The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Trump Bombs at White House Correspondents' Dinner & Jon Stewart Offers Comedy Tips | Kaitlan Collins

Episode Date: July 28, 2026

Jon Stewart breaks down the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner that took place over the weekend: After the original WHCD event was derailed by an attempted shooting, Trump’s defiant return to the stage featured timely references to 2016, wordy roasts that failed to pack a punch, and trailing explanations of jokes that bombed. Jon gives Trump’s speech a Comedy 101 critique and wonders which of this year’s correspondents' dinners ended more unceremoniously. Jon sits down with CNN's award-winning chief White House correspondent and “The Source” anchor Kaitlan Collins to discuss the White House Correspondents’ dinner and how she handles insults from the president. They talk about how the White House press corps has changed in the 10 years since she started covering Trump, reporters’ frustrations with the president’s refusal to answer questions, and the value of asking follow-up questions. Plus, Jon prepares a little roleplay to encourage Collins to give Trump a taste of his own medicine. -- To get simple, online access to personalized, affordable care for ED, Hair Loss, Weight Loss, and more, visit https://Hims.com/dailyshow -- New customers can save 35% on your first month of subscription by going to https://dosedaily.co/TDS or entering TDS at checkout. -- The Daily Show airs weeknights at 11/10c on Comedy Central. Stream full episodes on Paramount+ Follow TDS: YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Now streaming on Disney Plus, the Hulu original series Furious follows FBI agent Alice Black, played by Emmy Rossum, on the hunt for a mysterious and calculating serial killer. Both walk their own paths toward justice, and as their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur. New episodes week over week. Watch the Hulu original series Furious, now streaming only on Hulu on Disney Plus. You're listening to Comedy Central The most trusted journalists at Comedy Central It's America's only source for... My name is John Stewart.

Great show for you tonight. Later on, in this program, I'll be talking to CNN's chief White House correspondent, Caitlin Collins should be joining us. And we're gonna... We're gonna get to the bottom of a crucial issue with journalism.

How come she doesn't smile when a weird old man tells her to? We're gonna start with the big news from the weekend. The United States and Iran, taking a hydration break. A welcome cessation of hostilities. The respite gave President Trump

a chance to stop bombing the Strait of Hormuz and to start bombing at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. The other day, a senator I knew, got a text of a great guy from his wife. And she said, when you get home, I want to have you immediately come up the stairs and make love to me and he said,

I can't do both. You know what the... In other words, can't go up the stairs and make love. Does anybody get that? You know, normally I'd say don't quit your day job, but in this case, I will make an exception.

Yes, Friday night, was the White House correspondent's dinner part of, yeah, where the media elite got to hob-nob with hob. goblins. If you remember, the first attempt ended prematurely by, let's say, very intense heckling. The frightening scene prevented the president from delivering his humorous remarks, prepared remarks, which was a shame, because if there's one thing the President Trump is

known for, it's his joyful love of mirth. We all know that he has a great sense of humor. He's going to deliver a really good speech. I mean, he's funny. He is a hilarious, entertaining. This comedic timing is really good. If he hadn't become president, he couldn't become a stand-up comedian. This guy is honestly one of the funniest presidents we've ever had. I think Trump's the funniest president of all time. Funny how? How the f*** is he funny? Does he amuse you? How the f***? What's so fucking funny? No, seriously, I am asking you. because when I was watching him do that one joke, he doesn't seem very funny at all.

Hey, but you know what, man? Look, I've been in that situation. We all try new material. Done go. You move on to the next one. You cannot judge Trump's whole hour-long special. Just based on that one joke, Mr. President, what else you got? The UFC Freedom 250 fight.

I'm pleased to announce that we're going to host an even bigger one right in front of the White House every Friday night. night. See, this is great. Simple premise. Easy, refillable. We're going to be hosting more fights. So these are just going to be jokes about who's on the card. What the fights are going to be. It's simple. Set up punchline. Or it's every Friday night, every Saturday night. We're going to have fights in front of the White House. But we do have something coming that's, and I'm only kidding. You know, the one thing about we are going to have. Indy 500, Roger Penske's coming.

