean, exactly. How many 3,000 people.

However many people were at January 6th, all of them in jail. No, there's probably more nuanced. Yeah, there's probably people who agree what happened, Jan 6, and frankly, I don't care about what happened. You know what I mean? Like, I don't care what happens to the people. I know what happened, but I don't care what happens with you. And, but I mean, again, I think, like, when you go back to calling, like, Trump a dictator, when people are like, he's not a dictator, I do think that lends.

He's not, like, a dictator by, like, I don't know what the definition of a dictator is anymore. But, you know, authoritarian-esque behavior. That's very much, like, bro, you lost an election and you tried to. Really. Rob, is that not? It's disgusting. Also, the FBI thoroughly investigated every single person they prosecuted with the help of the internet, by the way. There was like a whole mass. They actually outsourced the internet identifying these people and they found them. And they prosecuted each of these cases in courts of law. You know what I mean? This wasn't some guy just going

opinion. He did. He was there. He was there. Yeah. They prosecuted them. So it was actually as someone who loves the law, I actually was like, this is actually a triumph of law and order until the fucking pardoning at the end was like the most the biggest traverages because a lot of people spent a lot of men and woman out was prosecuting you know working out the details of the case and bringing the court and so it's just really demoralizing when you know everyone there just gets pardoned and by way these aren't these are dangerous people police officers died there people died in this thing you know it's not it wasn't like it wasn't like they stormed the Starbucks it's like

yeah they stormed a literal they stormed the capital and they raised the foreign for the first time on U.S. history. The Confederate flag was raised on in a building. It's actually insane. No, when Ronnie says it, I'm like, I get mad again. Yeah, yeah. They raised a foreign. Can you imagine raising a foreign flag in the goddamn White House?

Dude, this is the most wild time. I can't believe when Obama got elected. I was like, wow, we're done. We're done. Yeah, we did it. But, and also like this, by way, Gen 6, that happened five years ago. So this isn't even, it's five years old. It's half a decade.

So what... Where is time at? We don't know. Nothing means anything. All right. All right. Let's keep going. We're not going to hit all these stuff, but...

War of Iran? I don't even want to hit... I don't even know what. Is that even a thing? Bro, I'm pretty sure you just type that. Yeah, I think the producers is typed that just to freak us out. But like, there's also this thing about like, speaking of war of Iran. So now that they've done it to Venezuela, I think there's this idea that because they've

already said that the U.S. must dominate the Western Hemisphere. Oh, yeah. That's the official U.S. State Department policies that we need to dominate the way, which is a ball of thing that's crazy to say. But that also means that what? They can just do any country in the Western Hemisphere. We're just going to take the president.

Bro, people think this is a W. I do not see this as a W. I see this as like an admission to, like, defeat. We lost on a global stage to China. I feel like this is us proved, like being seen as we can't compete on the global stage because somebody's out there bigger and badder, doing anything and so we got to we retreat to our home hemisphere

and like bully everybody here it's like when you're you're in a house your dad goes out and he's disrespected in the world so he comes home he's just met he's beating up everybody at the house is this something what is this story oh my god yeah this seems personal man

no no my dad never lived with me so I didn't know anymore but it does feel like we're losing on a global stage and we came back sure And we're now just abusing people here because we lost. Yeah. I mean, this is a much bigger topic to talk about. But there's definitely something about America was globally dominant after World War II.

And they, over the last three decades, they've, wait, since the 1980s, since they open up China. Yeah. Ever since the 90s, they've taken, America has taken a intentional step back in the world to let other countries grow. and it was seen as like let's end this hegemony let's help other developing countries develop and so it happened but then what Americans don't realize

is like the way they look at the world isn't the way America looked at the world in the 50s and 60s where they were dominant power it means you adjust how you deal with these other countries and then America

like all these mega Americans start freaking out that they were not the dominant thing anymore but it was intentional it was intentional to not be a dominant not being dominant also means that you don't have to get involved everywhere, you know, other, less immigrants come here because their

countries are doing okay. But then everyone starts freaking out because of this apparent loss of, of, of, of what do the streets call it? Oh, clout. Yeah, there's a cloud. There's apparent loss of cloud. So now they're freaking out a bit. But my point is that they shouldn't freak out because it's intentional and it was fine. I mean, it mirrors to me that's the, it's like It mirrors the story of minorities in this country. I think just America has a problem with equity. The global, to get equity, it's not equality. You're giving equity to people.

