The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Trump Threatens Iran, Klepper Goes to Birthday Parade | Bill Clinton & James Patterson

Episode Date: June 18, 2025

Jordan Klepper dives into Trump’s Irish exit from Canada’s G7 Summit to explore a “better than a ceasefire” between Israel and Iran, and how Trump’s threats against Iran’s ayatollah started an intra-MAGA beef with Tucker Carlson. Plus, Michael Kosta finds a delicious way to capitalize on the situation in Iran. Was Trump's parade a military celebration or a show of authoritarian power? Jordan Klepper hit the streets of Washington, D.C., to talk to MAGA during Trump's $45 million military parade. Klepper asks folks how they feel about DOGE cuts, the L.A. protests, and whether they showed up to celebrate the military or the president's birthday. Best-selling co-authors Bill Clinton and James Patterson sit down with Jordan Klepper for a conversation about their new political thriller, “The First Gentleman,” their dynamic as creative collaborators, and how, after three books, they’ve learned that it’s better to humanize than demonize, both in fiction and politics. The former president offers his take on President Trump’s second-term policies, from the economy to deportations to involvement in the Middle East. Clinton and Patterson also emphasize the importance of participation and voting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is 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, Jordan Klepper. -♪ Whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, who Trump makes an Irish exit from Canada. I head to DC to crash the most tremendous birthday bash in American history. And the author, James Patterson, will be here along with his co-author, Bill Clinton, tonight, okay? So, let's get into the headlines.

Now, this was supposed to be Study Abroad Week for Trump, and things started out oh so well. He arrived at the G7 confidently, strolling out of the woods like a contestant on the Golden Bachelorette. Or a shaved Sasquatch, you know? You see what you want to see. Now this is an important G7 for Trump,

because he had to prove that he had the discipline and wherewithal to fix the global economy after he... ...f**ked up the global economy. And you know what? He almost nailed it. We all know the great prime minister of the UK, and we just signed a document.

This is... Thought about that. Yeah. Very important document. This is a slip. I thought about that. Yeah. Very important document. You didn't win the Emmy. Don't worry. Don't worry. There's a five-second rule with trade agreements.

Trump's still totally good to eat those documents. And I know some of you haters are gonna make fun of him, but Trump didn't drop the papers by accident. It was a 4-D chess move to check out the British prime minister's badonkadonk. So... But before Trump could sign and or drop any other trade deals, he decided to peace out.

Overnight, President Trump with an abrupt about face, announcing he's cutting short his trip to the G7 summit in Canada, racing back to the White House instead. I have to be back. Very important. I want to just thank our great host. But you probably see what I see, and I have to be back.

We all know what this is, right? You're at an event. You have to rush home because something came up. Look, I get it. None of us like to poop in an unfamiliar place. Sometimes when you have a big match-up coming up, you just need that home-field advantage. I understand, Donald.

But, of course, the real reason Donald Trump rushed home to Washington was to deal with the war between Israel and Iran. And the big question was, was he rushing home to help negotiate an end to the war or to bring America into the war? It's the most important decision a nation can make, and one that we've whiffed on for the last,

like, 10, 20, 30, 40, it doesn't matter. The point is... The point is, it'd be really reassuring to know that the president has a clear and consistent plan. So, Mr. President, are you looking for war or a ceasefire? We're not looking for a ceasefire. I didn't say I was looking for a ceasefire. Oh, shit. Okay.

He's not looking for a ceasefire. We're looking at better than ceasefire. Oh, shit. Okay. He's not looking for a ceasefire. We're looking at it better than a ceasefire. Oh, great! Yeah! Better than a ceasefire. Ceasefire plus? That's great. I hate watching ads. That's wonderful. This is good news.

I'm glad you're gonna negotiate with Iran. I don't know. I'm not too much in the mood to negotiate. Okay. All right. Not in the mood, okay? The president's not vibing on negotiations then. So it's war. Because who would negotiate besides you, Mr. President? He's considering sending the vice president

to negotiate with the Iranians. Oh. You know, I think this is fantastic. JD Vance is a great choice to negotiate. The Iranians will agree to anything to get him the f*** out of there. You know what? And it's great for peace, because if Trump is negotiating, it sounds like we're not gonna flatten Tehran anytime soon.

The president warned everyone in Iran's capital city to flee, posting everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran with no additional explanation. You know what? Ian with no additional explanation. You know what? I can use some additional explanation. Mr. President, I am more confused than ever. Please just sum up your explanation in one clean tweet.