In mid-Augn. Germany, Japan, all these countries, they spend billions and billions of dollars trying to win the Indy 500. On July 4th, we were over at the mall, and it was raining. It's supposed to be really bad again. And we didn't do it the following day,

and we didn't do it two weeks later. We did it when we were supposed to do it. It was a fantastic celebration. You set up the premise and then you just walk off into the street. Boss is so cheap. Well, before I get to that, it was raining. I went four minutes before introducing the first joke fight in his own premise. But I can exclusively reveal to you this evening that for the heaviest of the heavyweights,

we will have sloppy Chris Christie, one of the sloppiest human beings you'll ever, fighting, I would say, I could mention the governor of Chicago, but I'm going to mention instead Jerry Nadler. What the, oh my God! You're changing the target of your roast joke halfway through the fucking joke. Just change it. Don't say I was gonna make fun of the governor of Illinois,

but Jerry Nadler. And by the way, are there two more relevant targets than Chris Christie and Jerry Nadler? Ooh, wait till the former governor of New Jersey and outgoing Congressional District 12 representative of New York get a load of this. Their careers will continue to have been over.

But you know, look, I don't... You know what? The walk doesn't matter as much as the destination. Let, please land this joke. And they're fighting for a big piece of cheesecake, big fat piece of cheesecake. Who the hell wrote that line? It sounds like you.

It sounds exactly like something you would say. Look, this is a solid premise. Let's try this again. Here's an easy joke to land with this premise. Oh, and tonight, I'm proud to announce the next upcoming fight at the White House. AOC will face off against her greatest enemy, a simple question about foreign policy. See, it's simple. Give that joke.

Give that joke a go. And then you have a congresswoman, Alexandria, or Congress. Casio, Cortez, AOC Plus 3. They're three friends, right? Okay. AOC plus 3, and I watch her give that answer when she was over in Europe. It was not a good answer.

If I ever gave that answer, I would be out of politics. You don't have to talk about what you saw. Remember, you cannot have a 19-second wait time. Just fucking do the joke. But we'll then have a rematch against an extreme, simple question on a foreign policy. Nobody knows what you're saying now. Security confidence.

There was a big security conference, and this was the first time up. No. In terms of that. You don't do jokes like you're reading them for the first time. Founds of roast jokes, and we're five pound back. It doesn't work this way. There are rules to these things. Look, let's just...

Obviously, the more complex jokes, you're not going to better handle. Let's just stick to simple burns. Simple burns. You can't f*** that up. Look, here we go. Here's what I'll do for you. I'll bring out a... Here's what we're going to do.

I'm going to help you along. Ready? That's what we're going to do. First of what we're going to do. We got the rim shot. We're going to do simple burns. You can't f*** these up with your little wandering off weaves. Go.

So they thought about going with a professional clown for entertainment, but Adam Shifty Shiff was not available. You know, he's known, I call them, I hate some people. You know, I shouldn't say this I'm not supposed to hate. I'm supposed to love everybody. But he's a terrible person. a liar. Traditionally, roasts work

because at the heart of it all, you only roast the ones you love. Saying you hate someone in the middle of the joke really takes a lot of the pleasure. Don Rickles might not have been the sensation he was,

might not have been so beloved if he ended his act with no seriously, fuck the Japanese. I don't like them. as people. Try again. And I called him watermelon head because he's the largest head I've ever seen with the smallest neck, pencil neck.

How does that big, fat, ugly head stand on a little pencil, pencil neck? Okay. There's probably something in there. But you might not be the perfect messenger to deliver a roast about someone's big, fat, ugly head. It's another rule of roasting.

It's just a different Very tough to land solid jokes about something you yourself clearly suffer from. Although admittedly, your big, fat, ugly head sits on what appears to be not a pencil, but a big, fat, ugly neck. So maybe the joke is a proportion issue. Hard to point out, the pencil neck, when your mug sits on what looks like a rhinoceros' vagina. It's a rental. Honestly, the only funny part of the jokes was watching the crowd's reactions. It was a melange of confusion, boredom, and at one point, a literal existential crisis.

Here's the one thing you never want from your audience at a comedy show. You never want the audience at your comedy show to clearly be rethinking the choices that led them to that night. Why did I go to grad school? The audience was so distraught and perplexed that at times it was difficult to discern whether you were watching their reactions to try. Trump bombing at this dinner or their reactions to a gunman interrupting the last one. Which brings us to the hottest game show of the summer season. Shooting or bombing. Number one.

