The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Trump Makes Milk Whole Again, Europe Defends Greenland & MAGA Blasts Mamdani | Wagner Moura

Episode Date: January 16, 2026

Jordan Klepper covers the latest on Trump’s whole milk antics, the president’s push to take over Greenland that has Europe mobilizing, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s burgeoning communist reign in New York City, which has unleashed terrors such as expanded access to childcare and free public restrooms. Grace Kuhlenschmidt breaks down the latest tech from the CES conference: candy that puts voices in your head, razors that botch your haircut for you, robots that can see you but can’t hear you, and a chance to fulfill your dreams of beating up a machine! Actor Wagner Moura joins Jordan Klepper, fresh off of his Golden Globe win for his performance in “The Secret Agent.” Moura, a Brazilian native, describes how the film, which takes place in 1977 Brazil during a heavy dictatorship, was a way for him and director Kleber Mendonça Filho to process their perplexity after their country’s return to dictatorship values with the election of far-right president Jair Bolsonaro in 2018. They also discuss how this period piece resonates with Brazilians today, as well as audiences all over the world who are likewise facing authoritarian threats, the importance of retaining historical memory in order to avoid repeating past mistakes, and why he gravitates towards projects that merge art with politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This show is supported by Odu. When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up, and it gets complicated and confusing. Odu solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odu is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on features you need. Check out Odu at O'D.D. O-O-O-O-com.

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tells the story inspired by a true legend, Anne Lee, founder of the radical religious movement, The Shakers, The Testament of Anne Lee, now playing in an exclusive Toronto engagement in theaters everywhere January 23rd. You're listening to Comedy Central. Trump cheats on Diet Coke.

America adds Greenland to its cart, and New York is officially a communist hellscape. We did it! Headlines. So much going on in the world today. Domestic strife, international uprisings, Verizon went down for four hours yesterday. So I had to Google myself on my desktop like a loser.

But with all the chaos in the world, I'm so glad we have a president who's laser-focused on the issues that matter most. You see that beautiful milk? That's what we're here for. You're going to be discussing milk and whole milk and how good it is. Yes.

Milk. Mr. President, thank you for shining a light on this important issue. And also for having a big jug of milk on your desk as a visual aid in case people forget what milk is. I mean, how are these people intolerant of everything except

lactose? But while Trump was focused on his domestic priorities, his underlings were taking care of the smaller issues, you know, like invading Europe. Tonight, as President Trump escalates his push to take over Greenland, top officials from

Greenland and Denmark traveling to Washington to plead their case to the Vice President and Secretary of State. But they emerged saying the two sides have a, quote, fundamental disagreement. It's clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland. Okay. First of all, why are they doing a press conference from the cocktail hour at a way? This is dark day for Greenland. Hold on those cremcakes!

Yes, you can tell this meeting didn't go well by those. the way the entire delegation rushed to smoke immediately after. I mean, look, look at him, Rushing. Look at this guy. He's literally sprinting to the car to grab a smoke and calm his nerves. One meeting with J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio will turn you into the Ben Affleck mean.

So, these diplomatic talks might not work out, and Europe's not waiting to take action. Denmark says it's expanding its military footprint in Greenland over President Trump's push. to annex the Danish territory. You've got Germany, France, Sweden, and Norway, all sending military personnel to the island this week for a joint exercise with Denmark.

This is wild. Germany, Sweden, France, Norway all sent soldiers because of us. And you know they're pissed. They're supposed to be on one of their 37 weeks of vacation right now. But no, we have to go to war. Yesterday illustrates what a story. strange mixture this administration is, some hybrid of warplains and clown cars.

Because everyone from resistance lives to his own vice president has compared Trump to Hitler. But I'm pretty sure Hitler never took a break from invading Poland to be like, today, I just want to talk about milk. I don't think it happens. But while the authoritarian experiment is playing out on an international level right here in New York City, we're in the midst of our own political experiment. Two weeks ago, our capitalist utopia was invaded by a communist dreamboat, Zoran Mamdani, and our American patriots have been sounding the alarm on what's to come.

A foreign-born Muslim communist who hates the greatest nation on earth and wants to change it is now in power. Mammani's breadlines coming to the city soon. It's going to be extreme, it's going to be anti-American. As he plunges the city ever deeper into the mess his socialism helped create, New York is going to be bankrupt in six months. Another great American city is going to swirl down the drain. Down the drain?

