The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Trump and Fox News Push the "Obamagate" Conspiracy Theory | Scott Blubaugh & Yara Shahidi

Episode Date: May 15, 2020

Desi Lydic examines President Trump's "Obamagate" accusations, Scott Blubaugh discusses COVID-19's effects on the food supply, and Yara Shahidi talks "Graduate Together." 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,

listened to 60 Minutes, a second look on Apple podcasts starting September 17. Hey, what's going on, everybody? Welcome to another episode of the daily social distancing show. I'm Trevor Noah, and it is now day 59 of us staying inside to try and stop the spread of coronavirus and hopefully grow a beard. And here's your quarantine tip of the day. If coronavirus is making you nervous, all you have to do is picture coronavirus naked. Yeah, it helps. In fact I'm doing it right now.

And oh, oh my god coronavirus has a six-pack. Oh no, guys. Oh man, the virus is much stronger than we thought we're screwed. So let's get into it. Welcome to the Daily Social Distancing Show. From Trevor's couch in New York City to your couch somewhere in the world. This is the Daily Social Distancing Show with Trevor Noah. Years Edition. You know, during dark times like these, I'm often reminded of the words of the great 20th

century philosopher Robert McFerrin, when he said, Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. Don't worry, be happy now. And that's exactly what we're going to try do in our ongoing segment, a ray of sunshine. Our first boot of good news comes out of Canada, the only country where syrup has legal rights, and where one family found love in a hopeless place. Carolyn Ellis wasn't going to let coronavirus restrictions stop her from giving her mom a big hug on Mother's Day. She and her husband created what they called the hug glove in their backyard in Ontario, Canada. It is a plastic sheet

with sleeves in it to allow hugs while preventing direct contact. Ellis says she and her mother were in tears, but it's hard to say if they were tears of joy, tears of laughter, or maybe a little bit of both. Okay, I'm sorry, like, I don't want to cry, but this is the sweetest story of a grandma in a full-body condom that I've ever heard. Seriously, though, this is a heartwarming invention. And like, it's wonderful for that family, and it's also wonderful for shower curtains. Because think about it, normally, shower curtains see us at our worst. We're naked, we're cleaning our butts,

we're singing off key. But now, this one shower curtain got outside to see that humans, we're not all bad. So I think this is a really sweet idea. Although, you know, it won't take long for people to to start using it for to be like, what did you say to me? Oh, hell no, oh, hell no! Get into the plastic, man, let's handle this shit like men. Get into the plastic!

Moving on. There's no denying that one thing we miss the most right now is travel. You know, seeing new places, visiting your family, fleeing. to a country without extradition, well now there's a new company that gives you a little taste of travel right at home. Just because you're stuck at home doesn't mean you can't get some airline food. The aptly named company, Imperfect Foods is selling the snacks previously given to airline customers and passengers.

The company is dedicated to eliminating food waste. So for just $3 a package, you can enjoy the jet b-blue crackers and cheese. th've been craving pulverized crackers and cheese that tastes like a pencil eraser, well, this is your lucky day. And you know, I hope they don't stop at airline food. Because in my dream world for an extra fee, they'll also send someone with a strong body odor to sit on my couch and fight me for my own arm rest. I feel like I'm on vacation already. For real though, guys, who in their right mind? Who in their right mind would think airplane food is the thing that people miss most about air travel? Who wants that? This would be like if Coachella tried to recreate the festival experience by sending you dust and a porta-pottie? It's just like I'm just like I'm the tasks. to. I'm just. I'm just to. I'm just the to. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. the the the the the the the the the their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. Who's. Who's. Who's. Who's. Who's. Who's. Who's. Who's. Who's. Who's. Who's. Who's. Who's. Who. Who. Who. Who. Who. Who. Who. Who. Who. Who. Who. Who. So. So. So. So. So. So. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their. their. th. their. th. th. their. their. their. their their their their their their their their their their their their their their'm just going to grab all my friends and run wild through the streets.

Well, it turns out you're not the only one. Invasion of the goats. That was the scene in one neighborhood after a herd of goats got loose. The goats managed to knock over an electric fence and took a leisurely stroll through the streets. Neighbors had to open up a side gate and lead the goats back where they were supposed to be. Nobody was hurt, but there was some minor damage. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Go, go, go. Holy shit. Did you see that?