Milling about. Some smiling. Some are filming. General sense of eh. That's a good mix of schmooze humor, a hint of concern or confusion. The correct answer. Shooting aftermath. That was after the shooting aftermath.

Let's go to number two. Hmm. Sadness and shock. What happened? How could this have happened? The correct answer? This dude, that's the face he made while Trump was telling jokes. Look at his face.

He's literally like, is anyone going to stop this madman? People are going to get hurt. Here's the next one. Let's see. What is that? Is that the shooting or the bombing? Okay. All right. Obviously, that was after the shooting. I knew you would get it.

It's pretty easy. I just wanted to remind everybody that the night of the shooting, RFK Jr. left his wife to fend for a son. No, there was no trick to it. I just thought that was like the most f***ed up thing I'd ever seen in my life. Here's another quick roast rule.

Try not to build a whole routine around a premise that's no longer operable. You can't have somebody like a judge. J. B. Pritzker, who I understand is not present, sadly. But, you know, some people say, never use the fat word. And I don't. I would never call anybody fat. I have my own problems. You know, it's not like I'm perfect. Sir, in the back, don't call him a fat pig, okay?

You can't call J.B. Pritzker a fat pig, please. Actually, he's lost a lot of weight. I saw him recently. He lost quite a bit of weight. Although now obviously she's on the GLP ones I mean she does If I'm being honest looks fantastic I mean here's one years ago When she sat around the house

She really sat Although I can't say that now She's the driving 50 The point is this Your mother was so fat I'm glad she got the help she needed Here listen The health benefit

God willing she lives to see those beautiful grandchildren walk to I promised myself I would cry The deeper problem for Trump is that last weekend revealed he has lived so long in a magical world of his own creation. Curated for his comfort and positive reinforcement, he's the ultimate snowflake rewarded with unearned participation trophy laughs. That he doesn't even know what's actually funny. Because everything he says is funny in his Truman show of an administration. I don't know if I can handle looking 20 pounds heavier.

Boy, you said the right thing. That would have been the end of crumb. Good steel, right? It's supposed to green paper mache. They do treat me well, Sharpie. But of course, the night demonstrated another hard truth about Donald Trump's administration. That whenever his warm front of fantasy, collides with the cold front of reality.

There's no one to blame, but everyone else. And they're fighting for a big piece of cheesecake, big fat piece of cheesecake. Who the hell wrote that line? She wasn't high up on her totem pole. Who the hell wrote that? That was actually the only thing I thought was good in this whole freaking stupid speech that they wrote.

That was the only good one, and that went down with not exactly great laughter. You know what they say? A great carpenter always blames his. tools. And Donald Trump is surrounded by tools. But no matter how

his writers let him down, boy, Trump just kept digging. Tried to make a simple joke about Caitlin Collins, but unfortunately triggered himself in the process, turning the entire event into a festivist grievance miracle. But I want to personally congratulate CNN's

Caitlin Collins on receiving her award. It was all about me. It's a fake. She shouldn't get the award. It was a fake. But I didn't mind. I said, Caitlin, congratulations.

But it was fake. There's no question about it. But she's a young, attractive woman. She never smiles. I said, Caitlin, do you ever smile? Smile. You have a nice position. You're at CNN fake news.

You should be a happy person. So smile, Caitlin. Just smile. My favorite thing in that is Wolf Blitzer kept looking over like, you want me to f*** him up? I'll go f*** them up. You want me to get a piece of him?

I'll go right up there. I'll slam shit on it. Oh, Will Smith that motherfucker. You want me to go out of that? Caitlin Collins' name! This was a bad night. Don't take my word for it. Even Trump's cadre of media fanboys and girls

had to admit it. I've seen him be very funny, and so I think he could have been a lot funnier. I think it's a missed opportunity. It really had no positive, no positive effect on anybody, including him. I think it could have been a lot shorter, and it could have been punchier.

Some of the jokes veered off into very sort of onry insults, and that's not going to land for many audiences. That guy couldn't polish this turd. That guy who spends his days bending over backwards to figure out how to tell you that the war in Iran is go-go-go. Even he's like, I can't put lipstick on this motherfucker. Look, beyond the fact that Trump was terrible, The dinner should not have happened at all.