Down the drain. Have you guys been to New York during a flash flood? Nothing goes down the drain here. Nothing. Nothing. At best, New York will be floating down the curb next to a used condom. But we've been warned, and we didn't listen. So let's find out what's in store for us

in our new segment on Zoran Mamdani's New York. That's a f***ing it's box, okay? It's been two weeks since Soran's seized power in a brutal democratic coup d'etat, or what some are calling an election. So what nightmare dystopian agenda has he pursued since taking office? On Tuesday, Mayor Mamdani

grabbed a shovel and joined Transportation Department workers to fix a bump at the foot of the bike path before Delancey Street. Yeah, see? That's... Oh, whoa, whoa. That's how it starts. Classic communism.

First, they level out the roads, then they level out the social classes. What else is he doing? Here's Yoramundami says he's making a $4 million commitment to bring modular, high-quality bathrooms like these to the five burrows. Wow. Straight out of the well-known communist playbook, everyone poops.

No, sir. In America, the free market decides who poops. I always say it's better to piss your pants as a free man than to use the toilet as a slave. Okay, Mamdani. What else are you going to force down our freedom-loving throats? Mayor Mamdani spent this morning announcing plans for expanded free child care.

No longer do New Yorkers have to make the choice between this city and their family. No, no, no. New Yorkers should be watching their own kids at all times. It's called Personal Responsibility. Isn't that right, Jordan Jr.? Jordan, Jordan, Jordan, if anyone sees my child, feed him, please.

Besides, if you're watching right-wing news, you know what a Mom Dani child care scheme is going to look like. Do you remember that cringy YouTube star for the toddler set in Palis? Palestinian advocate, Miss Rachel. Well, she's teaming up with your favorite, Mayor Comrade Mondani. If you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it. If you're happy and you know it half your end.

Oh, man, that's terrible. I think. I think, yes, I think, well, you know what? Why don't you tell me why this is terrible? She's normalizing these socialist ideas for children and their parents. Oh, right. Right, right. We can't normalize the socialist ideas of being happy,

knowing it. I'm wanting to show it. You know what? I am sorry. I am really trying hard to get into this whole anti-Mamondani red scare fever. But you know what? I'm going to give him a chance. From everything I've seen,

it does not look like he's an un-American extremist looking to add foreign influence into this city. One thing that we will change is we will be installing a few bidets into Gracie Mansion. A battee! Wash your butt! You take that coarse one ply and mash it around like you're killing a spider up there like an American. But while we watch New York collapse into a nightmare of belabored rectal hygiene before our very eyes, I think it's fair to ask the question.

Two weeks into the Mamdani administration, Is it a total failure? Josh Johnson hit the streets to find out. Zoran Mandani has only been in office for two weeks, but it's felt like hundreds of hours. And things in New York are already falling apart. Hi guys from the New York City bus. For Mayor Mom Dani, he promised us a free ride, but guess what we got instead? Higher bus fares.

Yes, that is right. Today, the price of this bus went up to $3. Yes, just like the lady on that immaculately clean bus said. This city is going to hell, so I hit the streets just to see how bad hell is. I feel like he holds great promise, and I'm really excited by all the things that could happen. But all the businesses are going to leave and everything. I mean, a couple months ago, there was a Halloween store where you could buy any Halloween supplies you wanted, and now they're gone. Yeah.

You know, is that Mom Donnie? That seems like it's the calendar. From what I can see, you've been going pretty strong. I mean, have they even released the month? play crime stats yet for the first two weeks that he's been in office. I mean, what's he hiding? There are so many issues, but I feel like he's going in strong, but he wants to first, like, assemble a strong team. Affordability is definitely an issue in New York City. I mean, the Knicks and the Rangers have to be roommates above a train station. Why don't you think

him on Dynes done anything about that yet? You've got to give him a chance. You can't expect the world to turn around in two weeks. Where do you rank him as far as recent mayors in these first two weeks? As of today? Yeah. Number one. Number one. So two weeks is both nothing and he's the best mayor we've ever had. I don't disagree.

Does it bother you that Mom Dani hasn't plowed a single inch of snow so far? Well, we haven't had snow. I mean, is that an excuse, really? In the past two weeks, how long have you waited to get into a restaurant? 30 minutes. Did you ever think you'd see food lines like that in America?

Oh. Sadly, the public has already been brainwashed by the party. They're eager to conform to whatever mom-dying decrees, and he's bringing government into the most private place possible. So I heard the bathrooms he's installing in Midtown are going to be mandatory. I mean, that is the nanny state. You know, telling you when to poop, when not to poop. I think it's an issue of, welcome to New York, we know you got to poop.

