The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Trump Talks S**t at the U.N., Rebrands AI as "Superintelligence" & Praises Mamdani | Tom Morello

Episode Date: September 23, 2026

Desi Lydic dives into the headlines with Trump’s press ban leaving him speechless (literally, he has no mic anymore). Plus, "AI" is out and “super intelligence” is in as the president coins a new term for his favorite humanity-threatening technology. And at the U.N., Trump’s passion for AI and starting beef come together as he dunks on other countries (and CNN), though by the looks of things, their delegates couldn’t care less. Either way, at least he still got to bro out with his favorite socialist Zohran Mamdani before leaving NYC. The great thing about America is anyone can run for office, and no one exemplifies that more than John Alite, a former mob enforcer turned New Jersey councilman. After doing time for "every crime you could think about," Alite turned his back on his hitman days and became a public servant in Englishtown, NJ. Josh Johnson had a sit-down with Alite to see how his extensive resume of bad deeds puts him in a unique position to do some good for his fellow New Jerseyans, and to find out whether this goodfella's redemption story is too good to be true. Grammy-winning artist Tom Morello sits down with Desi to discuss his new solo album, “Everyone Gets Everything They Want.” Morello shares how this is the heaviest thing he’s made since the first Rage Against the Machine album, how he lured his 15-year-old son, Roman, into a guitar career using “Stairway to Heaven” and how Roman ended up co-writing five songs on the album. He also discusses his upcoming festival, Power to the People, and credits his late activist mother, Mary, as the reason he believes every guitar riff can be an act of resistance. -- 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

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Where some see heroes and others see egos. Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. A fad to some, the future of money to others. We see crypto's trillion dollar swings. The end of jobs or the end of human struggle. We see the endless funds fueling the AI, while others follow the noise we follow the money

learn more at bloomberg.com you're listening to Comedy Central from the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central it's America's only source for news this is the daily show with your host Desi Lyons the White House press pool New Jersey continues to be a parody of itself and it's the UN General Assembly

when all the world's countries come together to see if they can get a guest spot on subway takes. So let's get into the headlines. He knows by now Donald Trump banned several news outlets whose coverage he hates, including MS Now, Politico, CNN, and Salad Digest. By now, all those news outlets are gone

except for CNN, who left behind a suspicious new janitor named Bolf Glitzer. You get that story, Bolf. This is obviously a sad story, especially for female journalists. I mean, where are they going to find someone to insult their looks and call them Piggy now? What's that? Oh, the entire internet?

Oh, that's great. So now, in an act of solidarity, all the TV networks have pulled their coverage and boycotted White House events. Yes. Fox News joined the boycott. Fox News! The channel whose lead story last night was, President Has Massive Hog. This is the smartest thing Fox News has done since tricking Trump into taking Pete Hegsteth away from them. But while the media is all ghosting him, I'm sure that won't stop President Trump from getting the word out.

Let's see if we can pick up some of the sound from President Trump here in that new helipad. Okay, so there is no microphone because there's no microphone because the pool cameras aren't there. I'm sorry. You're going to have to speak up. I can't hear you over the sound of you stepping on your own dick. It is so peaceful, not hearing his voice. I mean, I can finally be alone with my thoughts. Not there. Dear Network's boycotted Trump's helipad reveal,

we here at The Daily Show, we're able to obtain exclusive audio of what he said because the president's words matter. And the American people deserve to hear the important things that he's saying. Did anyone ever tell you guys you look like this? the village people. What a great band. And they weren't all gay, by the way, just musselie. If you cover your body in oil and assless chaps, people start to assume, you know. But sometimes you just want to show off a straight, firm ass. This guy gets it.

Anyway, quick question, what's a helipad? Fascinating. Fascinating stuff. So banning the media obviously backfired on Trump and yet another one of his recent losses. The Supreme Court struck down his war on mail-in voting, the Fed raised interest rates, Spanx just discontinued their line of ankle girdles. But Trump needs right now is a little pick-me-up. Maybe he needs to spend some time with someone he loves. No, not her.

No, not them. Come on, I'm talking about the person who's the wallpaper on his phone. President Trump met with New York City Mayor Zoron Mamdani at Gracie Manchin. Though they're on opposite ends of the political world, obviously, they actually appeared friendly yesterday. I want him to be a great mayor, and he certainly got potential. Got great potential. So hopefully you're going to be a great one.

I'll be able to say you're going to be a great one, and you're off to a start. You're just such a great mayor, and you've done so much, and you know what? You don't have to say it back, but I love you, okay? I just said it. I love you. Every time I see these two guys together, it reminds me of when I see videos in my feet of random animals being friends.

