The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Trump’s Alleged Hitler Admiration, Obama Raps, and the Future of Political Changemakers

Episode Date: October 24, 2024

Michael Kosta unpacks a whirlwind of headlines, including Obama rapping Eminem at a rally, Eminem’s endorsement of Kamala Harris, and Tim Walz’s fiery remarks about Elon Musk. John Kelly reveals Trump’s troubling praise for Hitler. Michael then explores whether America is ready to say goodbye to the Electoral College, with insights from CNN's John King and Michigan lawmakers pushing for the National Popular Vote Bill. David Hogg discusses his grassroots movement to elect young progressives, his advice for Kamala Harris, and the future of Gen-Z political leaders.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Stewart here. Unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show. We're going to be talking about the election economics ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. Listen to The Weekly Show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcasts. 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, Michael Kostin. We've got so much to talk about tonight. President Obama shows off his rap skills. John Kelly gives Trump a history lesson and I'll fix our entire voting system forever. You're welcome. So let's get right into it with another installment of Indecision 2024. We're 13 days away from the election and it's a toss-up at this point. In the past few weeks, Trump has made the polls tighter than his shirt collar around his little necklace. So now Democrats are bringing out the big guns, starting with a rally last night in Detroit where the opening act was local legend Oka-Oka-Oka Eminem. That's right, people.

Slim Shady, AKA Marshall Mathers, AKA the reason Stan drove off that bridge. F*** Stan. You really think stars like Eminem read their own mail? Idiot. But, oh, man, this is gonna be good. Eminem has recorded some of the most brutal tracks of all time He has a song where he stuffs people in the trunk of a car He rapped about wanting to see President Bush dead. He called his own mom a slut

The point is Eminem is gonna destroy Trump. So let's go And I think it's important to use your voice. So I'm encouraging everybody to get out and vote, please. Please? Please? Wow, this guy got polite. Now everybody in the 313, put your motherfucking hands up and fill out your voter registration

in a timely fashion, please. And Em didn't even perform. But that was OK, because he was just the warm up to Barack Obama, the real rapper of the night. I was feeling some kind of way following Eminem. And I noticed my palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. Bombing on my sweater already, mom's spaghetti. I'm nervous but on the surface I look calm and ready to drop bombs, but I keep bombs

forgetting. but I, T-Pom, forget him. Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Holy shit. Did he just come up with that on the spot? I mean, that was so good, it should be a song. But it's nice to see Obama pay homage to Eminem,

because it means that black people have finally accepted that Eminem is the greatest rapper of all time. And look, oh, stop, I know how it feels. I went through it every time Tiger Woods won a golf tournament, okay? I will say, maybe Obama should skip that line about dropping bombs. Are you still rapping? Are you doing a drone strike?

Too real, don't laugh, too real, too real, too real. But even if you were to be let down that Eminem didn't go hard real don't laugh 2 real 2 real 2 real. But even if you were to be let down that MNM didn't go hard don't worry because over in Wisconsin, an up and coming rapper drop in epic Donald Trump district. He's not debate, but you can't blame him when you get your ass with that hard you don't come back for seconds. And more than the normal rambling.

He calls it the weave. Donald, come on. We know there's only one weave that you know anything about. Being at McDonald's, he looks much more like Ronald McDonald in the clown that he actually is. And Ronald wears less makeup. His running mate, Elon Musk. Look, Elon's on that stage, jumping around,

skipping like a dipshit on these things. You know it. Wow, wow. This campaign has changed Tim Walz. A month ago, he was like, oh gee whiz, I love going to Menards. And now he's all, how about you suck my nards, huh? Yeah, suck my nards.

And I know some people think it's stooping to Trump's level when Democrats throw around insults like dipshit, but personally, I think politicians should be swearing way more often. Audiences always love it. Right? Yeah. Isn't that right, you dipshits? How you f***ing do it?

Nice work, audience. But the biggest attack against Trump at the moment isn't coming from Obama or Walls. It's coming from one of the top people in Trump's own White House. This morning, Donald Trump's former chief of staff and retired general John Kelly with a blistering rebuke of the Republican nominee for president, calling him a fascist with no concept for the rule of law or the Constitution. What do you think? Do you think he's a fascist?

He certainly falls into the general definition of a fascist, for sure. Wow. Oof. Donald Trump's old chief of staff is calling him a fascist. That is huge. Although I will say, telling America you're about to elect a fascist is a pretty major thing to announce in an audio clip, you know? You couldn't put on pants and say it into a camera. It's kind of like if aliens were invading

and the president told us in a screenshot from his notes app. Just seems like the wrong medium. Let me back up here for a second. That word fascism gets thrown around a lot, and it's one of those words you hear frequently, but you don't actually know what it means, like emoluments or demure. So let me give you a definition.