So now that they can move up, you're going to lose. That's just the process. You have everything. And now you're giving other people resources and opportunity to grow. That's going to come from you, the person who's been taking everything. And once they start seeing. our power in stock grow or lose a favor. They freak out.

Here's what's even worse. I would argue that America didn't even have to lose. It didn't even lose that much if you think about it. What they lost was like a little bit of soft power. But in terms of wealth in America, this is still the country that was the wealthiest per capita. You know what I mean? Every person here was still the wealthiest compared to all these third world countries. So they didn't even lose that much, you know.

They just lost a bit of meaning because no one here had to go to a factory to build a microwave. True. But then now they want to build microwaves again, which is, which is, if you think about it in a macro sense, it's the most idiotic thing. What do you want? You want to bring manufacturing back here and what? I don't want to go, yeah, you want to go mine or coal mine? Like, I don't, you know. Dude, they were going so crazy with that logic.

They were like, I remember seeing stuff like, maybe kids need to work. Like bringing back child labor. Yeah, yeah. I'm like, what is happening? It became so affluent that people lost the sense of purpose. here, which I understand, and then they think that sense of purpose is going back to the 50s, where we were making, you know,

stuff and, hey, making stuff can give you purpose, I guess, but like, not as an economy, yeah, yeah, it's not an answer, but, dude, not as an economic solution, but. Well, damn, dude, I thoroughly enjoy talking to you. No, thanks, man. Thoroughly enjoy, listen

to you. One of the brightest, I know people say you shouldn't listen to comedians. I'm going to go and say, Roddy's one of the comedians you should listen. No, please don't listen to Two comedians, but Ronnie's also a lawyer. Listen to him. No, don't listen to me. I have no idea what I'm talking about.

I have no idea what happened this week, by the way. I feel thoroughly enlightened, and my cup is filled. We got this last segment. We're almost out of here. I know. It's a quick one. It's called Daily Show & Tell. We talk about just something that we've watched, read.

You said you read the January 6 book yesterday. I didn't read a Gen 6 book. I looked at it. You said you're getting really into January 6th, right? Freak. I looked at it, yeah. I don't know. You want something lighthearted.

I read this Quentin Tarantino book. Again, 2026, let's go back to reading. Long phone, please. It was all feet picks. It was a picture book. This Quentin Tarantino book where he said, like, he was talking about movies from the 70s that he liked. It's called Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino.

If you love movies, very easy read. This book is such a joy to read. It's divided into chapters where he disliked. he happens to discuss movies that he feels were seminal, and he discusses them from all angles, like from a casting point of view, from a script writing, from a point of view of the career of the main actor at that point in time,

what that actor was going through, you know, for example, coming off of a box office bomb, and so he needed a hit, or this actor was coming off a huge hit, and so he wanted to do something. Like, he gives so much context in terms of show business,

and it's, and the way he, talks about movies, it's like he's truly a savant of movies. So I, you know, I highly recommend this book if you want something that's not too heavy if you're into movies and... No, I love movies. I love Quentin Tarantino.

What's it? Foxy Brown, not Foxy Brown, but Jackie Brown. Jackie Brown. Jackie Brown, one of the greatest movies I've ever seen in my life. Great cast. Love, so, such a small film. Five, like five characters. It tells a story beautifully. And I love a good, passionate person. But, guys, that is.

the pre-cap. We thank you for joining us. Catch us. Watch the podcast, watch the show, and we'll see you this week. Peace. See you this week, guys. 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.