Not one of those goats is wearing a mask. Oh, Fauci's not going to be happy. I will say, though, those goats are tempting fate running through the streets like that when there's a meat shortage in the country. Yeah, because they can run wild in the suburbs. But if they try that shit in the Bronx, my Jamaican peats, my Jamaican peats. their Jamaicansselves this. Who are that goat mates? But look man, it's clear to see what's happening here.

Humans have stayed inside for too long, and now animals have forgotten who's boss. And you realize what that means? When lockdown is over, we're going to have to fight them to take back our streets. Yeah, as soon as quarantine ends, the first goat Ithe plastic! We handling this like, man! All right, that's out Ray of Sunshine. Let's catch up on today's headlines. Okay, first up in headlines. Do you remember that story about the senator in North Carolina,

who dumped his stocks after getting a government briefing that coronavirus was gonna wreck America? Well, now, the FBI serving Senator Richard Burr with a search warrant at his Washington, D.C. area home and seizing his cell phone. Federal agents are investigating potential insider trading after the Republican senator sold stocks that were later hit hard because of the coronavirus committee. As the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee,

Burr received daily coronavirus briefings before the markets plummeted. He sold a significant percentage of his stock portfolio during that time, up to $1.6 million. Burr's brother-in-law also sold stocks on the same day. Burr denied discussing the sale with him. That's right. Like a suspicious spouse, the FBI has decided they want to look through this senator's phone. And I'm not going to lie. That terrifies me. Like, it would be so scary for the FBI to take your phone. Because even if you didn't do anything illegal, just then going to thrown to be so embarrassing. Oh my God, look at this agent. this guy googled. this guy's too dumb to have committed the crime. the crime. the crime. the crime. the crime. their. their. to be. their. to be. thi. thi. to be. to be. thi. thi. to be. thi. thi. to be. to be so. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. 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. S. th. th. th. th. th. the. the. the. to. the. to. to. to. to. to. to to to to to toe. to to toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. te. the. te. te god, this guy's too dumb to have committed the crime.

All right. And to me, maybe the worst part about this scandal is that Senator Burr was telling everyone, was telling everyone in America that things were going to be okay while he and his family were quietly saving their own asses. This would be like if Noah built the arc, but didn't tell tel tel tel tel, tel, the thel, thel, thel, thel, thel, thu, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, is, is, the, is, is throw, is throw, is the, the, the, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, the, is, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, th. And, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thr, thr, thr-s, thr-s. too, too, maybe, too, too, too, too, too, and, maybe, and, it. Oh, this thing? No, it's just a fun side project I'm creating. I'll probably sell it on Etsy or something. Wait, is something bad going to happen? No, no, of course not. Everything is fine. But tell me, could you help me find two albino tigers? In other news, all over the world, people are starting to push back back against, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the to to the to the to to the to the the to the the the the the the the the the tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, the the tho, thi, thi, thi, their just just just, their, their, their just just just just just, their just, their just just, their just just, their just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just the the the the the the the the the their to push back, to push back, to push back, toigers. In other news, all over the world,

people are starting to push back against government lockdown orders. Because for many people, not working and not having kids in school, far outweighs the risk of coronavirus. Well, yesterday in Wisconsin, the state's Supreme Court gave the anti-lockdown movement a major win. And we begin with a breaking news overnight. A major decision on stay-at-home orders.

This could reverberate nationwide. Now, the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturning the state's mandate to stay home as unenforceable under state law. This is a victory for people across the country opposing directives aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus. It didn't take long for bars in Wisconsin to reopen after the ruling, no masks in sight. Yes, Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the governor's lockdown. And the very first thing people did was celebrate by packing into tiny bars with no masks on it. And they weren't the only one celebrating. In fact, I think we've got footage from coronavirus headquarters

when these people all went out to the bar. Now look, I do sympathize with people in Wisconsin. I mean, even in normal times, they only get to be outside like two months a year. I mean, their weather is a natural lockdown. But here's the thing that gets me. I understand people who feel like getting kids in school, getting back to work and reopening the the 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 thoes. their their th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. theoes. th. theoes. thi. thi. thi. thi. the. th. the. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. the their. their. their. their. their. the. the. the. their, their, their.ea. their, their.ea.ea. their.ea.ea.ea. thea. thea. thea. the thing that gets me. I understand people who feel like getting kids in school, getting back to work, and reopening doctor's offices is worth the risk of coronavirus. Right? I get it. I understand where you are coming from.

