The Daily Show: Ears Edition - This Week's Top Stories - The GOP's Supreme Court Hypocrisy & Trump's Anti-Democracy Escalation

Episode Date: September 26, 2020

Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death leads to rank hypocrisy from the GOP, and President Trump amps up his war against mail-in voting while refusing to honor an electoral defeat. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look, starting September 17th, wherever you get your podcasts. The only news America is talking about is the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, aka

the notorious RBG. And as I'm sure you know, the iconic Supreme Court justice died over the weekend at the age of 87. And a little bit later on in the show, we're going to be talking about her life and her legacy. But first, we have to start with the all-out war brewing over her replacement. Because you may remember that when Justice Anton and Scalia died nine months before the 2016 election, and President Obama tried to replace him with Merrick Garland, Mitch McConnell and the GOP blocked it.

And their reasoning was that a Supreme Court vacancy so close to an election should be held for the next president so that Supreme Court vacancy so close to an election should be held for the next president so that the people can decide. Well you might want to sit down for this one because guess what they're saying now. The President Donald Trump and his Republican allies are forging full-speed ahead to nominate a successor in some cases defying promises they made four years ago to do the exact opposite if the situation arose. Less than 24 hours after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died Friday,

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowing President Trump's nominee to replace her will get a vote in the Senate. President Trump says he will put forward his nominee this week. When you have the Senate, when you have the votes, you can sort of do what you want as long as you have it. Well, there you have it, folks. When you have the Senate, you can do whatever you want. Trump is right. It's basically the, when you're a star, they let you do it,

but of judicial appointments. It's truly amazing how Mitch McConnell's rules keep changing. First it was, oh, we can't nominate a Supreme Court justice during an election year. And then it's like, oh, asterix, that rule doesn't apply when we have the White House. Yeah, don't be shocked when Mitch McConnell comes out like, how come the Supreme Court is a lifetime appointment, but our great president is not. You guys fail me? You guys, you guys picking up when I'm putting down? Ma. And speaking of lifetime appointments, I can't believe that Donald J. Trump. Donald J. Trump people gets to name three justices to the Supreme Court. The guy can't even name three branches of government, but he gets to name three justices who served for life. This is the same guy who's at fire everyone his hired

because of how bad he is at hiring people for life! Trump can't even pick his own partner for life, but he gets to do it for America? Wow, this country's rock and roll. Now, I don't think anybody's surprised that Senate Republicans said one thing when Obama was president, and another thing when it's Trump. I mean, you can't even call them inconsistent, you know? Doing whatever it takes to get his way is the one consistent principle that Mitch McConnell lives by. You know, it's that and eating baby birds right out of the nest. But still, it has been pretty incredible watching some of these senators abandon

their past promises. And no one was abandoning harder than a senior senator from South Carolina and assistant manager at Chick-fillet, Lindsey Graham. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham's own words are coming back to haunt him. He's now vowing to support President Trump in any effort to move forward in filling Ginsburg's seat before the election. But here's what he said back in 2016 when President Obama was in office. I want you to use my words against me.

If there's a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say, Lindsay Graham said, let's let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination, and you could use my words against me and you'd be absolutely right. We're setting a precedent here today, Republicans are, that you're not going to feel the vacancy of the Supreme Court. That's going to be the new rule. And he repeated this in 2018. If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump's term,

and the primary process is started, we'll wait to the next election. You're on the record. Yeah. All right. Hold the take. Okay, look. I know he looks like a giant hypocrite and an asshole right now. But in Lindsay Graham's defense, he didn't know this would happen.

It's the same way you say, oh you know if I won the lottery I would give most of the money to an orphanage. I don't need it that much. Yeah, but then when you actually win the lottery, you're knocking down the orphanage so you can build an extra garage for your cars. Ah, unlike a child, a Bugatti can't sleep outside. Honestly, I can relate to Lindsay here. Sometimes I tell myself that I'm not going to eat another Oreo. No more Oreos. And then I totally overturn Roe v. Wade.

I have like no willpower, guys. I will say though, what really doesn't help Lindsay Graham is that he explicitly said, I want you to use my words against me. So creepy. Sounds like some kind of weird Senate version of BDSM. That's right. You take that sentence and you play it back to me. You play it hard. And you make me feel ashamed.

Yeah, you make me feel real bad with that tape. You just keep playing it to me. Now, there are a couple of Republican senators who have said that they don't support filling the seat the seat the seat the seat the seat the seat the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the theateat se se se se se se seeatheatheatheatheatheatheatheatheatheatheat the the the the the the the the the th. th. thi th. thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi th. thi th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the toe the the the thean. thean. thean. thean. thean. thean. thean. the the playing it to me. Now, there are a couple of Republican senators who have said that they don't support filling the seat before the election. But pretty much every other senator seems to be fine with blatant hypocrisy. And it's easy to see why. I mean, a solid conservative majority on the Supreme Court could kill Obamacare, could undo abortion rights, and basically strike down any liberal policies for decades to come. Even after Trump leaves, his legacy will be in the country for decades.