Fascism is a nationalist political movement that builds a cult around an all-powerful leader who vows to protect his loyal subjects from racially inferior others and the enemy within. Now, now that you know that, upon hearing John Kelly calling Trump a fascist, you're probably thinking, yeah, durr. By the way, Kelly isn't even the only general

who served with Trump who feels this way. General Milley, Trump's chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said Trump is a fascist to the core. General Mattis, General McMaster, both Trump cabinet officials have said Trump is a fascist to the core. General Mattis, General McMaster, both Trump cabinet officials have said Trump violated the Constitution. And keep in mind, these guys were the adults in the room in the first Trump administration

keeping Trump from going full dictator. And they're not gonna be there the second time around. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not ready to put the future of American democracy in the hands of Secretary of Defense, my pillow guy. But it gets even crazier. It gets crazier because according to John Kelly, Trump's such a fascist that he even

has an all-time favorite dictator. And if you're thinking, no, no, no, no, no, no, it can't be. Yes, it can. He would comment more than once that, you know, that Hitler did some good things, too. Yeah. Hitler did some good things. I mean, after all, he killed himself. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Do we clap at that? Are we... Seriously, Trump, Hitler never did anything good. He even sucked at waving. Like, dude, God gave you elbows. Use them.

That's how I wave. But what Kelly explained in an interview with the Atlantic magazine is that Trump, what Trump really loved about Hitler was how he surrounded himself with yes men, or as they say in Germany, ja-men. The title of the piece quotes Trump as once having said, I need the kind of generals that Hitler had.

Trump adding, people who were totally loyal to him that follow orders. Yeah, I feel like Trump took the wrong lesson from the Holocaust. The lesson I learned was not to do the Holocaust, but the lesson he learned was, well, the Nazis were great listeners. Yeah, I... And apparently, the first time Kelly heard this,

Trump didn't mention Hitler at first. He just said, German generals. So Kelly tried to give Trump an off-ramp, but he wasn't taking it. Kelly told Goldberg, when Trump raised the subject, he responded by asking, do you mean Bismarck's generals? Kelly went on, quote, I mean, I knew he didn't know

who Bismarck was or about the Franco-Prussian war. I said, do you mean the Kaiser's generals? Surely you can't mean Hitler's generals. And he said, yeah, yeah, Hitler's generals. I mean, Kelly was trying so hard to give him an out. Okay, you said German generals, but you don't mean Hitler's generals. Okay, you do mean Hitler.

But you mean like Nathan Hitler, the guy my wife goes to Pilates with, right? Help me out here, man. Help me. I love how he was like, you mean Bismarck's generals, right? My man, the only generals Trump knows are the Chinese one that makes that chicken and the guy who teamed up with Shaq to sell car insurance. That's it. Anyway, this is pretty indefensible stuff.

And when Trump does something truly indefensible, you can always count on Fox News to defend it. It's your job to do what the president wants. And I could absolutely see him go now, you know what? It would be great to have German generals that actually do what we ask them to do, knowing that's a third, maybe not fully being cognizant of the third rail of German generals

who are Nazis and whatever. Okay. Okay. Did you just whatever the Holocaust? Whatever is for insignificant things, like when you put the plastic recycling in the paper recycling. It's not, oops, I did a genocide. Whatever is for insignificant things, like when you put the plastic recycling in the paper recycling. It's not, oops, I did a genocide.

I like that Kilmeade thinks praising Hitler is a third rail, like it's a taboo subject that's not PC to discuss at the office anymore. Oh, you can't even compliment a woman's haircut or tell her about all the good things Hitler did anymore. Thanks, woke police. This was even a little too far for some of the other people on the couch.

Watch Steve Doocy as he realizes where Kilmeade is going with this. You know what? It would be great to have German generals that actually do what we ask them to do. Poor guy. He looks nervous. His palms are sweaty.

Knees weak, arms heavy. There's vomit on his sweater already. Ah. are sweaty, knees weak, arms heavy, who's vomit on his sweater already. Look, almost everybody has figured out that Hitler was bad, but for that one person that didn't, who also might be the next president, great job everybody, maybe the media can drive that point home a bit more. Here at the History Channel, we've spent the past three decades pumping out World War II documentaries for grandpas. But we're starting to think we haven't been clear enough

about whether or not you should root for Hitler. So we're eliminating that confusion with our new lineup of World War II programming. Join us Mondays at 7, 4, defeating the Führer, who, to be clear clear was the bad guy. Followed at 8 by Hitler's Generals, the also very bad guys behind the main very very bad guy. Then at 9, one hour of just a black screen that says Hitler was bad.