The cat knows the duck is a Muslim socialist, right? Only one confused by their relationship. Mr. Mayor, there aren't too many Democrats who would roll out the red carpet for Donald Trump. The president said that he hopes that you'll be a great mayor. I wonder what your thoughts are about that. I want to ask you a little bit about how this meeting came about. Could you tell us a little more? Did you invite him?

Did you reach out to him? And what did you guys do inside? Did you show him around? Did you show him what's new? Yeah, uh, follow up. What is with you two? What is happening? Acting the same way I do when my hottest friend dates someone weird looking.

So he's funny, right? Or has he already paid off his house? Now, as much as Trump and Mom Dani were all buddy-buddy, there was one important constitutional matter where they differed. What's your response to President Trump banning outlets from the White House grounds? I told the president that we're going to have all of the members of the press here on the lawn, and that is something that I believe in is everyone, no matter the opinion or the critique, that we engage. Mr. President.

It's interesting because they said they were going to boycott me, but they never boycott me. So I wasn't very worried about that. Look at all that press. Three different approaches to the First Amendment here. It's a real good cop constitutional crisis cop situation. Mom Dani's like, I believe in the free press, and Trump's like, tell me how my ass tastes. Just come to New York to bro out with Mom Dani. It's the UN General Assembly this week, so he'll be meeting with leaders from all around the world to try to solve all the problems caused by himself.

One of the biggest problems right now is AI, which many experts worry is on the brink of wiping out humanity. Luckily, at his speech, Trump offered a solution. The United States also totally rejects any attempt to construct a global scheme to control for the artificial intelligence here and after officially called super intelligence, changing the name. I mean, that's a relief. Here, I was scared of artificial intelligence, but now I'd be honored to be murdered by super intelligence. Problem solved. Let's not focus entirely on renaming AI when there's other pressing issues facing the world. world. From this point forward, all of United States documents and hopefully the world's will be changed to use the much more accurate term, super as opposed to artificial. So it's super intelligence. In other words, welcome to the new world of superintelligence dash SI.

Did you just say dash SI? Intelligence. Congrats on reading the punctuation on the prompter. He's going to say SI. That's already what we call Sports Illustrated. It's taken. You of all people should respect Sports Illustrated. The swimsuit issue is your favorite book. This is so embarrassing for America. We're all used to Trump's weird obsession with rebranding things, but this is in front of the world. It's the geopolitical version of your dad walking around in his underwear when your friends are over. Oh my God, Dad, Trinidad and Tobago can see your butt crack. But Trump didn't spend. the whole speech trying to make super intelligence happen. He also spent plenty of time doing his usual

routine, picking fights with as many countries as possible. Cuba, where the communist regime is under great pressure, it's an absolutely failed state. Mexico is the epicenter of the cartel violence. The cowards and traders would love to say the United States is low on munitions, but that's not true. Do I annihilate the Islamic Republic? Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope? I have never seen someone so unbothered by the threat of annihilation. ...about destroying his country and this man doesn't even look like he's paying attention. Imagine what he must be thinking. Only one tired of the Trump shtick. Look at how Cuba reacted to his threats. It's failing like never before and it will fall. Mark,

Rubio is handling a negotiation. He's deep into negotiations with Cuba. Let's see what happens. We'll not allow a haven for foreign adversaries to threaten America. The thing is for somebody to walk out while you're threatening them? Trump was like, you want to go?

And they were like, yeah, I do. I'm very bored. I do. I want to go. But I think it's very telling that even after spending the whole speech going agro on the world, Trump still found time for his archist nemesis. It's an honor to be here.

I'm surprised that CNN is here covering me. You shouldn't be here. You should not be here covering me. You said you weren't gonna cover me. You shouldn't be covering with you. I say this as a woman, and with all due respect to women everywhere. But have you ever seen such a bitch?

What the press ban is about. It's what all the UN threats are about. Yes, this man is a wannabe authoritarian, but he's also a wannabe real housewife. Picking fights where, wherever he goes, whenever he can because he's a messy bitch who lives for the drama. Look, if you're worried about what Trump might do and the cameras aren't on him, don't be. Because this thirsty attention slut would never let that happen.

After all, without the media there to fight with, Trump would have to be alone with his own thoughts. Whatever those are. We meet New Jersey. Where some see heroes and others see egos. Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. A fad to some, the future of money to others. We see crypto's trillion dollar swings, the end of jobs, or the end of human struggle. We see the endless funds fueling the AI hype.