But if the first thing you do when you're not locked down is pack yourself into bars, where you spring into each other's faces, something tells me you give zero f-hits. I mean, at least be honest and just say, hey, this is less about balancing the risks and benefits and more about being able to do whatever you want. Because right now, what these people in Wisconsin have done is basically like someone saying that they're dying of thirst, and then you give them water, and they throw a wet t-s te te wshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshed and their and their and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their their their their, and their, and their, and their and their and their, and their and their and their, and their and their, and their, and their their, and their, and their, and their, and th, and th, and th...... the, and the, and the, the, the, the, the, the, theateateateateate, theateateate, theateate, theateate, thr-a, throwne, and thrown, and thinking about all the ways that life might be different over the next few years.

Will sports return but to empty stadiums? Will summer camps take place online? Will hugging be replaced by gently poking one another with a long pole? Well here in New York, there's an idea for how we can ride the subway, without crowds. People taking the subway or a bus to work may soon have to make reservations. Subway systems in New York City are considering bus and subway ride reservations as a way to enforce social distancing.

The MTA chairman and CEO suggested that riders in the future could be asked to reserve a space ahead of time in order to reduce density in otherwise very crowded trains. Okay, wait, wait, hold out, hold up. Making reservations for the New York subway? Who thought of this? Two weeks ago, they started cleaning subway cars for the first time ever. And now what? They think they're a Michelin Star restaurant? You're not tricking anyone New York subway. You're not a fancy bistro? You're a moving rat fight club that people 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. tho, holda, holda, holda, holda, holda, holda, holda, holda, holda, holda, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold. Ha, hold. Ha, hold. Ha, hold. Ha, hold. Ha, hold. Ha, hold. th. th. Ha, hold. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thii. thi. thi. thi. the thi. the the thi. the the thia. thia. thia. thia. thiologe. thia. thia. thia. tha. thicking anyone New York subway. You're not a fancy bistro. You're a moving rat fight club that people take to work.

Also, the subway is never on time. So I mean, you can make a reservation for 7, but best believe the train is coming at 9.30, and then good like explaining to the 930 people that this isn't their train, that the 930 train is actually coming at 11th. But I'm looking forward to calling them to make my reservation. I mean, that's going to be a fun conversation. Hi, M.T.A. I'd like to make a reservation for the subway, please. 7 p.m. Yeah, I was hoping to be in the non-mastabation section. Mm-hmm.

Oh. is the masturbation section? I see. Okay, well, well in that case, can I sit next to whoever finishes fastest? Thank you. Thank you so much. Bye. All right, that's it for the headlines. After the break, we'll fill you in on the explosive, damning scandal that President Trump completely might have made up, but not really, because it's true. or is it. I don't know, it isn't isn't. It isn't. It isn't. th isn't. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. to. to. to. to. to. to. 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. to. to. to. to. 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. th. th. to. th. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. don't know. It isn't. We'll be right back. 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, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, 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. Welcome back to the Daily Social Distancing Show. You know, for months now, everyone has been asking, when will things just get back to normal? When can we stop worrying about coronavirus and return to our regular lives? You know, like staying home, watching Netflix for 12 hours because we want to, not because we have to. Well, President Trump hasn't been great at doing the things that could help make that happen.

You know, like expanding testing, containing infections, or reading beyond a fifth grade level. 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. th. th. 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. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. to. the toa. the thi. the thi. thi. thi. thi. thi.that could help make that happen. You know like expanding testing containing infections or reading beyond a fifth grade level But there is one part of getting back to normal that Trump is definitely an expert in And that's conspiracy theories do you guys remember when the news cycle was always about some far-out conspiracy theory that Trump had dreamed up about his enemies crooked Hillary you miss that right? It was exciting. It was fun and other than the democracy?????? the democracy the democracy?? the democracy? th th th th th democracy th democracy? th democracy th democracy? th democracy th democracy th democracy? th democracy th democracy th democracy? th democracy the democracy? the democracy? the democracy the democracy the democracy 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 th. the th. th. th. th. thi thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the the theeeat theat theat theat theat theat theat theat theat theat theat theat the. thi. th enemies. Crooked Hillary. You missed that, right? It was exciting, it was fun. And other than democracy itself, no one got hurt. Well, good news. Those happy days are here again with a brand new conspiracy

that Trump and Fox News are calling Obama Gates. And again, buckle up, wow, huge, massive developments in the biggest abuse of power, corruption scandal in American history. My God, this is extraordinary. th. And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and th. And, and th. And, and thi. And, and thi. And, and thi, and thi, and, and, and other, and other, and other, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thu, and thu, and thu, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and th, and th, and th, and th, and th, and th, the. And, the. And, the, the, the, the, the, the, theau., theau., theau., theau., theau., theau., the, the, thi. And, the, th developments in the biggest abuse of power, corruption scandal in American history. My God, this is extraordinary. We will continue to peel back the onion on this incredible story. Yes, the biggest political scandal of our time. It looks like the Obama Gate scandal is about to get a lot bigger. The release this week of long hidden transcripts fully exposed the left's attempt at a coup de tah, albeit bloodless, but a coup nonetheless.