Plus, all of our other shows now have helpful graphics in case you forget halfway through that Hitler was bad. And of course, you can still enjoy all our other programming, like ancient aliens. I believe that the pyramids were built by aliens. And even I know Hitler was bad. We've even teamed up with our sister network to present Shark Week, the Hitlers of the Sea. Wait, does that make Hitler sound cool?

Forget it. So please enjoy the History Channel. The H is for History. Not Hitler. Who was bad? Don't believe I have to say. When we come back, I go home to Michigan. Don't go away. Hey everybody, John Stewart here.

I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show, coming out every Thursday. We're going to be talking about the election earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go. But how many of them come out on Thursday? Listen to The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the Daily Show.

Last night we aired part of my investigative series on the Electoral College and now the thrilling conclusion. War breaking news now. The cocky clown Michael Kosta headed to the battleground state of Michigan going there to see if they will pass the national popular vote It's still a long shot, especially now for someone as inept as Michael Kosta I'm in Michigan the state known for being where I'm from at the Capitol to inspire lawmakers to pass the national popular vote bill So I'm speaking with Kerry Reingans, the sponsor of the

bill, to find out how to get it pushed over the finish line. How does this national popular vote bill get voted on and where does that happen? So on the House floor, if we get it on the agenda, we'll be able to have it put up on the board and we will be invited to vote on it. So you feel like you have the votes you need? Yes.

So then why not just pass it right now while your boy's here? Well I do expect a vote by the end of the year. End of the year doesn't really work for me. This is the time that I'm gonna be in Michigan because I got a flight in 36 hours. Who do I have to talk to to get this bill passed? Because I'll do it. I'm like the most famous guy from Michigan ever. Well besides Tim Allen but that guy sucks. Well we have been really busy this term. I'm voting on what's the best fudge shop in Mackinac Island? No, we don't need to vote. Which Michigander can eat the most snow?

No, we've been doing important work. So we do deliver, we do want to vote on this, and this is really a nonpartisan issue. What can I do to push this through? Because let's be honest, if this thing passes, who's the hero? Boom, right? And I need that right now.

You know, it might be really helpful to hear from just more people in Michigan. The general public, I think, would totally support this. You want me to hang out with the general public? Yes. My mission was clear. If I was going to get this bill passed before my flight, I had to use my star power to get the people on my side because one thing was certain, I will not pay a change fee.

How do you feel about the Electoral College, Terry? It sucks. Does it feel outdated sometimes? I'm not a fan of the Electoral College. I'm actually more of a fan of popular vote. What if I told you that tomorrow there might be a bill being introduced that would support a national popular vote to determine the presidency? I would be excited about that.

I think that would mean Michigan's just right on the right track. So maybe that's going to happen tomorrow. I'm not putting money on that. OK, but if it did happen tomorrow, Terry, how would you feel? Oh, it would be great. OK, look into that camera and show me

the face you're going to make if the national popular vote bill passes. Go ahead. I think a popular vote is going to pass. Would you want Michigan to pass a national popular vote bill? Hell yeah. Would you want Michigan to pass the national popular vote bill? Hell yeah! Would you want Michigan to pass the national popular vote bill?

Yes! Go green! Go white! Woo! Yeah! That settles it. Michigan needed to pass the national popular vote bill. Michigan!

Let's get this national popular vote bill done! Woo! National Popular Vote Bill done! After checking my victory balloons at security, I started wheeling and dealing on the floor. What are you here for? We're hoping the National Popular Vote Bill gets introduced and passed today. Would I single-handedly be able to get Michigan to pass the National Popular Vote Bill specifically before my flight? National Popular vote bill. Word was getting around that Costa was in the House and things were starting to happen.

We're hoping the national popular vote bill gets introduced today and voted on. Why can't I ever come into the House? It's gonna, it's gonna. That's why we're here. But after a tedious legislative session... This is not our bill. Relax, it's not our bill.

...it was clear the vote was not happening. Could be in the Delta Sky Lounge in 35 minutes. I can't do it. I gotta go. I can't believe it. It's too bad, man. I had a shot. Michigan lawmakers, you have really let the people, but more importantly, me, down.