While others follow the noise, we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com. But how low has it gotten? Josh Johnson went to find out. The great thing about America is that anyone can run for office, no matter where you came from or what you did, like New Jersey City Councilman John Elite. I was a street guy and enforcer for the Gambino family. Whoa, the mafia? Am I in mortal danger? Or maybe he worked on the admin side and did mostly filing and emails. Murder, racketeering, gambling, loan sharking, robberies, drug, the and every crime you could think about, I did.

Oh, man, okay. And yes, John did spend 14 years in prison, but he was released in 2012 after testifying against John Gotti Jr. But I'm sure that's all behind him, and he doesn't want to dwell on his hitman past. Here's a list about 67 names off the top of my head. Most of them I'm alone when I'm doing this against two or three or four guys.

I had five guys that I went against who stabbed me up. I went against two guys they shot me up. I went against several guys that baseball batted me. I was hit by a car and dragged. All right, you're sitting a little uptight. I'm good. Okay. Yeah, I'm great.

So do you find that all of this experience has really set you up perfectly for city council? I mean, you can be a judge. Do you think anybody's going to be able to out-hustle? me or talk bull crap to me and me not see through it after everything and all my experience. I mean, if you're asking me, if I think that you're like ineffective or anything, I never said. Like, I wouldn't say that. Like, I didn't say it and I wouldn't say it. Now, even though I wouldn't say it to his face, I was skeptical.

A politician from the mafia is only going to care about mafia issues, right? Is there something that you're the proudest of having done as a city councilman? Well, the redevelopment of Englishtown. still looking at things that could cause safety hazards. Street lights are important. So if kids riding his bike and the lights not working, possibly gets hit by a car and get killed. Street lights turns out a mafia guy cares about living in a safe city too.

And combined with his unconventional ways of persuasion, he might actually be able to solve some issues. There's property taxes. Oh, okay. Let's say there's some deficiencies in like school lunches for the kids, something like that. I'm the deciding vote, and I'm like, I don't even like kids. Now, you've got to twist my arm to make this happen.

How are you going to phrase it? And by the way, your wife, I understand, is having a baby very soon. You think that she's going to like that. You are going against children. It's not like you've got to yell and threaten them. You can just tell them nicely, listen, this is going to happen, matter of fact. Yeah, I mean, you have me at wife. As soon as you said your wife, you really do this.

That's good. Okay. Wow. Ron's extensive resume in doing harm has perfectly prepared him for preventing harm. And he believes he's following a long tradition. You know why they should have ex-mops of politicians? Because our politicians are all corrupt. They do everything gangsters used to do, by the way.

They were all filthy rich. Mitch McConnell, Pelosi, any of them. So when you see Mitch McConnell, you see like a gangster. I see a gangster. I see right through him. True. What could be more terrifying, than a powerful copo like Mitch the Turtle.

So yes, John is sick of corrupt, self-serving, morally bankrupt politicians. But there is one exception. You know why I love Trump? He says what he wants to say, and I like that. Does he remind you of a mobster a little bit? A guy who loves money, loves power, demands loyalty. These seem like some mobster tendencies. Never really thought about that.

Maybe that's why I love him so much. I guess old loyalties die hard. But even if he and Trump are still good fellas, at least in these strange times, New Jersey has a politician who can deal with literally anything. So I know what it is to get stabbed in the head with an ice pick. I had my head like this. Good life lesson.

An inspiring story, a mafia hitman becoming a public servant. It really is. It's always great when someone can put prison life behind them. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, tell us what is Mr. Elite up to now? He is back in prison. Yeah, after our field piece, he may or may not, or definitely was charged with loan sharking.

Oh, oh, that's, that sounds really bad. What, are you a cop? You know, look, all he did was loan someone money at an exorbitant rate and allegedly threatened to cause serious bodily harm if they didn't pay him back on time. It's basically a speeding ticket. Well, I'm glad that he's back behind bars and that that person is now safe. Not exactly.

Whoever owes him money still owes him the money. And these people do not forget. In fact, they're probably trying to track this young black man down right now. He was just trying to turn his life around, and the ponies seemed like a sure thing. Well, hopefully that young black man will get the help he needs. That depends on whether he has a generous co-worker willing to help him out. Well, hopefully they will be able to... Hopefully she will.

Hopefully she will. Desi, I need $5,000. All right. Josh Johnson, everyone. Where some see heroes and others see egos. Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. While others follow the noise, we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com.