In fact, it shouldn't ever happen. Quite frankly, memorializing the collegial and cozy relationship between the press and those that they cover is at best a very bad look in normal times. I don't need to see the cops and robbers getting along at a banquet honoring our penal code. You can celebrate the First Amendment without asking your opponent in that fight what he thinks. You already know what he thinks. We are a nation that no longer has a free and fair press. Fake news is all you get.

Fake news. Fake reporting is what's tearing this country apart. These corrupt press, they're corrupt. Crooked, dishonest media. Just horrible people. They're sick and evil people. Real sick and evil people. Real dishonest people.

They're so bad for the country. It's almost treasonous. I have to be honest. It's almost treasonous. They are truly the enemy of the people. Who wants the third? I'll fight you for the last piece of cheesecake. Look, as much as I enjoyed Donald Trump

having to squirm through Wolf Blitzer describing in vivid detail why the Wall Street Journal won a reporting award, it was the end of that tour to force that demonstrated the perverse bargain the entire night encapsulated. The journal's courageous reporting on President Trump's past relationship

with financier Jeffrey Epstein triggered the release of the so-called Epstein files. thousands of documents that might otherwise have remained hidden from the public. And despite the president's threat of a lawsuit, the journal published a story about

a provocative letter to Epstein bearing President Trump's signature. I love that he had to sit through that. Wolf should have just kept going. I mean, you should have seen the shit they didn't release. I mean, this guy knows what I'm talking about. But it was the next moment

that for me, solidified that this is worse than pro forma. It's actually an act of submission. Trump quickly filed a $20 billion lawsuit against the journal, revealing reporter Khadija Softdha's home address. Her family had to be relocated. I'm a little stinker. She wrote an objectively true story about my depraved relationship with Jeffrey Epstein,

and I got her life threatened. Did I do that? I mean, you'd think you'd all be mad at them. But they're all in there just snicking it up. So he just gets to shake hands with the leaders of a profession, with the leaders of a profession whose members he has subpoenaed, arrested, sued, cut their funding, threatened their licenses, barred their access, and even had fucking deported.

And the sad truth is, if Trump had known he could win an award for that Epstein story, Well, he'd have told them about the Epstein files himself. When we come back. Accessing legitimate medical care for erectile dysfunction should be highly transparent, reliable, and above all, affordable. Unfortunately, the steep retail markup on brand name medications frequently prevents men from seeking the advice they need, causing them to leave the problem unaddressed.

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Anything fun? It was good. It was quiet. It was quiet. No, it wasn't. That was Friday night. Yeah. There are times when I watch him and I think to myself, this can't be real.

Like this can't be America. America, you've heard of us. We're great. Been here. You've been here for years. 34 years. Yes. We're the, we're the back.

That guy runs us? What? In the room. that night? Did it feel surreal? Did it, was he bombing as hard as it appeared on the TV? You know, I've covered Trump for 10 years. And so I've listened to pretty much all of his speeches for 10 years with very little exception.

And so I actually think it's helpful for other people to be able to listen to them in their entirety, which people really don't that much these days. In the room, I think I was not surprised when he insulted me. That happens pretty regularly inside the Oval Office. This is just a bigger venue where it was happening. What was most surprising to me was the room was filled with a lot of his staffers, his cabinet, his allies, Republicans in Congress. It was so quiet in the room during the president's remarks. Because of how much they respect him.

Who's to say? Hard to tell, really. In your mind, having view... First of all, what... What do you think is going on with his relationship to you? You are, I have to give you a great amount of credit. You are unflappable in those. You ask very straightforward questions.

I have, I've written some stuff down about like, you've asked it about, you pardoned the founder of Binance, all these different things. You're asking him about that. A very straightforward question about why he pardoned this gentleman who now has an involvement in his family's crypto business. or had helped promote it. His answer to you on that was, you said to him,

this guy admitted to his crimes. Trump said to you, you don't know much about crypto, you know nothing about nothing, your fake news. But he didn't answer the question. No. And then he said he didn't really know

who the person was. Right. Why? You are very straightforward with him. You don't play coy. You don't frame it. in got your ways, and he just, you're a terrible person, you're a stupid person, you don't smile.