President Trump has just posted new comments directed at Iran. We know exactly where the so-called supreme leader is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there. We are not going to take him out and then in parentheses kill, at least not for now. Okay. So we know where the Ayatollah is, but he's safe. We could kill him, but we won't. For now, maybe later.

We'll find out next on The Golden Bachelorette, okay? How does one tweet and have six different positions? I mean, clearly, we're not going to get any clarity from listening to President Trump. Maybe other people in his inner circle can shed some light on America's position. Tucker Carlson, huge supporter of the president. What do you think of the war? I just don't want my country to be further weakened

or destroyed by another one of these wars. And, boy, if you can't connect the dots after 25 years of this sh- you're either too dumb to participate in the conversation or you're just a liar who doesn't care. Wow. Wow. connect the dots after 25 years of this sh-t. You're either too dumb to participate in the conversation or you're just a liar who doesn't care. Wow. Wow. I mean, Tucker, he hasn't been this distraught

since the WNBA got popular. Okay, Mr. President, I hope you understand what Tucker Carlson is saying. I don't know what Tucker Carlson is saying. Let him go get a television network and say it so that people listen. Thank you. Oh, snap!

Trump's like, go on TV and say it, you bitch. That's right, you can't because you got kicked off Fox News for lying about me winning the 2020 election, which I appreciate, you bitch. So, yes, Trump is not on the same page as Tucker, and he seems to be at odds with some of the other top MAGA minds as well. The American people have been brainwashed

into believing that America has to engage in these foreign wars in order for us to survive, and it's absolutely not true. Oh, my God. I can't believe I'm agreeing with Marjorie Taylor Greene. I'm at war with myself. This can't be right. Keep playing the clip. I'm sure I'll find something to disagree with her on.

They don't want to hear about politics. They want to be able to afford food, and they want to be able to afford gas, and they just want to have fun. For once in their life, they want to have fun. Yes, I still agree with her! For once in their lives! Americans just want to have fun!

I don't want a war, I want to dance! Oh, although you know what? I'm pretty sure Americans do know how to have fun, regardless of international conflicts. I've never gotten a text saying, Hey, bro, territorial dispute in the South China Sea, barbecue's canceled. So, doesn't seem like Trump is listening

to the anti-war wing of his party. Maybe he'll listen to the anti-war wing of his own administration, like Tulsi Gabbard, his own director of national intelligence. Tulsi Gabbard testified in March that the intelligence community said Iran wasn't building a nuclear weapon." -"What she said, I think they were very close

to having a nuclear weapon." -"Hahaha." This is the benefit of appointing unqualified, crazy people to your team. You could always be like, do you know how crazy and unqualified she is? I don't care what she said. So Trump is beefing with the anti-war wing of his party

and dismissing intelligence from his own cabinet, showing that Iran is not actually building nukes. It certainly seems to be leaning in a let's-duo World War III direction. And weirdly enough, the final confirmation might be pizza. According to an account on X called the Pentagon Pizza Report, nearly all pizza establishments nearby the Pentagon have experienced

a huge surge in activity. Here's why. When US military personnel face a national emergency, they work late into the night and can't leave their desks. At 8.57 PM Thursday, the Pentagon Pizza Report reported that the closest and second closest dominoes to the Pentagon had surged in traffic. Oh my God, we're going to war!

Or everyone at the Pentagon just got divorced at the same time! Look, I don't know how things are gonna end, but it seems like they're trending in a bad direction. I will say this, though. If you told me after Election Day that within four months of Trump's presidency, I'd be staring at a Domino's pizza tracker

to figure out if we're going to enter the final war of mankind, I'd have said, that's about right. For more on the pending war with Iran, we go live outside the Pentagon with our own Michael Kosta. Michael. Michael. I'm curious, Michael.

So what is the latest? Jordan, this is a nuanced and complicated situation, and the only solution is for America to enter a decades-long total war with Iran. Make no mistake, the U.S. military needs to dig in, buckle down, pick up some Mikey K's, meat lover's pizzas with extra tangy sauce, and prepare for the worst.

I'm sorry. What was that last part you said? About preparing for the worst, yes. We'll probably need a new draft, too. Millions of able-bodied young men ready to fight for America and chow down on Mikey K's Buffalo Chicken Supreme. Mamma mia!

