The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Trump Thanks Qatar for Their Generous Jet Bribe & Accidentally Does a Socialism | General Stanley McChrystal

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

After Trump teased an upcoming "big announcement" last week, Jon Stewart contemplates what news Americans are supposed to be so psyched for: the possible suspension of d]cess, Trump's appointment of F...ox News host Jeanine Pirro as D.C. district attorney, Qatar's $400 million luxury jet "gift" for Trump, or lower prices on the "fat shot drug"? Retired four-star general who served 34 years in the U.S. Army, General Stanley McChrystal, sits down with Jon to discuss his book "On Character: Choices that Define a Life." They talk about leading a national conversation on character, employing empathy in war to negotiate with ideological warriors and mercenaries, what upset him most about Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth’s Signal chat leak, and how his wife taught him to live “with no use for the rear view mirror.” In 2024, 70% of nationwide elections went uncontested. The Daily Show knows that when we don’t have choices, democracy suffers, so we’re partnering with HeadCount for “InDecision: Take a Seat,” to shine a light on vital offices and encourage you to throw your hat in the ring. Learn more at TheDailyShow.com/TakeASeat.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 You're listening to an iHeart podcast. 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, John Stewart. Thank you very much. Man, welcome to The Daily Show. We got one for you tonight. My name is John Stewart. What a program we have designed for you, à la carte.
Starting point is 00:00:58 It's going to be fantastic. Our guest tonight, General Stanley McChrystal will be doing with me. He wrote a book. Chances are I will McRib him about the McRack war. Alright, first, President Donald Trump. God, no, no, no! Respect his authoritar. Honestly, so much comes at us every day with him. I can't even sleep, organize, thoughts, eat.
Starting point is 00:01:37 I just. And he knows. He knows he's toying with us. Here he is on Tuesday of last week. We're gonna have a very, very big announcement to make. Like, as big as it gets, and I won't tell you on what. Oh. Oh, good.
Starting point is 00:02:03 So we won't know how to prepare. Should we wear our good pants? Or the ones we piss in? But fine. Don't tell us this big announcement. Just tell us when. And that announcement will be made either Thursday or Friday or Monday before we leave. Why are you mentioning it? Is it Sweep Sweep?
Starting point is 00:02:35 Is that what this is? But fine. We will keep our eyes out for any announcement bombshells. And on Friday, I think we got one. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion so to say that's an option we're actively looking at. The government, the United States government is actively looking at suspending due process and then the rule of law. That's a big announcement. Big enough for Stephen Miller to risk bursting into flames
Starting point is 00:03:13 because of the touch of God's sunlight. The only time a president has done it unilaterally without the without the authorization of Congress was Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. That was less really so back when slavery was legal and the treatment for diarrhea was amputation. But that being said this is a big announcement. As you know, you know ability of somebody to challenge their rights in courts is a pretty essential. As you know, you know, the ability of somebody to challenge their rights in courts is a pretty essential part of the rule of law.
Starting point is 00:03:48 So certainly raising a lot of eyebrows with that comment. Just... just eyebrows? Just... The Trump administration is thinking of tearing up the Constitution. So here in Washington, we're hearing a lot of, huh. One legal scholar even said, that's weird. So maybe that's the announcement. Suspension of habeas corpus, unless there's something else.
Starting point is 00:04:12 President Trump is appointing former New York prosecutor Janine Pirro as interim U.S. attorney. You may say to yourself, well that can't be the announcement, because that's just not that big a deal. Yet in this new world that we live in, this announcement registers the same as suspending habeas corpus on the eyebrow-o-meter. Jeanine Pirro, a lot of eyebrows are being raised at this pick so far. Yeah, yeah. Hey, hey, hey, Jeanine! You're going to be the new US Attorney in DC!
Starting point is 00:04:50 Yeah, I know! We're surprised too! That is, by the way, the sound. Oh, also they're suspending habeas corpus. That is, by the way, the sound. Oh, also they're suspending habeas corpus. Say it. So maybe, maybe that's the big announcement. But hey, we've got until today for any other announcements. Is there anything else?