When that's done, does someone, is there an office of, like, smoothing things out that comes to your office and says, like in a bar when your friend gets in a fight, like, hey, man, he's drunk, like, I'm so sorry. Like, what do they do? Are they embarrassed? You know, but that's why I ask the questions the way I do is because I want anyone to be able to listen to what I'm asking, whether that's at a briefing or during a moment with the president, and think, you know, I want to know the answer to that too, or that is a good question.

I don't want it to only serve one audience or one political leaning. I want anyone, you know, from my family in Alabama, to people in the White House, to people in Washington, to be able to hear that answer or hear that question and think, what is the answer to that? Well, the answer is very clearly, you should smile more. It's the answer to all the questions. We were watching when he was doing that, you were sitting next to Wolf Blitzer. Yes.

Wolf Blitzer is a 78-year-old man. Not a lot of density in those bones. I know what I'm talking about. I'm in the same position. He looked like he wanted to go up there and shake him. He was so angry on your behalf. But you don't get angry. How do you maintain that level of detach?

Well, first off, can I say about Wolf? Wolf actually picked me up for the dinner that night, and we rode together to go to the dinner. He was presenting the awards that night after he was supposed to do them back in April. He still has his license? He's an excellent driver. But we went to the dinner together, and Wolf and I were really good friends. He was one of the first people that I met when I worked at when I started at CNN. And he's called me every day since Friday.

And he's just a dear friend. But actually, one of the best parts of the dinner was Wolf reading the descriptions of the awards. in front of them. And why people, why the reporters got them? You know, my colleagues who also did esteemed reporting, great reporting, and deserved those awards. And so I loved hearing Wolf read the descriptions of what they were and why people got them. In terms of my reaction, I've always felt this, regardless of who's the president,

whether it's Joe Biden, Donald Trump, those are the two I've covered. It's really not about me. And I don't want it to be about my reaction. And so I think if you let it become about that, then it becomes a back and forth between the two of us. And instead, I think it's more effective to remind people in those moments when he is insulting me or when he is criticizing me about the question I asked or the reporting that I did

that he was so angry about in this moment and the fact that I got an award for it really bothered him clearly. And so I just think in those moments, it's important to put the reminder back on the work, on the question, and on the non-answers that we get. And I appreciate that answer. But what if we could make it about you and the way you behave? What if you took a page out of his book?

I've come up with a little role play. You can be you in this or you could be Trump. It's up to you. I think you'd probably be better off being Trump on this one. So let's say you're Trump and I'm you. This is just a chance for you to kind of, play his game. He's so concerned about appearance. So play in that arena.

All right. So you're Donald Trump. Call on me, Caitlin Collins, CNN. I'm really nervous about this movie. Caitlin, go ahead. Hey, Tubbs. You look pretty today. The Big Beautiful Beal took a million children off of food assistance.

Why are your hands so f*** up? I didn't say it would work. I think I'll keep it the way it is. You probably keep it the way it is. It's probably why I don't work there. What are the frustrations within the White House press corps? What do you, do you talk about the difficulty of permeating their fantasy bubble, the treatment that they have, the criticisms that they have of you guys?

What is the frustration in that group of White House correspondence? Well, I mean, it's obviously a really diverse group of correspondence. Everyone, you know, people work for different outlets. They have different questions that they want to ask. I mean, the biggest change in the outlets that cover the president from when he was in office the last time is how the White House has filled the press pool that goes into the Oval with a lot of people who ask friendly questions that aren't really probing or tough. And I think you can ask whatever question you want on whatever subject you want. There's a lot to ask about cost of living, Iran war, whatever the subject is that day. What I don't like is when people use those moments to ask a question that is something that's not producing a response that is, is.

is really asking something probing of someone who is the highest office in the land, a taxpayer-funded individual, which is how I personally believe that time is best spent. And so I think one frustration is there's not as much follow-up inside those Oval Office moments as there used to be among reporters who do ask tough questions and do ask fair, but challenging questions. And so that is something that I think is a struggle. But there are a lot of really good reporters asking good questions who get a lot of attacked by the president. I mean, even just today, he was asking where all the money that is