What did Barack Hussein Obama know and when did he know it? Oh snap! Barack Hussein Obama? That's how you know you in trouble when Fox is calling you by your full government name. Barack Hussein, Gihad, Nairobi, Kenya, Obama, get your butt down here right now. Now as you can tell, Fox News hasn't been this excited since the last time Colin Kappenik bent down to tie his shoes. But here's the basic idea of what this is about. They're claiming that when Obama was president, he illegally used the power of the Justice Department to to to to to to to to to spy to to spy to spy to spy to spy to to to to to to to to spy to to to to to to illegally used the power of the Justice Department to spy on his political enemy, Donald Trump.

And if you're thinking, wait, didn't we already do this like a year ago and they called it Spygate? Yeah, yeah, we did. But if we can have five Spider-Man's and 30 Batman's, then there's no reason that Trump can't bring back his favorite conspiracies too, okay? Stop judging. It's called a reboot. But basically, after the 2016 election, the intelligence community discovered that Michael Flynn, former Trump national security advisor and guy most likely to punch up a little league umpire, was having secret conversations with foreign powers. And now you might be wondering why those shady conversations were happening in the first place, but that's not important, keep up. The important part is that they investigated it.

And that's what has everyone in Trump world so excited right now, because there's new documents that shed light on what happened during that investigation. Newly to classify documents identifying more than a dozen Obama administration officials involved in the unmasking of Michael Flynn. Unmasking is when a senior government official requests to know the identity of a U.S. citizen in an intelligence report. It's something that happens thousands of times a year.

These documents don't show any political motivations. It doesn't show us that anybody who shouldn't have had access to this information was getting access to it. Oh, did you catch that? Basically what the Obama administration did was a standard government procedure that happens thousands of times a year. This is the equivalent of freaking out whenever a TV show goes to commercial.

No! Where did you go? What did you do to him? Progressive Insurance Lady? What did you do? But that isn't stopping Donald Trump from proposing his favorite solution to any problem. Lock them up. We have breaking news today. The names of the people who unmasked General Flynn have been publicized. Joe Biden.

John Brennan. Jim Comey, your reaction. This was all Obama. This was all Biden. This was all Biden. These people were corrupt. It was the greatest political crime in the history of our country. If I were a Democrat instead of a Republican, I think everybody would have been in jail a long time ago.

And I'm talking with 50-year sentences. It is a disgrace what's happened. This is the greatest political scam, hoax in the history of our country. And people should be going to jail for this stuff. And hopefully a lot of people are going to have to pay. Yes, Obama and Biden have to pay. Or at the very least, they should pull a Trump and pretend they're going to pay and the never come up with their their their their to to to to to their to to their to to to their to their their to to their their the pay, or at the very least, they should pull a Trump and pretend they're going to pay and then never come up with the money. And you know, you've got to admit, Trump loves sending people to jail.

I bet that jail in Monopoly was Donald Trump's idea. Mr. Trump, you're a property guy, so we were hoping you could give us some insight into this new board game that we're creating for kids. Jail, you gotta add a jail. Uh, no, it's, it's a property game. We just want them to learn about buying property and selling property. Trust me, jail. Where else will the winner send all the losers? Now, to be fair, Trump's people are saying that even if masking is usually not a big deal, it might be a big deal this time if the Obama administration leaked classified information to the press. They also say that Flynn didn't do anything wrong, but James Comey and the FBI wanted to

use him to get to Trump. And you know what? The full conspiracy theory is actually pretty complicated. I mean, it's too much for my little brain. But luckily, our very own Desiletic volunteered to watch Fox News nonstop so that she could help break this Obamagate scandal down. Obamagate, it's the big new scandal on the right. But what actually is the scandal? Well, I've been binge watching Fox News for 48 hours straight, and I'm ready to Fox Blaine Obamgate. Okay, it starts with President Barack Hussein Baskin-Robbins Obama.