With a free 45-ounce Mountain Dew Code Red, just like Nona used to make. I... What? Do you own a pizza parlor? Are you trying to profiteer from a war? Mountain Dew Code Red, just like Nona used to make. -"What, do you own a pizza parlor, or are you trying to profiteer from a war?" -"No, no, no. I have a small investment in a pizza place nearby that I also manage and busboy at, but that in no way affects my impartial analysis.

I've looked at the evidence, and we have to go to war against Iran, possibly Iraq again, and definitely India. What did India do? Well, they're a regional superpower, Jordan. They're a threat to our survival. Right now, their military leaders are plotting against us, working day and night, ordering delicious takeout.

Michael, do you have a pizza place in India? Absolutely not. It's a small tandoori kitchen called Second Tanan. Free mango lassi with any order, just like Nona used to make. Kasta, come on, man. This is crazy. I know. With any order, Jordan, there is no minimum.

No, no. What's crazy is you're trying to start World War III, so you can what, sell bad takeout? Bad takeout? How dare you? Art Chutney is the talk of New Delhi. I assume. I can't figure out what they're saying. But what's the big deal?

Defense contractors can goad our nation into endless, pointless wars for profit, but Nona Kosta can't get a taste? Look, you're all bad. Americans don't want war. Isn't there a way to make money off peace so the world can live in harmony? International relations aren't that simple, Jordan. Two nations that are total opposites

can't overcome their cultural differences, uniting in a perfect blend of magical serenity. The only place that that exists is in our new delicious sushi taco. As my nonna used to say, mmm, es muy conchichua. Oh, yeah. Get out of here. Michael Kosta, everyone.

We come back. I find out how Trump's birthday went. Don't go away. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. dreams come true last weekend. But was it everything he wanted? I decided to find out. -♪ This past weekend, I went to our nation's capital to join the celebration of the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army

and the 79th birthday of Donald J. Trump. This was reportedly a 45 million dollar event and there was family fun everywhere. I'm talking cornhole, howitzers, kids with machine guns, kids with machine guns on top of jeeps, kids with rocket launchers and the always popular killer robot dogs. Thank you for your service. We are here because we love America. We are celebrating the 250th birthday of the Army and it's Flag Day, it's the President's birthday. Today is America's Super Bowl. Wouldn't that be the Super Bowl? What are you most excited to see? Tanks. We're gonna see all of our

tanks, our brandies, our artillery. Tanks. Helicopters. Outsers. I would like to see Don Jr. Okay. Yeah. Have you ever been to an event like this? Yes, but in local events. Smaller scale. Local parades. Moscow, Pyongyang. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, not like that. Who do you think is going to do this parade better, us or the North Koreans?

I don't compare myself to anybody because everybody in the world will love to be an American, at least for a day. Looking around, I wonder, was this a military celebration or more of a make Donnie feel like a big boy authoritarian leader party? You know one thing about Donald Trump, he's been the greatest leader this country's ever had. Is that why we're throwing him this parade? It's not his parade.

It's the United States Army. Sorry, I keep getting confused. I keep looking at these hats. And I'm like, there's a tiny little American flag right there on the side. Now I see it. Now I see it. It makes me mad listening to the people that are saying that this is all about Donald Trump and his birthday.

No, it's not. I love Donald Trump. But technically, we are here to support our military. Your focus today is just on the military. Yes, sir. And that's why you wore your dress blues. Well, I'm not in camouflage to on the military. Yes, sir. And that's why you wore your dress blues. Well, I'm not in camouflage to support the military. I'm here to support Trump because it is also his birthday.

Was there some debate about where to put the U? Uh, nope. Not at all. Of course, parades come on the price tag. But if there's one thing this administration knows, it's what's useful and what's waste. Trump has had to make some cuts, had to make some really tough decisions. I know Doge cut back on the Department of Education. Cut back. Well done.

The EPA? Yeah. Yeah? Absolutely. There's some tough cuts, cancer research. Cut it, let's go back to all natural. You don't need to be researching on cancer. We basically have that fixed anyway. Alzheimer's research?

Why not? Why not cut the Alzheimer's research? Yeah. We're just cool with that. I'm cool with that. Are you excited about all these Doge cuts? Yes I am, because the government is stealing too much of the money and they're wasting too much of my day on tax dollars.