being made from Venezuela is going. Right. He's not telling anybody. There's like billions of dollars and they have not. Three billion dollars reportedly. And a reporter asked three times, where is that money going? And there was no answer today. And then he attacked another reporter for asking why he wants to cancel the Senate's recess where they should be campaigning. And so there are moments where reporters, not just myself, ask questions that don't get good answers. Right. Is there ever a thought that you got, so they clearly have meetings before these and they come up with all their strategies to try and deflect the good questions, the insightful questions, the ones. Is there ever any thought for you all to form like an Avengers, like a group of people

that combine your powers so that you work to, so that, because what's so strange about him is, he very clearly needs you in a way that I don't think I've ever seen a president, have that before. There's something inside him that he lashes out at the press core, but needs them to see him more than anybody I've ever seen in public life. That's why he gives his phone number out to everybody. He even said it at the White House Correspondents Dinner. He said, you know, nobody else does that, but I do that because I like it. And he criticized his staff actually during the dinner. Yes. Because he said he would ask them, you know, have any reporters called for comment? and they would say no or it's not worth your time.

Right. And he was frustrated by that. I mean, his press team was in the room, and he was criticizing them for saying that they're basically blocking him, which is why he started picking up the numbers himself. And he said something very interesting, because he said it's basically because if I talk to them, I might be able to manipulate them to get a better story.

I mean, and he says this stuff out loud. So is there a thought in that room that you guys work together? I don't know how that would work or if that's even logical. Yeah, I think reporters should ask what they want to ask. I don't think any reporter should be saying, this is what we're asking today or you need to follow up on this. But if a colleague of mine asks a good question and doesn't get an answer, I mean, this actually happened with the Treasury Secretary

when they were considering putting Trump's face on a $250 bill for the United States' birthday. Obviously, that's illegal. And so there were so many questions for Scott. at this briefing on it. And he wouldn't, he kept declining to answer and pushing it off on Congress. But obviously, Congress was doing this

because the White House wanted them to do it. And I think I was the fourth reporter maybe to ask. And I think sometimes reporters think, well, I'll just move on because he's not answering it. But actually, I think the more you ask, the more revealing it is. And finally, at the end of his answer to me, he said that he didn't see a problem

with putting the president's face on a $250 bill. And so there is value and follow-up questions. Right. And coming through. Is there, in your mind, is what his fascination with you to some extent that you don't react and bend the knee, is some of what he's doing provocation and trolling and becoming more and more frustrated that you're just staying professional to what you want to do? I'm not sure. I can't get into his head.

And, you know, I've had the same model the entire time. I've covered him, and I've treated it the same way. I've never gotten into back and forth with him. I've always brought it back to the question. I think he does surround himself with people who praise him or laugh at his jokes. And when he's confronted with someone who is asking a challenging question or a critical question of his policy or strategy in the Iran war, I think he doesn't like it. and he lashes out over it.

I mean, there have been moments where I've gone into the Oval Office when I'm on behalf of the TV pool, and I haven't even asked a question yet, and he starts criticizing me. So it's not even always just about the questions. Sometimes it's just my presence in the room. But again, I really think it's, I really do think it's important. Is this real life?

Like, this is crazy. But I really do think it's important in that moment. It really isn't about me. Because I do think my colleagues at CNN, my colleagues in the press corps, or do a good job of trying to ask tough questions, doing good reporting. You don't have to smile while you're doing that. And I think that's what's important.

I want to ask you, you know, I think it was Edward R. Murrow, who first said, turn that frown upside down. J.D. Vance said something really interesting recently. We was talking about Watergate. And he said about Watergate probably would be, now this is sort of the seminal public corruption, political corruption case of our lifetimes. I was raised on the Watergate hearings. He said it would probably be a 12-hour story now. And first I thought he was sort of saying, like, because it wasn't that big a deal. But I think the point he was making is they've created

such great defenses around public and political corruption. that there's no longer, that great reporting no longer leads to accountability through the other institutions that are there to pick that up. Watergate was interesting because two reporters got this great story, and reporters are still doing great reporting like that today. They found it. It shocked the conscience of a nation. The political system and the legal system went into action

and created accountability, both jail time for the purpose, traitors and impeachment for Nixon, which is why he resigned so that he wouldn't get impeached. Yeah, and I don't think they subpoenaed Bob Woodward or Carl Bernstein's mother or spouses, like they just did with the New York Times reporters. So shout out to my colleagues for the New York Times, who did really good reporting on Air Force One recently, who should not have been subpoenaed for that good reporting. They went to their house. They should have put their house.