He assembles the ultra-liberal vegan deepstate. Comey, Clapper, AOC, Rodman, Tiffin. You better believe the geek squad is involved. Anyway, they all start spying on Donald Trump's cell phone, who's a cell phone carrier? T-Mobile. What does the T stand for? Tomburg. As in Greta. Take your little sailboat back to Greenland, Greta.

You're not doing voter fraud in this country ever again. Here's a question. Why are we even targeting Flynn? Because he did a little work in Turkey? Guess what? Millions of Americans every year do a little work in Turkey. It's called Thanksgiving. But there are still some mysteries that we deserve answers to. This was Barack Obama's White House. What was Joe Biden doing there?

How is it possible that the former president and the former vice president were working together? That's illegal. Wiretaps, FISA courts, MLB, Home Run Derby. You want a real quid pro quo? Check out Obama's 2014 Christmas card. Art Basel. It's t's thine. thine. thine. thine. thine. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi-I-I-I-I-I. thi-I. tho-in. tho-in. tho-in. tho-in. tho-in. tho-in. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. It's. th. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's th. It's thi-I. thi-I. It's thi-I. to-s. to-s. to-s. to-s. to-a-s. to-a-s. tho-s. tho-S. tho-I-S. tho-S. tho- It's past time for Donald Trump to drain the swamp folks and everyone is in on it. The FBI, the CIA, the XFL, the PT cruiser, the Will I theem, put it all together and what you get? I'd spell it out for you but vouchers probably listening. Free range birth control, spooky vampire

masks. That's not suspicious to you. Megaman X. What about Mugam-X? the storm. the storm. the storm. the storm. the storm. the storm. the storm. the storm. th. th. th is th. th. th. thii, thi, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, tooom, tooom, tooom-a, 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 to, 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 their, their, their, their, their-I. M. I is thae, thae, thae, tha-S. tha-S. tha-I. tha-I. tha-I. Why is it cold earth if it's mostly water? Hope you can read Arabic, pal. If you still don't get it, listen to the president himself. What crime exactly are you accusing President Obama of committing and do you believe the Justice Department should prosecute him? Uh, Obamagate. Busted! It's obvious. You already know Obama Gate is Obamagate. So there you have it. That's Obamagate explained. Bye. 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. th. th. th. the the th. the the the the thi. the the the the the the the the the the the th the th. It's th. It's the the the th. th. the the the the the th. the the th. th. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. the th. the th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thiioooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. the. Obama Gate is Obamagate. So there you have it. That's Obamagate explained. Bye.

Air Force One is a hologram. Thank you so much for that, Desi. Now I'm even more confused. When we come back, I'll be talking to the President of the Oklahoma Farmers Union about what's happening to America's food. Stay tuned. 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 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 on Apple podcasts starting September 17. Welcome back to the Daily Social Distancing Show. Earlier today, I spoke with the president of the Oklahoma Farmers Union, Scott Bluebough, and we talked about the farming industry and how coronavirus is affecting America's entire food supply.

Scott Bluebaw, welcome to the Daily Social Distancing Show. Hey, glad to be here. It's my pleasure. I'm so fascinated about this topic and I'm so glad to have you on the show because as a farmer and who's someone as someone who's working with farmers you can answer questions that a lot of Americans have about food but don't even realize. Let's start with the most basic one. Right now we're hearing about food shortages across the country you know especially meat shortages but at the same time we're hearing that farmers have cows, farmers have pigs, farmers have the animals. What exactly is going on?

Well, I'll tell you, it's kind of a complex story. So in the early days of the coronavirus, we saw a distribution problem, and that was purely the distribution centers such as Walmart and the big retail chains. Just couldn't get enough of the product to the stores in time. They couldn't get it on the shelves in time. The second phase of that we saw our schools, you know, being shut down, and all the institutional buyers of our food products, they're all shut down.

So the supply chain was really disrupted in that aspect, and that the processors really haven't adapted to the new way of doing business, where most of our production, you know, we're buying our groceries in the grocery store and eating out or eating in school or eating at work or whatever. So now the virus itself has got into these processing facilities. The workers are getting sick. And so in the, especially in the meat processing centers that we have around the country. And I'm talking about the very large corporate centers,

those workers work, I've been in those facilities, and they work elbow to elbow, literally all day long, thousands of workers in these facilities. And so when the virus gets in there, it spreads like crazy. And so they've had to idle a lot of those plants have been shut down, or some are working at 50% capacity. So you're having a lot of different problems there. We have plenty of cattle, we have plenty of pigs, plenty of chicken, plenty of wheat, soybeans and corn that we make. All these commodities are used to make the food that we buy at the grocery store.