Starting point is 00:05:34 The Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar. That luxury jumbo jet, which has a value estimated at $400 million. The aircraft would be used by President Trump as a new Air Force One, and then transferred to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation shortly before he leaves office. What? Cutter is giving us a plane that Trump gets to keep.
Starting point is 00:06:05 He's like the reverse Oprah. I get a jet and that's it. I get a jet for my library. Why does his library need a jet? Why would your presidential library need a jet? Yeah, hello, I'm calling from Europe and I need a book about Trump by morning. And the book must travel in the comfort and style one can only get from Qatar.
Starting point is 00:06:33 It's known as the most luxurious private jet in the world described as a flying palace. It features the biggest master bedroom in the sky, as well as some very plush living quarters and several private offices. Some of the nine bathrooms on board have full showers and even a bidet. Oh.
Starting point is 00:06:57 I didn't even know water could go there, okay. Holy crap. That is not a plane. That is a flying f*** palace. I'm not going to tell Trump how to run his business, but I would steam the shit out of those carpets. But hey, it's a jet from Qatar. We can trust them.
Starting point is 00:07:20 They're not suspect like Canada, or working to undermine us like all of our other democratic allies in Europe. Qatar is considered an American ally, but it is also an ally of Iran and China and even Hamas. Oh, Trump's going to take a $400 million jet from people he would expel from Columbia University. I think, you know what? This is shocking.
Starting point is 00:07:49 This is shocking. I think I know what this news might do to our eye pubes. It raises many, many eyebrows to have this sort of deal at all. Actually, that's how the plane flies. It overcomes Earth's gravity through the power of the raised eyebrows. Look, obviously, the president would understand that a gift of this magnitude from a government with questionable ties to terror organizations combined with Article 1, Section 9, constitutional prohibition against the president accepting a foreign flying f*** palace, he would understand that that's a legitimate...
Starting point is 00:08:37 I'm just kidding, he was appalled that you'd even ask. They're giving us a free jet. I could say, no, no, no, don't give us... I want to pay you a billion or 400 million or whatever it is. Or I could say, no, no, no, don't give us, I want to pay you a billion or 400 million or whatever it is. Or I could say, thank you very much. It's not a free jet. That's the point.
Starting point is 00:08:58 You know the expression, there's no such thing as a free lunch? That's about being skeptical of the motives of somebody who gives you a sandwich. A sandwich. A BLT. Now, imagine that that BLT has an engine, nine bathrooms, and funds proxy wars. So in the dizzying run up to this big announcement
Starting point is 00:09:23 of the possible suspension of habeas corpus or maybe the appointment of another Fox News star or the naked bribery of our highest elected officials, none of those were Trump's big announcement. President Trump just announced that prescription drug and pharmaceutical prices will be reduced by 30 to 80% almost immediately. This appears to be the major announcement that the president has been teasing for days. I am having wanted that for years. Pharma has exploited the American consumer while we have in turn subsidized their whole
Starting point is 00:09:56 industry with tax incentives and direct funds. I like this. But without getting into the weeds, explain this thing that I've wanted for a very long time, like I'm incredibly dumb. Drug prices will come down. We're getting them down 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%. But actually more than that, if you think about it in the way mathematically. If you think about it mathematically, I don't want to brag, but I often think about numbers
Starting point is 00:10:35 mathematically. How is this going to work? The rest of the world is going to have to pay a little bit more and America is going to pay a lot less. Basically, what we're doing is equalizing. There's a new word that I came up with which I think is probably the best word we're going to equalize. Europe, Eureka, Euclid. Yeah, here it is. Equalize.
Starting point is 00:11:13 I thought it sounded familiar. Yeah, here it is. Equalize. I thought it sounded familiar. Look. He's trying to kill us all. Look, I would like to think that the tenacious pleadings of progressive leaders like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders helped make this possible. We are sick and tired of paying by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.