Oh my God, government waste so much money. Yes. Oh my God, it's insane. What do you spend money on? Just foolishness. Enjoy the $45 million dollar parade at all the tanks. Yeah, that's a good UCO tax dollar, I think. It's important for America to flex their muscles.

So people, people know that America is generous, America is nice, America is polite, but America can really become badass. Now, just brainstorming here, if we want to show the world that we're generous and nice, wouldn't it help to do like generous and nice things for the world? We are already doing it.

USAID, more generous and nice. We let people to take advantage of us for left and right. So we're showing them that we're kind by taking away so they see how kind we are. Absolutely, absolutely. Okay, I get it. Tanks are fun and our military men and women should be honored. But it was hard to celebrate this public show of force when the president put the military on the streets of LA to confront other Americans. How do you think we're going to need our military? What is the biggest threat?

To be honest with you, I see a global change right now. And if America doesn't want to support America, America won't be America very long. Get on. Get on board. You're an American. Right, right. Which one of these tanks do you think we should send to Los Angeles? I think we should send all of them.

Which weapons should we send over to Los Angeles? Oh, them clowns. I always say Trump need to just give him some stuff to make him go to sleep and then just handcuff him afterwards. Okay. Rufy. And then carry all of them to jail. Is that a Pete Hegseth plan? I don't know, but that's my plan.

Trump, if you're listening, that's what you do. You should roofie the Democrats. Put them all asleep with some sleeping stuff and then lock them up. But like you said, today isn't about that. It's about America. America, yeah. But at the end of the day, Trump's parade was kind of a dud. It didn't have the cold, intimidating scope

of other authoritarian displays. All we had was guys holding drones like pizzas and killer robot dogs who just wanted treats. I got a sativa gummy in here somewhere. See ya at Trump's 80. When we come back, Bill Clinton and James Patterson will be joining me on the show. Don't go away. Welcome back to The Daily Show. My guests tonight are New York Times bestselling authors of the new political thriller, The First Gentleman. Please welcome former President Bill Clinton and James Patterson. -♪ Whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, who What a nice crowd.

That's people. Not a bad bunch of folks. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Not a bad bunch of folks, huh? Yes. Very kind. They're very kind folks. Gentlemen, you wrote a White House thriller. I got to say, politics is so boring. Thank you.

Thank you for trying to spice it up, you know? Well, right now, it doesn't take a lot, right? It doesn't take a lot. Well, this is a story about the first gentleman who is accused of murder. President Clinton, I'm wondering, what's it like to live inside the headspace of the first gentleman?

I don't know. I tried. You did? It's the only job I ever wanted in politics that I didn't get. And... He's got all the good lines. You're the writer. You've got to do this.

I know. I was the writer. What? Let me say it's not easy. Sure. I mean, but our guy is sort of a perfect picture of the dilemma because he was, he went to school with the president then they later met in California, fell in love and got married. But he was a big jock. He was the first Ivy leader drafted in the first round in the NFL.

No shit. And he's a complicated figure. He's not hung up about his wife being the president. He's proud of it. Would you have been as good as our guy? You know, I don't know. On that score, I wouldn't have. You would have.

You would have been better there. Yes. Since I know Hillary, he would have been a good boy. I thought so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You would have. You would have been better there. Yes. Since I know Hillary, he would have been a good boy for sure. Yeah, I thought Hillary was the best qualified person in my life, I mean, for sure. But what we presented that's accurate is he did want something to do that was his own thing.

Mm-hmm. And he thought he could revive President Kennedy's physical fitness council. Right. And also maybe murdering someone. Yeah, you're sort of burying the lead there. Well, the murder thing comes up, but we're talking about right now. But. Oh, you always want to talk about the murder thing, James. Yeah, well, to peace.

But you want to talk. You're inside the mind of the character here. Yeah, but, to peace. That's not hard. But you want to talk. You're inside the mind of the character here. Yeah, but my point is, the White House staff doesn't know about the murder thing in the beginning. Right. They don't know he's under any kind of clout. And immediately, there are people

who don't want him to do that. Mm-hmm. So that's a very typical thing in White houses, all White houses. There are people who think that if anybody else gets any credit for anything, it will diminish the President. And I never saw it that way. When I was President, when I was a governor before, I figured if I pointed somebody to an important job and they did a good job, that helped me, not hurt me.