That should be a slogan. I agree. That should be a welcome to New York. We know you got to poop. This guy was so on board with Zoran's propaganda, he wouldn't let the free press ask any more questions. There are some people who would say and did say lead the assholes.

All you people were saying, oh, he sucks, he sucks, you don't know the answer to that question. Because it's been two weeks. It's only been two weeks. You're all you're assholes. You don't even know. You're fucking them. And I'll be with that. We'll one day kill us all.

But until then, it's pretty cool. To find out more, we turn to Grace Coolenschmidt in our new segment Tech, yeah. I'm Grace Kulenschmidt, aka GoGogadget Grace, or as my brothers like to call me, C3, pee my bed. Love you, Pete and Ollie. Yeah, where I tell CPU all about the biggest stories in tech.

I just got back from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and it's true what they say. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, especially when you lose your fingertip in a robot's eGyna. It's so F-E-S was all about products designed to make our lives easier. For example, we're all so tired of listening to music with our ears. But good news, now you can do it with your teeth. Check out Lollipop Star.

It's candy that plays a song when you put it in your mouth. I can hear someone singing and like music. It just sounds like I'm listening to an MP3. It uses bone conduction technology so only you can hear it. There are truly voices in your head now with this lollipop. More voices in my head? That makes it a baker's dozen. In teching phones that don't feature bone conduction.

And just so you know, the music lollipop doesn't work in your butt. A little heads up would have been nice. Yes, didn't just introduce us to cavity-causing music. It also showed us the tech and future of haircuts. Lide is the world's first smart hair clipper that doesn't need snap on plastic guards. Instead, it uses an auto-fit blade system that automatically adjusts the cutting length as you move it around your head. The goal is to make anyone an instant barber, but the company did admit that cutting the sides is easier than the back. Always wanted the same haircut as an abused Barbie doll.

Part is no more going to the barber and accidentally drinking that blue water because I thought it was Gatorade. isn't just for making our lives easier. This year it also showed us the AI of the tiger. Robots were everywhere at CES 2026. There were robots that dance. We saw robots fighting humans. At CES 2026, Unitry is letting people kick the absolute crap out of their robots. They're actually like Tom.

I think he's done for us. Yes. I was just thinking I'd love to beat up a small child, but without having to feel too bad. Love this video, good news, because this robot has already agreed to fight Jake Paul. Parts versus a cute little robot. Let's go! All the robots at CES wanted to knock us out with their fists. Some just wanted to knock us out with their brains.

This is Aria Vision. She is the very first robot being unveiled today with who she can actually see you. She could look at you. She could tell you what you're wearing. Wow. She can tell you what you're wearing? Incredible. I can't tell you how many times I've been dying to know what I'm. Mirrors, you're wondering. Is that pippy long stocking survived a fire? Wish granted.

I also want you to meet Aria and David over here. Hi, Aria. How are you doing today? How are you today, Aria? Hi. She's saying hello. What are you doing today? at the CES. Do you want it?

Is it on you? When you fell off the assembly line at a Shane Dong warehouse? A robot that is so depressed, it can't even talk. She reminds me of my mom. Notice David, judging by that sculpted face, I can already tell he's going to be

an absolute diva in the fire. I'm certifying Aria and David as tilfs. Technology, I'd like to focus my attention on. And for tech, yeah. Tune in next time. We'll show you how to avoid dropping your phone in the toilet by shitting in your yard. All in The Secret Agent.

Please welcome Wagner Mora. Thank you very much. I should be saying Golden Globe winner, Wagner Moore, is what I should be saying. That's a big prize. Best actor, best dramatic actor, the Golden Globes, what do you do to celebrate something like that? I drank.

Drink. Yeah, I was a bunch of Brazilians there. Right? My friends were there. We were around. So we played some samba, and then we celebrated. What is the drink of choice? Is there a specific Brazilian drink of choice? So, yeah, man. So we were looking for some capillian but they were not quite good. So I went to like some vodka with sparkling water. Oh, classy.

Classy, right? You keep it classy, right? Well, the movie is, it really is a remarkable film. I can't stop thinking about it. I really can't stop thinking. How would you describe this film to our audience? Ooh, okay. I think this is a film about a man who is sticking with his values when everything around him says the opposite of what he believes. Yeah, yeah. I think that's what's so resonant about it, right? It takes place in Brazil in 1977. There's a dictatorship.