Starting point is 00:11:59 I'm going to attack the prices on commonly used drugs. Put a cap on the cost of insulin, a cap on the cost of insulin, a cap on the cost of prescription drugs. And not one of those child caps that you can't. And I have diarrhea. What's happening? Unfortunately, it turns out
Starting point is 00:12:19 credit for the biggest, most important announcement in the history of this presidency goes to someone else. I mean, I'll tell you a story. A friend of mine who's a business man, very, very, very top guy. Most of you would have heard of him. A highly neurotic, brilliant businessman, seriously overweight. That took a turn.
Starting point is 00:12:57 Top guy, brilliant, you know him, famous, bit of a chubbs. Anyway, I'm sure a public press coverage is a rough way for this guy to find out that he is saved in Trump's phone as neurotic fat friend. But what else can you tell us about this friend who's very famous successful businessman? A highly neurotic, brilliant businessman, seriously overweight, and he takes the fat shot drug. The fat shot? Do you read any of your briefings? The fat, he takes the fat shot. You know, the fat shot. I got another friend, brilliant, real estate mogul.
Starting point is 00:13:51 He takes the dick stiff bills. This guy takes the fat shot. This guy takes the dick stiff bills. I'm sorry, continue the story about this fat of a friend of yours. And he called me up and he said, uh, President, could I ask you a question? I'm in London and I just paid for this damn fat drug I take. I said, it's not working. Yo, Rickles, that is ice cold.
Starting point is 00:14:29 Your friend is like opening up like, oh, I took this bad drug. He's like, he's not worried. He's like, damn, this poor guy. He's just catching strays in the middle of a presidential press conference. Trump's talking about drug pricing reform and he's like, hey, when this guy goes to the hospital, the nurse gives him 50 cc's of Crisco. He's fat.
Starting point is 00:14:51 Hey, my friend, he's very successful, went to London, and when they saw him, they changed the name of Big Ben to just Ben, because this guy's fat. He's a fat piece of shit, this guy. He's a fat piece of shit this guy! Anyway, back to life-saving drug pricing. Again, President Trump, what does any of this have to do with pricing? He said, I just paid $88, and in New York I pay $1,300 what the hell is going on?
Starting point is 00:15:32 He said so I checked and it's the same box made in the same plant By the same company. It's the identical pill. This is a great businessman So but he's not familiar with this crazy situation that we have But he was stunned. He was as stunned as he is fat. I mean, oh. Oh, boy. This is what it's... By the way, I don't know if anybody realized, but the fat shot somehow turned into a fat pill
Starting point is 00:15:59 in the middle of the story. It's how you know the story is true. But you know, whether the story is true or not, Donald Trump's point is, if you find yourself in the socialized healthcare systems of London and you want to run out and get some ozempic and some vision chips, don't bother, because his fat f*** of a friend
Starting point is 00:16:20 ate them all like a pot of orcas on a tuna bender. But the point is... Yeah. Right now, his poor friend is at home going, don't look at me. It feels like a decade ago that they threatened to suspend habeas corpus. It was Friday.
Starting point is 00:16:46 That long ago yesteryear when the Knicks were still up 2-0. And since then we've had the largest bribe ever given to an American president, the seeming surrender of a trade war we started and the socializing of our pharmaceutical industry.
Starting point is 00:17:02 What even is this country? What operating companies are doing to started in the socializing of our pharmaceutical industry. What even is this country? What operating, four months ago we were a standard issue democratic constitutional republic, now we're some kind of anarcho-clepto-socialist communist silk road reality show. The only foundational unchanging edict that we can even hang our hats on anymore is that whatever we are now as a country that country is closed to any refugees. As Stephen Miller said America is now for Americans only. So hopefully there will be no more surprise announcements that overturn that apple
Starting point is 00:17:42 cart. After pausing virtually all refugee admissions for those fleeing war and famine, the Trump administration is now planning to welcome one group, white South Africans. What the f***? White South Africans? That's the only group we're opening? What? You already have one you you know what mr. president you don't need 30 37 South Africans now you'll make do with just one or two wait this wouldn't have anything to do with the white thing would it their land is being confiscated in South Africa I don't care about their race, their color. I don't care about their height, their weight.