And I can never figure that out. But it's kind of a deal in Washington, and it's not confined to one party, that one thing. So you see that in our book. You can figure it out. I have to agree with Marjorie Chalagreen on this one thing. She's getting a surprising amount of love on today's show. The fun thing, the fun part of it, it is a fun read. And we do need a little break, honestly, I think.

You need a break, right? If you want to take a step away from all the chaos of the news cycle, read a story about a potential homicide and relax a little bit. Exactly. I guess it's curious even hearing you guys talk about this. I'm curious about where the genesis for some of these ideas are. Clearly, President Clinton, you come to this book with some ideas about what it feels like to be in the White House, some of the push and pull, the dynamics that exist within politics at that level.

And, James, you come into this, I'm sure. Is it murder first? Is it story first? Is it plot first? It's always character first. It's always character first. But interesting with this book, and we agreed, about halfway through, it wasn't working. Really? And this has never happened with us before and he called up and he said

I don't like any of the characters and I said I agree I don't the other yeah so we had to really go back and work on the character we agree this is a character for me it's all character Alex cross it's all character he's in 10 you know he we all have to deal with our balancing film not all of us but family and then work That's what Alex has to do. He's this detective any, you know, it's obviously over-the-top detective work Then he's got to go home and and and that's it the series it's on on Amazon if he's balancing those two things Do you have do you struggle with the fact of like writing? Empathetic characters in the White House looking at the White House now wondering are there any empathetic characters in the White House, looking at the White House now, wondering are there any empathetic characters in the White House?

Look, we always agree on trying to do an outline. And then sometimes the plot takes us away. This is the third book we've done together. And so far, we agree on the outline. Then he gives me a list of 20 questions or more to answer to make sure that we're being authentic. Yeah, I mean, that's a key thing. I mean, I just make up stuff in my regular books. But with this, I have to pass the test of, well, that would never happen, or here's how it would happen, or here's what the Secret Service would do. So you pop quiz him throughout the writing process.

It's a good discipline. And then he'll be fixing stuff. I'm curious. Like, what parts of you've done three books now? Mm-hmm. What, your view of the presidency before you started writing these films, like, what did you get wrong initially? Everything. Yeah.

Now, you know, the thing that... And we tried to do it before, but just humanizing. I mean, unfortunately, we got into a habit of demonizing everybody. And I know the show does it, and it's a lot of fun, and it's funny, but ideally... Let me give you a quick... Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.

You write about murder, man! Yeah, but there's only one... Let me give you a quick... You write about murder, man! Yeah, but there's only one... There may or may not be one murder in this book, but everybody else needed to make him human. And the thing... Let me give you a quick thing on... This past summer, the president called the House, and my wife Sue was on, and he said,

let me show you this... Put it on picture phone. And there he was with his grandkids, and he's in a tiger suit, and only his face is showing. Human being. We need to do more of that, I think. Human being, human being. I don't know how we would do it with certain characters, but, you know, it's become... I don't know who that would be.

Do you think that humanizes the president suddenly saying that he's wearing a tiger suit at home? I think that makes me worry about the president. Are you okay, President Clinton? Do you need help with wardrobe at home? My grandkids thought it was great. If you're doing it with a four-year-old, it's okay. If you're doing it with your girlfriend, it's a little weird.

Not him. No judgment, man. No judgment. Good point. Good point. Do you know when this book is going to be banned by the Trump administration? I was actually trying to think if there was some reason they could think of to ban it. It wouldn't be the White House, but in certain counties they may all of a sudden. They don't need a reason. They just go in.

One person goes in, I don't like the book. I go, okay, we'll ban it. So probably be banned in a couple of counties. I don't like it. It's a bad deal. When Maya Angelou, who read the inaugural poem at my first inauguration, wrote it and read it and was a great human being. The first thing the White House did was to

ban her book. I know why the cage bird sings at the Naval Academy Library and the Military Academy Library at West Point. And I can't figure out why. It's a magnificent book about a little girl who's abandoned by her parents and lives with her grandparents until she's three or four years old and her brother. Then she has to go somewhere else and while she's a child she loses the ability to speak for a couple of years because she was abused. And then she blooms. because she was abused. And then she blooms. I couldn't figure out why that was a problem.

Why would people want people to know about that? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yeah. Do you think it's the blooming portion of it all? I don't know. Is anything to do with seeing empathy for a small, young, black child, perhaps? Had a little something to do with it? Yeah, she...