You're a winning musician and activist whose new solo album is called Everyone Gets Everything They Want. He's also the founder and curator of the upcoming festival, Power to the People. Please welcome. Tom Lowe. Very nice to see you. It is so nice to see you. Thank you for being here. My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Tom Morello, legendary guitarist, rock and roll hall of fame inductee. I just learned that you didn't pick up the guitar until you were 17 years old. That's correct. I started very, very late. I had only heard of one other guitar player in history that had started that late and made records. You know who it was? Who wasn't?

Robert Johnson, who had to sell his soul to the devil to get good. Oh my God. Given my Catholic background, I wasn't gonna make the trip to the crossroads. So I just, I just had to practice my ass off. It's very smart. I love hearing about how your journey

to discovering your own unique sound. Yeah, yeah. You started with the guitar that was frustrating to you. It was based on consecutive failures. I took some lessons at 13. I wanted to learn a Led Zeppelin song. They wanted to teach me how to tune the guitar. It seemed like a huge waste of time.

So it sat in my closet for four years. Then I got a guitar and I could never find the right guitar tone that I wanted. And so I finally just gave up and accepted the guitar tone that I had. And that's the guitar tone I've had on 22 consecutive records. Unbelievable. I think that is such a beautiful lesson in embracing the... Failure, abject failure. No.

Embracing what is and making something, making something unique, making it your own. I think that's so inspiring. Yeah, and then one of the things that sort of all roads have kind of led to this record. And one of them was certainly, I was in a band before Rage Against the Machine, and we put out a record with perhaps the worst name in the history of Western music. The album was called Something Bitchin This Way Comes. I'm terribly sorry. But then that band got. What was the Bichin thing?

What was the something that was Bichin? It's best left. But the lesson from that was another abject that record came out. No one paid any intention to it. But we made that record. We listened to what everybody told us. The producer, what they said, what the record company said. The record came out.

It was, you know, I had wanted to be a rock star. I wanted to make albums. I was 27 years old. I've been dropped from my label. And I thought, well, I'm never, none of that stuff's going to happen, but I'm still a musician. And so I made a solemn vow on that day that I was never going to play another note of music that I didn't believe in.

And that's when I began working on songs that would eventually become rage against the machine songs, songs that would eventually become this record right here. I want to talk about this album. This is your first solo rock album with your name on it. That's correct. Yeah, I've made folk albums. I've made collaborative records, but this really is like, it's the 22nd record of my career,

but it's like the first solo rock record. And I wanted to do something that had embraced the best of what I do, from the big, huge, Morellian riffs to the crazy R2D2 or barnyard animal guitar noises. You know, it's just like the folk side and sort of the Springsteen Dylan stuff that I love very much too. But my muse on this record has really been

my 15-year-old son, Roman, who's a very, you know, is kind of a prodigy of a guitar player, and he co-wrote five of the songs on the record. And, you know, it's... At 15 years old. At 15 years. I mean, we've been touring together

for the last three years. He's played with me in front of over two million people over the course of the last three summers. And, you know, it's two things. Two things I'll say. One is that I just listen at his bedroom door and I poach his best riffs, and I put him on my record right here.

And then if we have like a band meaning and we have like disagreements, I just send him to his room. Excellent dad, too. I feel like you're the kind of dad who's like, son, you better turn that music up and fuck out. That was surprising. Some things you catch yourself saying some of the parental tropes and I try to like.

Not you. Not you. What was, is it true that you tricked him into learning the guitar? I did. I did. Well, your kids never want to, you know, do what you do for a living. and but he was a fan of Led Zeppelin.

And so during the pandemic, there was a lot of time, you know, on Zoom school and, you know, playing Fortnite with his friends was very, very boring. So one day I said to him, give me five minutes and I'll teach you the first three notes of stairway to heaven, right? I could probably teach any of you, give me five minutes. We've got it. We have five minutes. Everyone get out your guitars.

My lessons have gotten more expensive. But he said, comedy Central cannot say. He said, I'll give you four minutes. I thought, you know, fine. So I taught him the first three notes, and you can, that was doable. The next day I said, give me four more minutes. So we learned the first six notes of Starry to Heaven. And then the third day, he said, Dad, can we learn the next bit?