Starting point is 00:18:29 Oh, you care about their weight. When we come back, General Stanley McChrystal will be joining us. Don't go away. Welcome back to the Daily Show. My guest tonight, he is a retired four-star general, served 34 years in the United States Army. His latest book is called On Character, Choices That Define a Life. Please welcome to the program General Stanley McChrystal.
Starting point is 00:19:10 Sir! -♪ -♪ -♪ -♪ -♪ -♪ -♪
Starting point is 00:19:17 -♪ -♪ -♪ -♪ -♪ -♪ -♪ -♪ Nice to see you. Again. It's great to see you again.
Starting point is 00:19:28 It's great to see you. Thank you for joining us. The book is called On Character. Tell me about this idea character. What is that? And how do we get that in public life? Well, I'm just going to break out of this and start with what I want from you. From me? I want you to start a national conversation on character. Yes.
Starting point is 00:19:53 I think we could begin it tonight with this group. It's a fine group. I think we... What's the framing of the conversation? I think we turn the lights up, we bring some beer in. CHEERING Can I ask a question? What kind of character are we looking for? LAUGHTER Well, how would you... What is the framing of the national conversation on character in your mind?
Starting point is 00:20:25 Yeah, I think first is character is our choice. That's the great thing about it. We have agency over who we as individuals are. And Heraclitus said an individual's character is their fate. Character is destiny. I think that's true. Yeah. I also think it's true of a nation.
Starting point is 00:20:44 And so we get to choose what our character is. Not somebody else. We get to choose. And it's the answer. Didn't we just try that? Yeah. Fair point. We chose something.
Starting point is 00:20:56 Some American people went, eh. And only 65% of America voted. Yes. And the reality is we can do better than that. Right. What I think we can... If character is the essence of who we are, Thomas Paine said that reputation is what men think of us, character is what angels know of us. Then I think if we look inside and we say,
Starting point is 00:21:25 what can we, each of us as individuals be, we have the opportunity to be something different. I mean, none of us is perfect. Every one of us makes a mistake every day. I'm 70 years old. I make mistakes and it still frustrates me. You're 70? What am I doing wrong?
Starting point is 00:21:42 What the hell? What is that? Or are you just choosing good character? You just... Meanwhile, I look like I sleep in a meat dehydrator. The great thing about character is it is a combination of two things. It is our convictions, it's what we believe. And there's no right or wrong to that, except we have to have thought about them. We have to know what they are. The beauty of writing this book is it forced me to put on paper and to really think about what I believe. Then the other half of it is our discipline.
Starting point is 00:22:17 Do we live to them? You know, you can have a lot of convictions you tell people about, but if you don't live them, they're zero. And so I think our character is the essential identity convictions you tell people about, but if you don't live them, they're zero. Right. And so I think our character is the essential identity of us as people and us as a nation. We've lead it a road. Do you view this, so here's what I see with the audience a little bit now.
Starting point is 00:22:38 And I come out usually in the beginning and I have a little conversation with them, generally beerless unfortunately. That's a mistake. and I have a little conversation with them, generally beerless, unfortunately. That's a mistake. And I'm not... It really is. It's okay, though, because the law will get high as soon as they leave the room.
Starting point is 00:22:53 I'm noticing a thirst. Yeah. Like, I've never... An anxiety about this idea of control. I think people feel they've lost that agency by living in a country. And look, people win elections, people lose elections. Sometimes you live with a president
Starting point is 00:23:12 that doesn't necessarily reflect you. This feels different. So how does this conversation around character, I've always thought action is the antidote to anxiety. What action then within this can bring some relief there's a first out there for conviction leadership discipline that they're not getting.