And she turned out to be about six feet tall and no longer small, you know? young black child, perhaps, had a little something to do with it? Yeah, she... Beyond that. And she turned out to be about six feet tall and no longer small, you know. Do you think it was height? Height was the issue. Yeah, Trump is a very petty man. He's like, all the books with characters over five will let him get out of here. She was a very large woman with a very deep voice

and a massive talent and a great heart. And so I took a very dim view of that. We were friends. I spoke at her funeral. I didn't like it. I don't like book banning. And I wasn't ever for banning books that were full of things that they said about me

that weren't true. It never occurred to me that I should stop you from reading them. Yeah. Yeah. Do you look? You know? I did. You're gonna have some regrets looking back

on what you could have done, I'm sure. Yeah. It's interesting. In this book, another portion of this book is that the president is going after a grand bargain, which is a big audacious bargain. I'm curious where that came in in the writing process. And in some ways, would this have been Clinton 3.0?

Was this sort of an agenda that you could see for America today? And follow up, why wasn't invading Greenland a part of that? Well, we took that part out. We didn't think it was credible. I like Greenland. I wrote it in and he took it out. That's how it starts. This is how it begins.

Greenland does have a lot of rare earths and minerals that we might need someday. Denmark is a NATO allies of ours. Instead of stealing it from them, we ought to just make a deal and have a contract like normal people This grand bargain is we got problems of our own making and Part of them the massive debt we have, which is about, it's over a hundred percent of our annual income now. A lot of

it was unavoidable because of the, we had the financial crash in 2008 and then the COVID problem only 12 years later. So when interest rates go down below inflation and stay there, if you raise taxes or you do other things to tighten the economy, you'll just make it worse. So in those narrow instances, we had to spend more money than we were taking in to get any kind of economic activity, but you can't do it forever. And so we need to stop that now. And therefore I think this latest budget sent to Congress by the administration was a mistake

because it's gonna make it worse. It's like saying, okay, the economy's doing fine now. We have relatively low unemployment. We have relatively low inflation and it's getting better. And let's make it worse now and have a huge increase. I don't think it makes sense and I think we'll regret it. I mean, I think some of the critique right now is that Republicans seem to be the party

that wants to be fiscally responsible when they get in power and they don't act on that. Do you believe it's insincere? Yeah, it's all rhetoric. We doubled the debt when President Reagan was in office. We've been a country for a long time by 1980 and we doubled the debt in eight years. And then we increased it by another 50% under President Bush.

And he tried to do something about it. He signed a budget passed by the Congress under the leadership of the committee chair, Leon Panetta, who later became my chief of staff and President Obama's CIA chief. Then, after the second President Bush got elected, first thing he did was to pass a big tax cut again.

And he had a little bit of a recession to deal with, six months or something. So if he had said, let's do this for a year so I can avoid a recession or minimize it, I would have supported it. But he wanted to make it permanent. And that's there, it's almost theology with them. There's no such thing as a bad tax cut

unless it helps poor people. But in the book, there is a solution that's proposed by the president. And what we do, which is appropriate for a suspense novel, we kind of build up suspense about what is it until the very end of the book. Yeah. Yeah. Which is appropriate, I think, in this category.

Yeah, I figured, look, it's a book. I mean, it's a mystery. So we couldn't write a 30-page thing, but I tried to give an outline. Was that the initial pitch of like, and the last 30 pages is sort of an outline for the plan for economic stability in America? Let's keep it to two. Not two, not two, but not 30. I tried to show that you could make a difference, you could

make a change. Yeah. And we went through these two deep holes. So I don't expect anybody to be able to solve this in four years. I didn't expect president Trump to be able to, but you, you got to follow the first rule. First, if you're in a hole, stop digging. I was hoping there would be a balance program to get us out. And that's what all this doge was sold at. But if you look at everything that Mr. Musk was working on before he went back to selling Teslas. They... All of it together is a tiny slice of our budget. Most of our budget goes to healthcare, social security, Medicaid, Medicare,

Veterans Health, defense. And the slice that he's got is not very big. You can't possibly solve a problem this big with a budget that's this. And it's our future budget. If you ask yourself, why is America leading the world now? It's because of our lead in technology

and in biomedical research, especially in lots of other areas. So that's what they want to cut. It's a mistake. It's...you don't... This is like, I love watching this, the NBA finals. These teams have been great. Yeah. What are you rooting for? Are you a OKC guy?