It's like if someone came into your house just to say, hey, but they had stepped in dog shit right before entering. Now it's deep in the carpet and legally doesn't have to leave until it wants to. So facing Trump's third Supreme Court appointment in less than four years, what's left for the Democrats to do? Well, Joe Biden is asking Republican senators to follow their conscience, which I'm pretty sure is exactly what Republicans are doing. This is like telling Hannibal Lecter to go with his gut,

you about lose your face. On a normal election night, the story is predictable. The votes are counted, cable news paints the states red or blue, a winner is declared, and a loser calls the fireworks company to cease they can get a refund. But this year, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, more people than ever will be voting by mail. And because those those those those those those those those those th those th tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho their their tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho their tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their. their. their. their. their. their their their their their their their th. th. th. th. th. tho tho. the. the. Wea. toe. Wea. Wea. toean. Wea. Wea. Wea. Wea. Wea. thooooooooes. Wea. the. the. the. thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, more people than ever will be voting by mail. And because those mail-in ballots will take days or even weeks to count, it means that it might be a while until we know who actually won the election, which according to the

FBI means we better buckle up. A new warning from the FBI. Just 41 days before election day, the Bureau says, foreign actors and cyber criminals could exploit the time required to certify and announce election results by disseminating disinformation that includes reports of voter suppression, cyber attacks, targeting election infrastructure, voter or ballot fraud and other problems intended to convince the public of the election's illegitimacy. The announcement also alerts that quote the

increased use of mail-in ballots due to COVID-19 protocols could leave officials with incomplete results on election night, adding that foreign actors and cyber criminals could exploit the time required to certify and announce the election's results. The Bureau encourages voters to be patient with slow results. It says Americans should verify information through multiple reliable sources and think twice before sharing unverified material on social media. Really, FBI? That's your advice.

Be patient and don't share unverified information on social media. Do you know us? We're not going to do any of that shit. The day after the election, the most viral post on Facebook will be that George Soros paid Jeffrey Fstein's ghost to vote for Joe Biden. But yes, the FBI says that foreign enemies will try to spread disinformation to undermine the election while the votes are being counted. Though if they really want to mess with the vote counting, I hope they don't do that thing of just shotting out random numbers. That's going to throw America off. I mean it gets me every time when I'm counting. Sixty one million for Biden. Twenty-four. Sixty-one. One for Biden. Two for Biden. two for Biden. So, yes. the the the th. th. the th. the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. tho. tho. th. th. tho. tho tho tho thoe. tho tho tho tho. tho. tho. tho. th. th. th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. th. I. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. the. the. thethree thousand and sixty four. Oh, got to start again one for Biden, two for Biden.

So yes, there is a real threat that America's foreign adversaries will latch on to the fact that many votes won't come in until after election day. And then what they'll try and do is use that to convince voters that the election results aren't valid. But while the FBI is warning America about foreign adversaries spreading disinformation after the election, there's already a pretty major domestic adversary who's been doing it for weeks. I'm very worried about mail-in voting,

because I think it's subject to tremendous fraud and being rigged. I want to see the results of the election on November 3. And by the way, if it's anything like these other events, it could go on forever. And they're allowed to count votes until seven days after the election. Are we gonna wait a week after November 3rd? If it comes down to Nevada, which it could very well, I don't think so. I don't think it's appropriate.

It's gonna be the greatest fraud in the history of elections. The only way we're going to lose this election is if the election is rigged, remember that. Yes, we don't need to wait for Russia to undermine America's election because America's president is already doing it himself. I guess he is bringing back foreign jobs to the US after all. I mean, if Trump isn't working with Russia on this, then the Russians must be really confused. Dimitri, did you tell Trump to say that? Me?

No, I thought maybe you told him. Why would he undermine his own democracy? Maybe he's just really strange guy. And as for the idea that Americans can't wait one week to find out who's going to be in charge of the country, I'm sorry guys, I don't agree with that at all. America's used to waiting a long time to get results. I mean, we've been doing it for coronavirus test for months now. You know, it's actually funny how, when it comes to election results,

Trump is like, throwns, true, thi.... But then when you ask about his tax returns it's like, we can't rush this delicate process. We gotta be accurate. But it's been four years. That's because it's hard to count to a gillian. Now here's the thing. Because this is 2020 and everything is a nightmare, it turns out that Trump doesn't even need to prove that mail-in ballots are invalid in order for him to snatch the election away. Yeah, all he needs to do is prolong the fight over it. According to a terrifying new report in the Atlantic, the Trump campaign is discussing plans to drag out the final vote count in swing states for 35 days.