Starting point is 00:23:34 Yeah, I think it's got 3 steps. I think the first is we need to think about character more that's largely individual but you can share with people. Then we need to talk about it we need to talk about it in small groups not just on TV. Then we need to talk about it. We need to talk about it in small groups, not just on TV, but we need to talk about it in our schools and our families. We need to have those kinds of... What are the parameters when you say
Starting point is 00:23:53 we need to think about character? Yeah. What are the parameters that come to your mind when you think about that? Is it Boy Scout pledge stuff like be courteous, kind and forgiving, all that sort of thing, or is it something different? There are certain norms that I think
Starting point is 00:24:05 almost all of us agree on. But as you talked about faith earlier, there are parts of faith that we vary on. But I think that if we talk about what are the things that sort of bound America together? What are the things that we all believe, how we treat people, be fair to people, have empathy, give an opportunity to people.
Starting point is 00:24:30 So how do you square that? It brings up such an interesting conversation because the worlds that we might inhabit would have a very different view. I might look at the January 6ers and go, that was a lack of character. You know, one man's terrorist, another man's freedom fighter. How do you square that?
Starting point is 00:24:48 And what do you do with people that you think stepped over a red line, but in their mind was almost a heroic action? I think that's right. First, you need to listen to them. One of the things I learned in the counter-terrorist fight was we had our forces, which, you know, I was obviously very close to the most elite people. And then we had our enemies. And there was a perception that they were two poles different.
Starting point is 00:25:16 They actually had bent up the personal attributes of the best people that I worked with and the best people that we fought, they were courageous, they believed in their cause, they were willing to sacrifice. There was a different life journey that got them to where they were. And if we're willing to listen
Starting point is 00:25:37 to another person's life journey and admit often that had we had that same life journey, we would reach those same conclusions, then you reach at a different point. Then they're not suddenly the enemy. They just have a different perspective. Is the idea if I had just had Fox News on, I would have been doing that on Nancy Pelosi's desk?
Starting point is 00:26:02 Like that just doesn't, there must be some incontrovertible truth, though. Is there not? We can't be. Yeah. Is the idea that we are Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda is us? That that's hard to square. Well, it is. But if we try to say they're incontrovertible truths, too many of them, what are they? You know, we start to say they're incontrovertible truths, too many of them, what are they? You know, we start to say...
Starting point is 00:26:28 He is kind and forgiving. I mean, that's pretty good. And those are the things that are common denominator sort of things. And that's where we have to connect. Because the reality is we're not going to have the same view from different parts of the world, different parts of the country, different parts of the
Starting point is 00:26:48 country different zip codes, different economic backgrounds because your life journey is just enough different tell me in practice so you have to negotiate your in war. I'm referred to either the counter-insurgency in Iraq or in Afghanistan. Yeah. You are dealing with on on one level ideological warriors right maybe in Afghanistan on one level ideological warriors, maybe in Afghanistan, on another level, mercenary to some extent. You go in there with a bunch of money and go,
Starting point is 00:27:10 what are they paying you? I'll pay you this. How did you find common ground with them? Did you have to? Where does the wisdom of this come from for you? Yeah. I think from experience, one of the things you learn is you have to try to find common ground
Starting point is 00:27:26 and you have to start by having enough empathy. And remember, empathy is not sympathy. Doesn't mean you're rubbing somebody's belly and you agree with them. It means that you can- Would that have ended the Afghanistan War? Probably pretty quickly. Bring in the governor.
Starting point is 00:27:43 You have to be able to put yourself on the other side of the table. You know, I would talk to posthune elders and they had big turbans and beards and craggy faces and different lives in mind, spoke a different language, had a different religion. But in reality, they were actually pretty good people. And if you had their loyalty and their respect,
Starting point is 00:28:07 they were as good as we are. In fact, they're very similar to we to us. So if you stop with, if you stop assuming that anyone who doesn't share those attributes is different and therefore less than you, you have a different approach to it. And you have to be, of course, hard on yourself as well because- So is that, is that, you know, the book starts, you famously, you did an interview for Rolling Stone during the Obama administration and where you were critical of maybe some of the tax that we
Starting point is 00:28:37 had taken in the war, the way it was being prosecuted, not enough supply, things like that. And you resigned. Because of that. That's how you opened this book. Right. Is that where you're reflecting on yourself? Very much so. Of course, I canceled my Rolling Stone subscription right after that.