Well... Pacers fan? Are you a OKC guy? Well... Pacers fan? Nick's initially, right? I like them both. Still the politician. I was with Oklahoma City when it was bombed, and I've been with them ever since because of what they did with what they suffered. It's an unrecognizable place today because they work together

and they had an ethic as they said of kindness and hard work and it's worked. But I was not prepared for how good Indiana was. I mean, it's fun watching them. So, you know, I went in with for Oklahoma City and I haven't stopped liking them, but it's amazing the courage that Indiana has showed every time when they're playing like great. If only our politics could get back

to the legitimacy of NBA basketball. Where we could love one thing, but understand what the other team brings to it all. These people respect each other. You can look at them. And you don't see these Oklahoma City guys jumping up and down, because Tyrese Halberton doesn't make a lot of points

because he tore up his right leg. And what did he do? He came back in the second half, didn't score a bunch of points, but he ran the offense, and they did great in the second half. Yeah. So, I mean, you know, it's...

We just need to bring respect back to perhaps the New York Knicks as well, right? So they may be feeling a few of those pieces as well. The Knicks did great this year. They did great. We could celebrate that, right? Speaking of some, this last weekend, there was a little bit of money spent in Washington, D.C. A couple dollars, yeah.

I think $45 million last I heard at this big birthday celebration slash army parade. I was curious if you guys saw that or President Clinton, you thought about throwing one for your... We saw it. We were also watching the, you know, when you were interviewing people, people were going, oh, we're cutting education, great. Oh, we're cutting cancer research, great.

What are people, nuts? We're cutting cancer research, great. Yeah, I mean, that's what you interviewed. Who says stuff like that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's just stunning. Yeah, go back to natural. We don't need cancer research. Yeah. No, that's what you interviewed. Who says stuff like that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what it's stunning. Yeah, go back to natural. We don't eat cancer.

Yeah. No, it's right. One of the things that, one of the things I noticed when I was there, there's been a lot of talk. That's what they should do with voting. You shouldn't be able to vote if you're going to say stuff like that. I'm sorry. You can't vote.

I'm sorry. You can't vote. Can't vote? That's, yeah. Against cancer research and no voting. You can't vote, that's, yeah. Against cancer research and no voting. That's the line, right? It's 18, and if you're against cancer research,

maybe now is not the one for you. And a few other things, yeah. Well, I think the Democrats need to ask themselves, how come we can't beat that? And then we'll just take it all out. And then, you know, the Supreme Court's going to have to step in this time, it seems like, because they seem to say last year in two decisions, well, yeah, the President might commit a crime,

but as long as he thinks it's the right thing to do, it by definition can't be criminal. Whoever heard of that? You see what happened this weekend as well with the no kings protest. Five million people. Five million people. Five million people show up. I think there's definitely an energy there.

When I talk to a lot of people who are progressive, I think they're frustrated, they're angry, many are scared. They don't know what the best use of their energy is or where to put that. I think this No Kings showing was one way of, like, a show of force. I think when you talk about the flaws the Democrats

unable to put up a defense against people who are anti-cancer, like, where should that energy, where should that go? First of all, I think Biden had a successful four years. He did a good job, I think. But we didn't have enough of a campaign on the back end. And I think it's a little unfair to say it's Kamala Harris' fault, because she

didn't ask for the circumstances which were visited on her. So now we've got, what they have to do, the people in Washington, is they do need to show what's wrong with this budget and do their best to beat it or get changes in it and keep going. But it's not an election yet. And I think we need other people to come up with ideas. That's why we wrote the book, the way we did it, partly. Just to say, you can be a Republican or a Democrat and be for this.

This that makes common sense. And we've gotten too far away from that. We're so interested in demeaning and debasing and name-calling. And President Trump's been richly rewarded for that, for being able to just divide and distract people. You know, I learned early on in terms of life lessons that skepticism is absolutely healthy and terrific, and cynicism is poison. Yeah.

But what do you say to the young person who sees what's happening in Los Angeles and sees people standing up, upset about their neighbors being deported, and suddenly the National Guard being brought in? Protest and vote. Protest and vote? Do things, though. Don't talk about it.