Now we have plenty of those out here on the farm. That's not the problem. The problem is getting them processed into food that you can buy in the grocery store. Yeah, that's really interesting. And I'd like us to try and break this down because I was truly surprised by how complex you know the food distribution network has become because you know gone on the days when it was just the farmer makes the food the people get the food from the farmer. I mean you can go to a farmer's market but for the most part that has become much more

complicated and so the first part as you said was that you know we forget that a lot of the food that is made doesn't go to a grocery to a gro. to a grocery to a grocery the the the the the the to a the the the the the the the the the the the the the the that a lot of the food that is made doesn't go to a grocery store. Schools buy it, hotels buy it, businesses buy it, and it's not packaged the same. The second thing, which is really interesting for me is how centralized a lot of food processing seems to be in America, because you know you had a few meat processing plants shut down, and then all of a sudden it seemed like there was a meat shortage all over the country. What does that say about America's distribution in terms of the way like food is processed or food is doled out across the country? Is that a sustainable system?

No, it's not. And so for the last 40 years, we have seen a consolidation in the food processing industry. And mergers, acquisitions have just gone on like crazy, really for 40 years. And we're at the point now where there's only four major packers in the United States. And three of those are foreign owned, by the way. And so there's actually only one US company still left. Anyway, because of this consolidation in the marketplace, they've developed a system that what I'd call just-in-time delivery system,

similar to manufacturers used to just-in-time get their ingredients that they need, or the different components they need in manufacturing, the food system is basically set up the same way now. So everything is just in time. So when one, any one segment of the food system is broke down, and in this case it's the workers in these processing plants that are getting sick, then the whole system is just fails. Many of us have expressed our sick, then the whole system just fails. Many of us have expressed our concerns about this for a long time, and until the coronavirus hit, it's now showing the world how fragile this system is, and that it's really not sustainable.

Right. I think it's also been really disheartening to see how hard this has hit the farming community, you know, because you read these stories and you see these stories of farmers who say, hey, I'm now in a situation where my farm is still producing as it should be, but I have no way to put this food, I have no way to send this food, and then we have millions and millions of Americans saying we're desperate for food but we can't get the food and you realize why the system is almost broken because there's there's very few places that connect the people to their food. For farmers what is going on with the farmers that you speak to mentally how are they doing? I mean May happens to

the mental health awareness month and I know that there's been a rise in farmers committing suicide and really struggling with what's happening almost coronavirus being the last straw. What have you experienced? We're experiencing that as well here so we actually just a few weeks ago set up a hotline number, suicide hotline number here in Oklahoma for our farmers and ranchers and we have three trained farmers and ranchers that will go out and visit with them and get them to the help they need and all. So we are seeing calls come in now that we haven't seen in a long long time. Probably since the 1980s, this is now becoming a much bigger problem for us. It feels like America's entire food supply is being interrupted and I think a lot of people may not know or may not understand how farmers,

essentially, this business has become more about commodities than about food. You know, the prices are dictated by global forces. It's now become a game between different nations and such. But at the end of the day, you know, there's still a core concept, and that is humans need food to survive. and farmers are the people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people, it the people, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, the their, their, the the the their, th, or, or th, or th, or th, or tho, or tho, or tho, or tho, or tho, or thi, or thi, or thi, or thi, or th, or th, or th, or th, or th, or th, or th, or th, or th, th, end of the day, you know, there's still a core concept, and that is humans need food to survive, and farmers are the people who are growing that food for the humans to eat in order to survive. We hope that the world will evolve

and we hope that there'll be lessons that we've learned from coronavirus, that we tak forward and hopefully improve the way we exist. If you were looking at the world through the lens of the farmers and thinking of people who need food that is as healthy as possible, what would you suggest we change in the world going forward? We need to really start enforcing anti-trust laws here in the United States. Back around the turn of the century, President The President Theodore Roosevelt did his famous trust busting. The first corporations did that he busted up was that packing industry over 100 years ago. And now we've evolved really back to that same position where

they have total market power, total control over the food, so food supply. And we really need to go back, bust up these large meat processors into smaller units and we'll have more competition than in the marketplace for the animals that we raise on our farm. The consumer will have more choices, but if we had more regional and small processors back again like we once had here, we wouldn't be near as vulnerable to these type of black swan events, you might say. So that's the avenue we need to go down. I know the president Trump has asked the Justice Department to investigate this antitrust issues that are going on in the meat packing industry, but I do want your viewers to know something so I'm a cattle rancher.