Starting point is 00:28:58 But the reality of it. Everyone else did too. Don't even worry about it. It's funny now because, you know, we've got a little time and space. But no, we had an article that came out that I didn't think was accurate, but I accepted responsibility for it. And the reality was, in that moment, I had been, I'd been born in an Army hospital. I'd lived in an Army family.
Starting point is 00:29:22 I'd gone to West Point at age 17. I was now 55, almost 56. And suddenly, in an instant, I offer... when I offered my resignation to President Obama, I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm not a commander. I'm not a soldier. What am I? You could say, I'm a failure.
Starting point is 00:29:41 I go home... Is that how you felt? I felt exactly that way. I felt as though a bolt of lightning had... I'd always thought I could be fired for incompetence or killed in combat. I never thought I'd be accused of something like that. And so I offer my resignation to President Obama,
Starting point is 00:30:01 who was very gracious, and, but he accepted it. I had flown home all night from Afghanistan for this meeting. I drive across the city to where my wife was living in a set of military quarters, and I tell Annie, it's over. She and I had been married for 34 years, and I said, our career's over. I'm out. Holy. And she looked at. And I said, our career's over. I'm out.
Starting point is 00:30:25 And she looked at me and she said, good. We've always been happy and we will always be happy. And in that moment, what she communicated to me without being straight, she said, kind of face forward. And I always describe Annie as driving or living life like she drives with no use for the rear-view mirror. She's here. She can hear you right now. I see her right over there.
Starting point is 00:31:02 Gonna be a long night. Who's driving're not kidding. Who's driving home? But we've been married 48 years. And if you think about it, you commit to something. And I had committed to the military. I had committed to my marriage. And I'm committed to my country now. And so when I ask you to help lead
Starting point is 00:31:22 a national conversation on character, you have the stature. You have the reach. It's basic cable, sir. It's not. You really should have gone on Colbert. I think that if you want stature and reach. No, I mean, as we say, if people are thirsty for something
Starting point is 00:31:43 different from what they see. Yeah. Let's encourage them not that we're going to provide it from the outside, but we're going to have them provided to themselves. This needs to start with young people. So you look at me. Okay. This is, but it brings up such an interesting thought because so I'm reflecting on when
Starting point is 00:32:04 this happened to you It was basically it was an article where you said some things that might be in temperate for a man in uniform or in command That's really it. There was no secrets divulged now. You're watching the Secretary of Defense Snapchatting his wife. Hey, we're bombing a date, you know Doesn't resign. Is that character because it's not you resigned because your sense of duty and character felt that you would let yourself down and let the country down,
Starting point is 00:32:35 but is there character in the reason he's still there is loyalty? And isn't that a character trait. That's also valuable how do you process what's happening now. Yeah, I certainly think you've got to value loyalty. I can't put myself in his position I can put myself in the position of an American right I can put myself in the position of
Starting point is 00:33:04 someone who has both launched and been on those missions and if someone had been using an unsecure mode to communicate about them, I'd have been upset about it. Yeah. In fact, I could see that. Yeah. I think for the people I worked with, that had gotten your ass kicked. Right.
Starting point is 00:33:19 But the reality is, the thing that upset me most about that was not the mistake. People make mistakes, and we'll make them forever. It was after the fact when people went on public news and they said the information wasn't classified. Of course it was. Right. And I don't like the idea that they would look
Starting point is 00:33:41 and say something that I know is not true and I think they know is not true. And if you normalize. How much of an impediment to a national conversation about character is the reality distortion field about, you know, incontrovertible things that are true or not true. And how do you have a conversation about character in that environment? Yeah, it makes it particularly hard because if we start to have a conversation on character now, a certain group is always going to feel defensive because they think that you are leveraging the word character against them.