It was a heavy dictatorship. It was a heavy dictatorship. From 64 to 85. I was it right off the bat, I didn't know much about this movie going into it, and there's a scene that kicks it off where you drive into a gas station, there's a dead body that is there. that the police aren't going to deal with they haven't dealt with for days. And the police come and they shake you down for money. For money. And it just established this tension that felt very resonant right now in a time where we're all feeling a certain tension about the government and what have you. And this film was able to sort of sum up this feeling within seconds.

I felt like that felt very fresh and new to me to see that represented on screen. Yeah, it's a scene that sort of establishes like the logic of a detective. I would even say the logic of Brazil, because the dictatorship ended in 85, but it didn't really end in 85. I mean, the echoes of the dictatorship are still there. When we elected a far-right president in 2018, that man was sort of like a physical manifestation

of those echoes. Yes. You talk about it. I mean, Bolsonaro, you've had a relationship with, at least in terms of you guys, you dated for a while, right? I just, I received this, one of the, this film has been, you know, we've been having an amazing career since Cannes. It's been great. And one of the awards that we received and I went up there to thank, I thanked him. I was like, thank you, because without him, we would never have done this film because this film comes from the director, Clubber Mendonso, Filio, and I, sharing our perplexity over what was going on in Brazil from 2018 to 2022. when this man came, elected democratically,

but he came to bring back the values of the dictatorship to Brazil in the 21st century. So we were perplexed, and we were calling each other to go, like, how can we deal with that? How can we react to that? So this is how the film, like, came about. I mean, that is so fascinating. Essentially, you're articulating a resurrection

of a loss of values or a resurrection of the values of dictatorship. And then having to articulate that through art. Like, what do you connect that to? I think there's such a desire here. People feel like we're living under these, we see these fascistic police state images on the news. And there's a lot of conversation around,

like, how do we just get past this? Philly, you're talking about getting past this, but not actually getting past this, seeing this resurgence there. Like, what did you want to articulate in having lived through? I think that preservation of memory is a very important thing. You know, back in 79, we had this law called the Amnesty Law that basically forgave all the torturers and killers and people that did despicable things to civilians. And I think that there was a very, there was a very bad thing for our collective memory or

our lack of memory because, you know, there are things that cannot be forgotten. There are things that cannot be forgiven. And I think that Brazil, I have to say, is finally getting even with that memory problem when we finally sent people that attempted against democracy in Brazil to jail for the first time. So Bolsonaro himself is now in jail. And I think that this, thank you.

And I hope that this is going to be a new phase for young Brazilian world. Bolsonaro would never have existed. never had existed politically if it wasn't because of that law that made people forget how bad a detective ship. Yes. I mean, the movie reckons with that idea of memory as well. There's a narrative device that transports us to the future to sort of see people grappling

with the stories of the past. And it's very tenuous. You see how easily the stories of the past can be lost if it's not for the vigilant in the present. Yeah, yeah. It's about generational trauma because a... Many people had to live with that, you know, like, because in a dictatorship, people would just disappear.

And you couldn't go like, you couldn't call the police, you couldn't hire a lawyer, it's just that. You had to deal with that. So one of the characters of the film, in the end of the film, he receives from a woman from the future, a Brazilian from the future, a piece of memory in terms of in a form of a pain drive. And that man can't deal with that information

because the trauma is too big. So again, I hope that. that from now on will be able to deal with our memory and with our past. I'm curious about your experience. Before this film, you also directed a film that was very unpopular with the Bolsonaro administration, Bolsonaro himself.

That's this one, too. Yes. So you want to make something a little more mainstream? They don't like it. No? No. But the film, but it's interesting, because of course, the country is totally polarized as the US

and I guess the entire world. But the film also became an unexpected blockbuster in Brazil. Because many people engaged with the film and went to see the film and rooting for us during this award season, which is very beautiful. The engagement that Brazilians are having with our films. It's very beautiful because this fascist governments,

as you know well, first thing that they do is they attack journalists, university, and artists. And they were very effective in transforming artists in Brazil into the enemies of the people. There's this intellectual, elite in Brazil that is against the people. And which is insane because there is another elite that they work for.

That's the elite that's against the people. But they were very effective with that kind of propaganda. So to see nowadays, Brazilians rooting for a cultural product, a film, their artists, and it's actually really beautiful. Because Brazil is a very unique country culturally. It's this gigantic country in South America. that speaks Portuguese with people from all over the world is a very diverse and beautiful country.