And I raise wheat and soybeans as well on my place. But since the virus, so we weren't getting a very good price for our products before the virus, but since the virus are the prices that went down dramatically, we've seen our live cattle prices decline about 38% over this period in the with the virus. But at the very same time we've seen retail beef prices that the consumer pays at the store just absolutely go through the roof. Right. That's the very same time and it's about time the government

steps in and starts enforcing the antitrust laws of this country and put some regulations back in place and limit this really bad behavior. Well I will say, I mean as somebody who's been reading up on it and always trying to think of how we get back to a world where people are eating healthier food so that we can just be healthier human beings, I hope that some of your measures are looked at by people in power. Thank you so much for taking the time, Scott, and good luck as you write out this crisis. Thank you very much Scott. Have a good one. You bet. Thank you so much again for that Scott. When we come back, Yara Shahidi joins us to talk about celebrating the class of 2020

with President Barack Obama. Stick around. 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 on Apple podcasts starting September 17. Welcome back to the Daily Social Distancing Show. Earlier today, I got the chance to talk to producer and Grownish star, Yarra Shahidi. On May 16th, she'll be participating in the Graduate Together Special with Lebron James and President Barack Obama. We talked about that and so much more, so check it out. Yara Shahidi, welcome to the Daily Social Distancing Show. Yay, thank you. You, maybe the first person I've actually spoken to who's actually experienced doing school virtually,

you know, what has that been like? Because a lot of people say it's horrible. Right, I'm pretty grateful because I was able to come home to a place where I was like, I had my Wi-Fi connection. I have a family that's feeding me and such, and so it was pretty good. And I've also done distance learning in the past for high school while I was working full time, and so I've gotten used to that schedule, so I think I had less of a transition than most just because I was used to the format, but it is pretty rigorous, and I have so many friends in school right now, and to say the try and too, toe, toe, the the the th th th th th th th th th th th thin.. And, thin, the thin, I, I, I, I, I'm, th thin, thin, th th th th th th th th th thr-a, the thr-to, th 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, their, their, their, their, thin, thr-s, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to to to their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their,ition to say the least because many schools don't know really

how to transition and fully support the students with the work that they were already doing. You're one of those people who genuinely actually loves school and going to school and learning at school and like this is a real thing. Like you are that person in life. You're like a proud nerd and you always say this. So what advice would you give other learners who are struggling right now who go like, Yarra, I don't know if I want to go back to school if it's going to be distance learning next year, I don't know if I want to learn over my laptop or my iPad or whatever like what what advice would you give to them? I think what distance learning has

done for me in the past is given me the ability to figure out how my will align with my life at large. And so being, doing distance learning, it really had, I used it as an opportunity to figure out like, what are my other passions? What are my other interests? And how will I incorporate that into my life? No longer being in a brick and mortar school I was able to figure out like, okay, if I'm working 15 hours a day, this is what my education looks like, and this is how I get to shift to to shift to shift to shift to shift to shift to shift to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the to the the the the to what I want. And so if anything, I think it's about finding ways in which you can really personalize

your education and use that opportunity to say, like, I'm making this experience unabashedly mine. You've always been somebody who's been politically motivated. You know, you come from a family of activists. You've always been somebody who strives to find a purpose beyond yourself. What is the the the the the the the the thiiiiiiiii, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, I thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thiiiiiiiiiiiii. is thiiiii. thi., thi, thi, thi, thi, beyond yourself. What is the thing Yarra Shahidi is looking at in this new Corona world? I mean, at first my purpose has always been how can I make this moment greater than myself in terms of I've had a crazy, amazing childhood of access to the resources that made me feel like I belonged in this world, whether it be the stories that were being told to me or the opportunities that were given to me, and I, and I, and I, and I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, th, th, th, th, th, th, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, thri, thri, thri, thi, thi, the, thri, thi, at thi, at tho, at tho, at thi, at thi, at thi, at thi, at thi, at thi, at thi, at thi, at th, at th, at th, at th, at th, at th, at th, at thi, at thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thri, thri, thi, thi, thi, thi, thiiii, thii, thiiii, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th me or the opportunities that were given to me. And I was like, how do I share that? And I think under this new world, it's been,