Look, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like you know, a lot of the lawyers talked to me about the Supreme Court decisions,

which seem to say that once you're president, you can, you can't break the law. You can just do whatever you think is right. And if it's against the law, you just say you thought it was the right thing to do. And I thought, well, there's an easy way to fix it. They said, what do you mean? The Supreme Court's six to three for them,

maybe five to four. And I always say, if you elect a Democrat president, they will have an epiphany. And all of a sudden they'll rediscover the separation of powers and the things that, and constitutional rights and all that stuff. It'll change again. We look, we are the longest consistently lasting democracy in history. We're not the oldest country in

history, but we are the oldest democracy. And Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican, said after he went through that mess with Joe McCarthy, he was very worried about whether we would have the mental discipline to sustain our democracy and all this happened. And today it may look so and AI scares people. Everybody's scared of something, but I'm just telling you we're about to celebrate our 250th birthday and so far everybody that's bet against this country

has lost money. So far, we have saved it. But citizens can't sit around and whine. They got to get off the bench and play the game. And if you don't like who's being elected and you don't like what they're doing, you got to get out there and fight for it. And one of the things that we try to do in this book is to

make people see that. We try to make them see democracy as- And also a big thing about this book are the two journalists and who really are trying to find out the truth. And I think there are a lot of good journalists who do that. Mm-hmm. And we're forgetting about that. And people are going online for journalism that's written by fiction writers. Mm-hmm.

It's making stuff up. That doesn't work. Not a lot of satirical comedians in this book, I notice. Oh, what? Yeah, it's surprising you didn't have more heroic satirical comedians. That's the next book. That's an X-book. That could be the next book. Before I let you guys go...

The Clever Maniac. I like this. That's gonna sell. That'll definitely sell. Can I maybe get in on some of the royalties writing a book like that with you guys? The next book, yeah. I guess we won't do that one.

Before I let you guys go, I do want to get your thoughts on what's happening in the news today. I think we covered this in the first act talking about Iran. You sat at the table. You tried to negotiate peace in the Middle East. And we have Donald Trump talking about whether he's somebody who's going to summon that, bring that forth. There's a lot of questions as what the next steps are

going to be. I think as somebody who sits and watches that, who's been in similar positions, like, what do you hope for? What advice do you have? First of all, they're not talking about negotiating peace in the Middle East because the Israelis have no intention of, under the Prime Minister Netanyahu, giving the Palestinians

a state. And now they're too divided and crushed to organize themselves to achieve it. So President Trump apparently agrees with that, that they shouldn't have a state. But you don't want a disaster either. And Mr. Netanyahu has long wanted to fight Iran because that way he can stay in office forever and ever. He's been there most of the last 20 years. But I think we should be trying to defuse it. And I hope President Trump will do that.

I hope anybody there will do that. We've got to stop. We've got to convince our friends in the Middle East that we'll stand with them and try to protect them. But choosing undeclared wars in which the primary victims or civilians who are not politically involved one way or the other, just want to live decent lives, is not a very good solution. Do I think that we have to try to stop Iran

from having a nuclear weapon? I do. I tried at that, and we had some success. But we don't have to have all this outright constant killing of civilians who can't defend themselves and they just want a chance to live. Well said. The gentlemen. As successful authors with the book number two on the New York Times bestsellers list. That wasn't my first wish, but it was my second wish. It's still a very good wish. I'm curious, as authors, can you tell me, do you guys know how the American story will

end? It's not gonna end. Not in our lifetime. You're all about sequels, huh? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm telling you, the people in this audience, you think about this. If everybody in this country who's worried about it would just start talking to their neighbors

and generating interest. These five million people at the No Kings Rally, they're a pretty good canary in the coal mine. Yeah, I suspect this summer is gonna be interesting. I think there'll be a lot of people on the streets trying to express their discontent. Just don't give up, keep fighting. You gotta, but I'm telling you... Applause

President Trump, whatever you think of the previous campaigns, did win that last election. And he has a right to govern and try to do what he thinks is right. And those of us who don't agree with him have a right to say, we don't agree and here's why. And you just need to fight. You can win this fight if you'll stay at it. Awesome. The first gentleman is available now.

President Clinton and James Patterson. We're gonna take a quick break. We'll be right back after this. There it is, the moment is then. The Guardian newspaper reported that pizza deliveries to the Pentagon surged right before the US invasion of Panama in 1989 and Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Of course, all of this is on a need to know basis. That's need with a K, Stu. Oh, you had to go there, didn't you, actually? Oh, you did, you did it.

I had to. Yeah, you just had to Ashley? Oh, you did. You did it. I had to. Yeah, you just had to. 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 is an iHeart podcast.