And they subpoenaed their one reporter's mother and two spouses of them before they eventually withdrew them because a judge intervened. On the Nixon comment from Vice President Vance, he also said the deep state took down Richard Nixon, which I think Richard Nixon took down Richard Nixon. But to your point, it wasn't just, you know, it wasn't just the reporting that led to Nixon's resignation. It was Republicans in the Senate who made clear that he had crossed a line with them

as that investigation into his actions was proceeding. And a legal system that held people accountable for break-ins and obstruction and cover-ups. And even Spiro Agnew, people forget, Spiro Agnew, who was the vice president at the time,

resigned months before Watergate took down Nixon on a bribery scandal. A bribery scandal that the Supreme Court at this point, I guess the point is, does the press feel an impotence? It makes me cynical

to watch the stories that you guys are uncovering about a Qatari jet that's, you know, millions and millions of dollars by a foreign government that's not safe enough for the president to fly on it. And also the guy who is the envoy to that region is getting money from that area while also trying to negotiate peace deals from within those.

The levels of corruption within his family and that administration are exponentially beyond anything that I think we have ever experienced in our lifetime. And I keep waiting for the other institutions to wake up. and they feel like they're gone. Like there is no political. There would never be an impeachment on this. And the legal system seems utterly, not only are they not interested in prosecuting,

they're more interested in redefining what corruption means to allow more of it. How does that affect the reporting aspect of it? Is there a sense of, is anyone going to follow up on this? Epstein stuff is a great example. Well, I think for reporters, I mean, from our perspective, we can just do our jobs, which is fair reporting, tough reporting, and good questions and fair questions. I think in terms of the Epstein example, that is something that there was a wealth of really good reporting on, including from those reporters from the Wall Street Journal who were on stage on Friday night. But also, I mean, there was a long shot bid in Congress to release the files when the Justice Department did not do so, and it became not a long shop bid, and it actually happened.

And so there have been moments where that does happen. But now they've withheld three million of those documents. The woman that was in prison got an upgrade. Nobody else has gone to jail. Todd Blanche won't meet with any of the victims except in a pro forma way to get Tom Tillis's vote. It's one of the frustrations about doing this show. People always ask me, you know, what would have been some of the frustrations? And I always say that it's cathartic but impotent.

And I can accept that from what I do. because it's satire still. I feel like what you guys do deserves better than that. And I wonder if that ever crosses your, or you've just got to focus. I think your job as a reporter is to report and to inform the American public and to ask tough questions. Why are you so mature? But really, like, that's our job. And I think the important thing is that we keep doing it, regardless of,

criticisms or personal insults. When you go back, does Carolyn Leavitt ever pull you over and go like, yeah, he says that shit to me all the time too, don't worry about it. Like, does you give you like add-a-boy, like anything? Like little punch, like, hey man, hang in there. No. Nothing. I'm not really in favor with the

public side of the White House that speaks for a living. Bring the tea. What's happening? No, I mean, you see it. It all happens on camera. You see it all. And all for the crime. of what? Asking direct, like, seriously, that's what's so insane about all this. Yeah. So thank you for doing that. And thank you for, for, and also, what's so nice about is you're keeping your side of the street clean, meaning like, you are just putting in the work. Like, that's the nice thing. I've said this to you. You know, I have all my problems with the

journalist. Oh, I know. You keep your, you, you keep it together. You do a great job. I appreciate you. Thank you. All right. It's short. It's Tana Callum. 9 p.m. on CNN. We're going to take your foot break, and she's going to go to work.

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Mr. Jordan, Clopper. Jordan, what do you got for you? I'll tell you what I got. Elon Musk, John. His SpaceX stock has been on the market a little over a month, and it is a rocket ship. Pugh! I just, isn't that? I think that stock is actually down.

Yes. Sometimes rocket ships go down. Really fast, actually. Pugh! But don't worry. Elon also has Tesla. Oh, how is Tesla doing? Oh, like a rocket ship also down.

Jimmy Griffin, everybody. Here is your moment of death. Yeah, absolutely. But don't you expect that the Washington press corps will clearly be upset. I've heard some of the names of the comedians who are helping work on the speech, and I would say they should duck

the media, not from bullets or threats, but just from some of the barbs that will be coming their way. 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, Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus.

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