I think it's about really, I've been so big picture, it's been about kind of going reverse and what's like, what's the smallest picture? What's the smallest action? What's the smallest action? What's the smallest, their, and I'm, and, and, I, and, I, I, and, and, I, I, and, I, and, I, I, I, and, I, I, and, I, and, I, I, I, and, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, the, the, I, the, the, the, the, the, the, th. th, I, it's, the, the, the, the, th.... th. th. th, 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, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I....... to. to. to. to. to. to. to. the. the. to. to. th. th. to. th th th th thin. th. th. th. th. the. the. th. the. the. the, what's the smallest action that can be done right now to just make the lives of students easier? And so it's been a mix of like, okay, what resources can be provided? And then in terms of Grownish and as well as the media that we're making, what stories need to be told, I think, to of them don't have the motivation

that normally would come with the graduation, but I know you're teaming up with a few interesting people. I mean, some people might know them, and you're teaming up with them to try and I guess motivate the graduating class of 2020. Tell us about that. Yeah, so graduate together is a program that will be held on Saturday. And it's really just a part of how do we help celebrate this class? I think exactly to your point, it's really hard to figure out you've been on a 12 year

journey for all these high schoolers graduating right now and haven't been able to have that kind of ceremony that reflects the hard work that goes into it. And I think given the sociopolitical state that we were in prior to this pandemic, school life and our life had already been made more complicated and difficult trying to manage what was happening in the world. And so I think this seems to be yet another thing that overly complicates one's ability to be like, I'm pursuing my education. I get to dive headfirst into this. And so what we're really hoping to do is as much as possible reinstate that kind of ceremony and celebration. And what I love is that everyone, the couple people I'm doing it with from LeBron to

Rister Obama and everybody else, is really about how do we reinstate that kind of celebratory magic and also just shine a light on all the work that's gone into it. So it's a really cool ceremony that's mixing in highlighting amazing things that students have accomplished this year to just being in conversation and trying to reinstate what you get from an actual graduation ceremony. Yeah, I mean, it feels like in many ways a lot of students are going to, you know, on the bad side not get the graduation ceremony that they expected, but on the upside, get the graduation ceremony that they definitely never expected. And that's gonna be, you know, Yarra Shahidi teaming up

with LeBron James and former President Barack Obama. I mean, like, how does that even work? Do you guys have like a text chain where you guys are bouncing ideas now? It has been so hilarious trying to get all.............. I. I. I. I. I. to get. to get. I. to get. I. to get. to get. I. to get. to get. to get. I. to get. to get. to get. to get. to to to to to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be. It. It's, to be. It's, to be. It's, to be. It's, to be. It's, to be. It's, to be. It's, to be. It's, to be. It's, to be. It's, to be. 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 tooer. tooer. the toe. toe. the toe. toorying to get all of this together and even the process of like, how do we make a high-quality ceremony and we're all kind of in our houses. But it's been really cool and I think to your point about hope, I feel like I've always had to remain hopeful because otherwise why do you do any of the work? And you have to believe in some sense of future to feel like what I'm investing in right now is so much greater than myself that it doesn't matter how I feel about the world because I'm investing in how my brother's gonna feel about the world and what they inherit. And so I think graduate together along

with everything else that's been happening to really come and hug all the graduates that have gone through this experience has really been about like how to to try and try and to try to to try. to be..... the the the the the the to be. the the the. I I. I. the the. I. I. I. the the. I. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm toe. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I's. I's. I's. 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'm. I'm. 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.'re all trying to figure out how to change the world, but let's take a moment to just celebrate. That's beautiful. Life is still worth celebrating. Yarra, thank you so much for being a guest on the Daily Social Distancing Show. Can't wait to see you in your tiny little address with those tiny celebrities, Barack Obama and Lebron James. Thank you for 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 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 thi thi thi th. Thank you th. Thank you th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. thi. thi. thi.'s our show for tonight, but before we go, the COVID pandemic has taken a serious toll on many people's mental health. And here in the United States, the disaster distress helpline is trying to address this crisis.

They've got counselors who are trained to meet the mental needs of this situation. And if you're able to, and you would like to help them, then, to to to help their, to, to, to, to, their, 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, and to, and to, to, to, and, and to, and to, and to, and the, and, and to, and, and, and to, and, and the, and to, and the to, and the to, and to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, the to, the to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, too, too, too, too, too, too, tooe.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.a, too, too Yorkers who are in this crisis, then you can donate to NYC Well who are providing free confidential mental health support. Until next week, stay safe out there, wash your hands, and remember, coronavirus is just as afraid of you as you are of it. Where's that bears? The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Ears Edition. Watch the Daily Show week nights 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. Really? 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.