Starting point is 00:34:20 Right. In fact, it can go both ways. People on both ends of the spectrum can feel that. But we've still got to have it. And that's why this has got to be a conversation that begins in the center, I think at pretty low levels, that starts with saying, we're not going to vote for you. We're not going to buy your products. We're not going to like you on social media.
Starting point is 00:34:40 We're not going to do all of those things you want us to do unless we see some level of character, not perfect character. We're never going to do all of those things you want us to do unless we see some level of character, not perfect character. We're never going to see that. Right. But what we're going to see is a set of norms that say, we respect the requirement that there is character. If you make a mistake, admit it.
Starting point is 00:35:00 What can our kids learn from watching us if they are absolutely disappointed every time they see or if they just assume that's the way it is, that'll be even worse. And I do think there is a certain now mindset that what is rewarded now is result and not process and character. It's you know, we're in a different situation. But I would even say expand your aperture on this. It's not just about character. I do think there is a certain lacking of national conversations on everything. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:35:32 Truth and reconciliation for the American people with each other. I think it's absolutely right. I think it could start with character, but it really has got to emanate out from there. We have to have a different definition of what we think it means to be an American citizen. Right. Because right now, many American citizens think that if you pay your taxes and you vote,
Starting point is 00:35:54 and only about 65% of us vote, that you've done your job. In fact, the responsibilities are much broader than that. It is to every other American because a nation is only a covenant between citizens. God did not create the United States. Shh! What are you saying? What? You're blowing it! It's an agreement.
Starting point is 00:36:18 Yeah. Get the sense of the going. Sure. Yeah. Well, it sounds to me like you have a series of books to write on character and other things, so I flip it back to you. You! Keep the conversation going about that, General. It's so good to see you. Own character.
Starting point is 00:36:37 It's available now. General, stand in the crystal. Quick break, we'll be right back after this. Such an important. ["Skyfall", by The Bachelorette, plays, applause and cheering.] ["Skyfall", by The Bachelorette, applause and cheering.] Hey, let's go for tonight. Before we go though, we're gonna check in with your host
Starting point is 00:37:05 for the rest of the week, Mr. Jordan Klepper. Jordan! Yes. Come on! What are you, uh, what are you covering this week? Well, John, Mother's Day is coming up next Sunday, so we'll be looking at all the best ways to show the mother in your life how much you love her.
Starting point is 00:37:24 So, so... Mother's Day was yesterday. Was it? Damn it. That's okay. That's okay. I can make it up to her on her birthday. When is your birthday, Jordan? May 2nd. Oh, boy. It's May 12th, Jordan.
Starting point is 00:37:40 Okay. That's all right. I'll make it up to her next week on Cinco de Mayo. She loves margaritas. Jordan Klepper, everybody. Jordan Klepper. You just got to do that. You're doing lovely. By the way, also, hey, before we go, quick announcement. Here at The Daily Show, starting a little nonpartisan initiative in partnership with Head Count,
Starting point is 00:38:02 which is not what it sounds like. Uh, the initiative is called Indecision Take a Seat. 70% of elections last year, uncontested, completely. We're hoping that can change, because democracy works better when you got some choices there. So sign up, you'll get information on how to run for school board races, city council, leagues of extraordinary gentlemen,
Starting point is 00:38:24 all the things you want to be. So if you're tired of complaining about on how to run for school board races, city council, leagues of extraordinary gentlemen, all the things you want to be. So if you're tired of complaining about who's running things and would like other people to complain about how you're running things, scan the QR code there or go to the link and learn more. Now here it is, your moment is in. To accelerate these price restrictions and reductions, my administration will also cut out the middlemen we're going to
Starting point is 00:38:49 totally cut out the famous middlemen nobody knows who they are middlemen they've I've been here in the term for 25 years middlemen I don't know who they are but they're rich that I can tell you. 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.

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