And the reason they want to do that is because that's the point at which the states are constitutionally required to certify electors. And that means if there's no decision by that time, Trump can just ask the state legislators to set aside the popular vote and choose the winner for themselves. And since the legislators in most strange states are run by Republicans, guess who they're going to pick? So once again, thi thi thi thu th, th, th, th, 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, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. thi, th. th. th, thi, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thri. thri. thri. theeeean, throoooooi. theeeee. thi. th again, Donald Trump is the black light on America's democracy. Thanks to him, everyone is now seeing how America's system relies on good faith in order to succeed. It's basically the, please only take one Halloween candy of democracy.

Yeah, it works in theory, but all you need is one asshole five-year-old to come in. Now, is Trump going to get away with any of this? Well, it's never been tried before, so ultimately, that's going to be up to the Supreme Court, which is exactly what Donald wants. The president says he needs to move quickly, to name her replacement so the full court can hear any cases that come up from the November election. We need nine justices. You need that. With the unsolicited millions of ballots that they're sending,

it's a scam. It's a hoax. Everybody knows that. And the Democrats know it better than anybody else. So you're gonna need nine justices up there. It's a very serious problem. And the Democrats know what they're doing is wrong, and all they want to do is go forward with it.

So I think you're going to need the nine justices. The one thing I'll always appreciate about Donald Trump is that he doesn't try to make us work to figure out his evil plan. You know, because other world leaders are coy, you never know what they're thinking. Because Vladimir Putin is like, Crimea, I don't have any plan for Crimea, maybe Crimea has planned for itself. Meanwhile, Trump is out on the streets like, then I'm going to blow open the door and break open the safe, then I'm going to wipe my prince off, and I'm going to hide it on the floorboards in Marilago. And that's how I plan to steal all the Halloween candy. So look, I'm not going to to to to to to to the their their their their their their their their their their their their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. th. their. th. th. their. their. th. th. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. tre. tre. tre. tre. tre. tre. tre. tre. tre. tr. tr. tr. tr. tre. tre. tre. tre. And, tre. And, tre. And, tre. And, tre. And, tru. And, tru. And, tru. tru. truu. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tr sugar-coated. This is a dangerous situation that America finds itself in. But there are two flaws in Donald Trump's plan. One is that even the

justices that he put on the Supreme Court could end up ruling against him, and based on how many people Trump's hired that end up hating him, that could actually happen. The second flaw in Trump's plan is that if people come out to vote against him in high enough numbers, the results will be so clear and resounding that there will be no way he can challenge them. And so basically what I'm saying is, Donald Trump is trying to grab the election by the pussy, and America needs to pull a millennia and slap that tiny hand away. When 60 minutes premiered in September 1968,

there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. You're rolling? But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen, listen, listen to 60 to 60 to 60 to 60 to 60 to the the the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. And th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thine, thi minutes. And thine. thi- thi- thi- thi- thi- thi- thi- thi- thi- thi- thi- thi- thi. thi. thi. thi. th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, thi-s. And, thi-s. And, thin. And, thin. And, thin. And, thin. theea-s. thea'-s. theanan. thean. thi. thi. thi-s. And's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News.

Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look on Apple podcasts starting September 17. The world's oldest democracy is about to become the world's newest dictatorship. Never in the history of this country has there not been a peaceful transfer of power after a presidential election, but now President Trump is suggesting he might not accept the election results if he is not the winner. The president is taking a position on this issue that is not just unprecedented, but critics warn it is dangerous, refusing to endorse one of the most basic tenants of American democracy.

Will you commit to making sure that there is a peaceful transfer of power after the election? Well, we're gonna have to see what happens. You know that I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster. I understand that, but people are rioting. Do you commit to making sure that there's a peaceful transfer? We'll have a very peaceful. And, to. to. to, to, to get rid of the ballots and you'll have a very transfer, we'll have a very peaceful, there won't be a transfer, frankly, there'll be a continuation. Holy shit.

I never thought I would see the day where an American president would threaten not to accept an election defeat. Because let's be honest. This is something you hear about in some random country where America steps into enforced democracy. I feel like now, it's only fair that those countries should send peacekeepers to the US. Well, well, well, refusing to give up power, rampant disease and high unemployment.