And so that's when I hooked him. And from that day to this, he's been playing out. He's already put in his 10,000 hours and it shows. Oh, you must be so proud of it. He's fantastic. The album is so fantastic. When you were writing this and playing on this, did you envision a particular audience that you were writing for? Well, I mean, I've always sort of gone to the beat in my own dorm,

but I wanted to make, like, the heaviest record that I've made since the first rage against the machine record. But also, this is a record that it's like it's rebellion as self-care, you know, in these troubled times. And it's also music as resistance in a time. I mean, first of all, every act of art now is an act of resistance. You know, every truth spoken, you know, every truth spoken is a glimmer of light in the gathering darkness. and every riff rocked can serve as a bulwark against the rising tide of authoritarianism. That's what this record is.

I want to talk about power to the people. Sure. You founded, curated this incredible event October 3rd. Is that right? Yeah. Just outside of D.C. You, foo fighters, Dave Matthews Band, Springsteen. Talk about this event.

Cyprus Hill, Public Enemy, Joan Baez. You know, it's like, you know, there's... Jack, Jack Black and his band of little kids, we call Jack Sabbath Romans in that band too. So, yeah, no one wants to go on after them. Everybody's fighting to not follow them on the bill, right? But yeah, so the idea, it's a festival, it's not just hyperbole or promo. It's a festival of peace, love, justice, and music. In a time where war is being celebrated, this is a festival of peace.

In a time where, like, hatred and division are the norm. This is a festival of love. in a time where in justice we see meet it out every day at home and abroad. This is a festival that celebrates justice. And in a world of a lot of shitty music, we're going to have nothing but awesome jams. Hell yeah. I think at this point, you are just as known for your political activism as you are as a brilliant artist. When, at what point did you realize that those two things could intersect?

Yeah, well, that's a good question because I, you know, I've had the same kind of political North Star since I was 16, 17 years old. And then what got in the way of it was my finding, having the calling to play electorate. guitar. I did not choose that. It chose me. And sort of being stuck with that, I've had to throughout my entire career, you know, from my high school band to today, have tried to find a way to weave my convictions into my vocation. For me, the North Star of that was artists, whether it was from the clash to Public Enemy, to Bruce Springsteen, to Woody Guthrie, who had found a way in their own authentic voice to say what they have to say while making compelling music. And that's the, you know, the one thing about that I've, you know, in playing the Power of People concert,

and every night at my own shows is you try to create a little bit of the world that you'd like to one day see on that night. A world of unity, a world of celebrating resistance, a world of having a great time while rocking out despite the fact that the world has absolutely gone to hell. And then the courage you feel in that concert hall hopefully becomes contagious and people take it beyond the concert hall. Yes. Got someone in your household that must have been a big inspiration when it comes to activism, your mom, Mary. Sure, sure. My mom, Mary Morello, who recently passed away at 102 years old, was the most radical and the most popular member of the Morello family by a wide margin. She lived a very humble yet purposeful and powerful life. You know, from the 1930s where she fed hobos on the back porch during the Great Depression to raising war bonds to stop the Nazis in World War II, to opposing Jim Crow laws in the 50s, to supporting anti-colonial movements in Africa in the 60s. She helped. you know, hundreds of people get their GED at the Salvation Army and, you know, marched against wars for oil, et cetera, et cetera. For her 100th birthday, she had two wishes. One was to feed the

hungry at the Midnight Mission in downtown L.A. And two was to walk the picket line for striking hotel workers in Beverly Hills, which she did in her wheelchair. And her life was one that, you know, was, but the most radical and the most, the craziest most dangerous thing she ever did was allow my punk rock band in high school to practice in the basement. And without that, we would not be here today. That is badass. Well, listen, you, you, rock and roll hall of fame, you've sold over 30 million records. You're trying to stop fascism.

Is there anything? All in a day's work. All in a day's work. Is there anything that you would still really love to do that you haven't done yet? Yeah, I mean, I look at this way. Like every show, the next show I anticipate, I'm going to do everything I can to make it the best show I ever played. The next record I make the best.

best record ever made. The next guitar solo, the one that's going to blow your mind the most. I think that I'm at the beginning of my career, and I've never been sort of more fired up at a time where, you know, hopefully we're all fired up because no one's coming to save us but us. History is not something that happens. History is something that we make. And it's now and it's now and ever. Thank you for your work. Thank you for all that you do. Where some see heroes and others see egos, Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. While others follow the noise, we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com.

I'm here for one reason aside from the fact that I love Nebraska. I shouldn't say this, but I love Nebraska better than sex. Not really. Okay, but I love Nebraska. Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by searching The Daily Show, wherever you get your podcasts. 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.

Where some see heroes and others see egos. Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. A fad to some, the future of money to others. We see crypto's trillion dollar swings. The end of jobs or the end of human struggle. We see the endless funds. dueling the AI hype. While others follow the noise,

we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com.