So I feel again that we are finally getting back on track. I mean, it is a remarkably entertaining film. It feels like watching a great 70s film with like such thoughtful pacing, but also a human story, that you're watching somebody, just a moral person trying to stay good. I guess I'm curious, this plays in Brazil, and you've gotten feedback there, and now,

especially with the Golden Gras, Globe winds. Like, what are you hoping an American audience who's seeing this for the first time, living through the time that we are living in? What are you hoping that they resonate with with a movie like this? I think, I mean, when I did this film

called Civil War a couple of years ago, which is a film about the aftermath of a polarized situation, right? That could, you know, that in that case led to a civil war. But polarization, I think it's the biggest thing that can lead to social, conflicts nowadays and it's a big threat to democracy. And I remember that back then I was saying that

Brazilians were really fasting because what happened in Brazil, like an election denier, empowered their people to go to the institutions and break things down and invade the institutions. It was exactly the same thing that happened here, happened in Brazil. But Brazil was very fast in finding who the financiers war and sending people to jail,

Bolsonaro lost his political powers and everything. He's now in jail. And the reason why I think Brazil did, that is precisely because we know what a dictatorship is. We know how bad it is. And I was very concerned with the fact that sometimes I think, or I thought back then, that Americans take democracy for granted. And democracy is something that has to be,

It has to be, you have to fight for it every day. Yeah. But I, but now I think differently. I think that now I see American citizens in the American institutions sort of waking up. Do you see that? You know what? I, I, I will say, I can speak from myself. There is resistance.

You know what, I see, I see a veil dropping with the general trust that we had in institutions. I will say even as somebody who grew up in the Midwest, there was just a general baseline trust in our institutions that they would be the things that brought us back to the core American values. And I think what is becoming realized, at least to me and a lot of people I see, is that like those ideas of institutions that hold things up or what an American ideal or what our morality is are simply decided upon by people in the moment

and the ways in which they fight for those things. The institutions will not save you. who sort of fight for those things and uphold those moralistic points of doing that do. Yes, that's a word. And so I think that, I see people grappling with that now is you're not gonna be saved by that person that you hope.

The person you vote for is not necessarily gonna be your savior. You have to create a collective action. Exactly. And morality is not just something. Like I think what's so scary about this, Trump administration, too, is that we used to believe, the politicians had to give you the lie as to what the American morality was. And now the politicians,

longer feel that need to lie to you about American morality. They feel like they can impose it upon you. Yes, yes. That's a worry about. Everything is clear. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, there's no, yeah, that's a very strong point. Did you have, you had, you studied journalism, did you not?

I did, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Do you still feel a connection to that as an actor? I do, and I think that journalism is such an important thing, such an important pillar of democracy, is not by chance that any autocrat, attacks, they attack journalism. You know, what really scares me nowadays, and I've said that before, is that the truth, as we know it,

is kind of over. People are living, the facts. I remember a time where, I mean, I'm a left-winger man, and then, but we had, like, discussions in Brazil, the left and the right would discuss and we would fight, but we would discuss over the same thing, over the same fact. And I think that now facts, they don't matter anymore.

It's about versions. People have versions of the truth. And that I think is very scary, especially with the development of technology where you can see now you speaking and it's you, it's your face, it's your voice, but it's not you. And how can we deal with that kind of thing? We're now all given plausible deniability to. to the things that we see, which I fear leads to apathy and distrust. I mean, it's curious.

I'm talking to you right here, you're very open and engaged politically, which I don't always see with high-profile actors. You know, it seems as if, like, your ability to engage with these conversations in art and publicly, like that comes with a risk. Like, do you see that as a responsibility with you? Like, activism and performance, they don't always make beautiful bedpilies. Yeah, I don't see that. I think that as a responsibility.

I think that this is me. This is how I behave as a human being, and that's also why I'm drawn to political projects, because it's something that I like and that... But I don't see that as a responsibility, because there are also the pressure to so-called public figures to go out there and speak, I don't think that's even fair,

because many people are not ready to talk. And the backlash is very strong. And you have to be strong enough, to be strong enough to, you know, to, yeah, to resist there, to survive that backlash. And not everybody's ready for that. Yeah, yeah. Well, the movie is fantastic.

I really hope people go see it. Congratulations on everything. Thank you. Guys, the secret agent. The theater is right. Howard, do you like to say something? What's amazing is that the president has the leadership and common sense to drive the right outcomes.

Why should kids not be given the choice to drink cold milk? How is that even possible? So it's amazing to work for you because you just own common sense. Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by searching The Daily Show, wherever you get your podcasts. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.

This show is supported by Odu. When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up, and it gets complicated and confusing. Odu solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on features you need. Check out O-D-O-O-O-O- dot com. That's O-D-O-O-O-O-com.