Who's the shit hole now, huh? I will say, man, Donald Trump has gone on quite the journey. The man spent his entire life as one of the world's most famous landlords.. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the, it's the, it's the, it's thi thi, it's thi, it's thi, it's thi, it's th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th, it's th, it's th, it's th th th th th th th th 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. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. has gone on quite the journey. The man spent his entire life as one of the world's most famous landlords, and now he's turning into the world's most famous squatter. I bet even if Joe Biden wins, they're going to find Trump in the White House basement someday living that parasite life. But on the real, though, this is a legit problem, because a peaceful transfer of power is the cornerstone of a healthy democracy. And by Trump saying that he refuses to leave peacefully, he's basically threatening a coup.

I mean, unless maybe what he means is that he will leave, but he just thinks it's more interesting if there's a fight on the way out. Which I don't totally disagree with. Can you imagine how fun it would be if the incoming president always had to fistfight the f f f f f f f f f f f fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thi.. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. this. this. this. this. this. this. this. this. this. this. this. this. this. this. this. this. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. totally disagree with. Can you imagine how fun it would be if the incoming president always had to fistfight the outgoing president? Yeah? Biden and Trump are going to be at the White House recreating the geriatric fights from the Irishman, while Kamala Harris has Mike Pence in a headlock. Oh no, my hair grazed her bosom.

Now it's going to help. And guys, I really hope that there is a peaceful transition of power. Because I don't know about you, but I am not in good enough shape to fight a civil war right now. Yeah, I've been trapped inside my house for months. I'm not working out. It's like I'm a caterpillar that went into a cocoon and then came out as an even shittier caterpillar. Now look, if you've paid any attention to Donald over the past five years, it's no surprise that he likes the idea of being a dictator. I mean, he's written more love letters to Kim Jong-un than his own wife. The question is, will other Republicans allow him to get away with it? And today, several heavy hitters responded. Republican lawmakers defending the idea of a peaceful transfer of power, but unwilling to attack the president directly.

Senator Mitt Romney tweeting, any suggestion that a president might not respect this constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable. We just got a tweet from Marco Rubio, also who says, as we have done for over two centuries, we will have a legitimate and fair election. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeted this, and there will be an orderly transition just as their husband every four years since 1792. Oh, thank God. Whoo?

Mitch McConnell says the election results will be honored. And if there's one person whose word we can trust, it's Mitch McConnell promise is as trustworthy as a husband with glitter on his face. Because now he says the winner of the election will be inaugurated. But you know that if Biden wins, he's just going to come out on November 4th like, oh, in November 2016, the American people had their say. Oh, we can't just erase that now. Mnah. They voted once.

Why should they vote again? At th. At th. At th. At th. At th. At th. At th. At th. At th. At that, th. At that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, tho, tho, tho, tho, thoom. that, tho, tho, thoom. thoom. thoom. thoom. tho. Uh, tho. Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh. Uh, uh. Uh, uh. Uh, uh. Uh, uh. Uh, uh. Uh, uh. Uh, uh. Uh, uh. Uh, uh. Uh, th. Uh, th. Uh, th. Uh, th. Uh, that. Uh, that. Uh, thu. Uh, thu. Uh, t t t t t t t t thu. th at western they vote again. At this point, there is nothing the GOP can do to put people at ease. Because they try and do this, they try and reassure people all the time, and then what do they do? They always end up backing Trump. The GOP treats Americans like a dog being taken to the vet. You tell him that you're going to to park, and then before he knows it, he's waking up on a table and his balls are gone. Now, after 250 years, Americans have grown somewhat attached to living in a democracy. So a lot of them are understandably pretty upset about what happened.

And usually, when Americans are angry at Trump, they don't have a chance to tell him directly. But it just so happens that today, Trump went out to pay respects to the late RBG. And the people who were there, well, they let him know exactly how they felt. President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrived at the Supreme Court Thursday morning to pay their respects to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Mourners waiting in line to do the same food enched and chanted when they saw the president had arrived. Oh, that must have.

Oh, that must suck. It's like Trump's two'n' out. Oh, that must suck. It's like Trump's Twitter mentions turned up in real life. Do you know how bad you have to be? To get booed at a funeral? Basically, people are like, two things things things things things things thi thi thi thi thi- thi- thi- thi- thi- thi. thi. thi. thi. thi- th- thi- th- th- th- th- their their their th-in' th-in' th-in' their to their their their their their their their. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh you know how bad you have to be? To get booed at a funeral? Basically people are like, two things have happened here. Death and you and you're the one we're gonna boo. Although Trump is so oblivious, he probably turned to Melania as they left and was like, what did you do to those people, Melania? They didn't like you at all.

They didn't like you. They didn't like you at all. The Daily Show with Cover Noa, Ears Edition. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and the Comedy Central app. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show. 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. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives.

But that's all about to change. Like nonethe treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look, starting September 17th, wherever you get your podcasts.