God damn it, John King's gonna have a field day with this thing. This breaking news, the depressing doofus Michael Kosta has failed to get the national popular vote bill passed here in Battleground, Michigan. He didn't even get it on the agenda. Now, it's not an end to the national popular vote movement, but it is definitely an end to anyone caring about Michael Kosta. In fact, we're just getting exclusive footage of a dejected Kosta leaving the Michigan State Capitol. Take a peek, just like the little sad boy he is. And CNN can now officially project,

Michael Kosta is pathetic. Don King out. When we come back, David Hogg will be joining me on the show, so don't go away. Michael Kosta is pathetic John Stewart here unbelievably exciting news my new podcast the weekly show we're going to talk about the election economics ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches listen to the weekly show John Stewart whatever you get your podcast. And gun violence and the co-founder of the Leaders We Deserve pack. Please welcome David Hogg.

David! -♪ David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogg, David Hogas. David Haas. Soak it in. You're 24 years old. You're 24 years old. You co-founded March for Our Lives after surviving the Parkland shooting to support gun control legislation. You've now co-founded Leaders We Deserve PAC. Yes. Tell us, what is that? So, it's basically the second step in our process.

You know, we worked with March for Our Lives to help elect better people to change gun laws, but our generation is getting old enough now that many of the young people that marched out with us, that protested with us and organized in 2018 in the largest student protest in American history. I'm not old enough to run for office, so my philosophy. So, my philosophy around that is if our government

is not willing to change gun laws, then it's time to change who's in government. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. And the way that we do that, Michael, is we help fund great generational leaders under the age of 30 for state legislature and under the age of 35 for Congress, people like Congressman Maxwell Frost

and soon-to-be Congresswoman Sarah McBride in Delaware. And work with them on a day-to-day basis on everything that they need to be able to win. You're tired of old people having a monopoly of power in our government, but isn't one of the solutions just waiting? Well, funny enough, I think that that's our long-term plan, ultimately.

You know, whenever people... Guys stick it out, they're going to die. Exactly. But it's about creating an intergenerational coalition in our government. So many of the greatest presidents we've ever had, whether that was Abraham Lincoln, he was 25 when he was first elected to the Illinois State House. LBJ was 28 when he was first elected to Congress.

Joe Biden, and I know this is hard to believe for the younger people, was 29 when he was first elected. And those men went on to become so successful, I believe, because they started when they were so young. And it makes sense. If you start when you're young, you know how to get stuff done. And if people want to know more about what we do, they can go to leaderswedeserve.com.

So... Yeah. Yeah. Silly question. Do young people want to run for office? Because it seems to me like, and I'm an old man, but it seems like every young person I see is just on TikTok. Well, they are certainly on TikTok.

Yes. But they're also engaging with all kinds of things on there because they all want to help create a better world, ultimately. We see young people over the past several years, ever since Donald Trump got elected, march for their lives in the form of March for Our Lives. We see young people over the past several years, ever since Donald Trump got elected, march for their lives in the form of March for Our Lives.

We've seen them protest to fight for action on climate change and so much more. And ultimately, we've grown up hearing the mantra. Gen Z was taught alongside our ABCs, the mantra of run, hide, and fight. Right. Right. I think it's time for our generation to repurpose that and realize we have a responsibility not to hide

from the responsibility to protect the next generation so that they don't go through this. We have to fight to create that future. And if necessary, we need to run for office to make that future a reality. But how? Yeah. Yeah.

When... By the way, Michael. Yes. By the way, my mom literally just called me when I was in makeup, and she wanted me to say that she has a huge crush on John. And this guy's got comedic timing, you know what I mean? I was just about to promote it some more, what you were doing. But no. If anything, Michael, you guys know the importance of having young people join a show, for example. That's true. That's true. And John still comes on once a week, so your show is an intergenerational coalition.

That's true. And honestly, John, I think, thinks the rest of us are all just the same person. So but when you're looking for a Gen Z-er, I know. It's like. Hey, I know you're different. I watch this show religiously. Thank you. For real?

Yeah. For real. Yeah. Yeah, but so, like, they're older people. They watch it on a cable channel. You watch it on your friend's YouTube or something. Yeah, great, which is why nobody has any money. But, um... When you're looking for a Gen Z-er to run,

you've said you're looking for someone that has the juice. Yes. What is the juice? Great question for someone that has the juice. Yes. What is the juice? Great question. Do I have the juice? Well. Can I get some juice? I think it's possible for anybody to get it.

But I think that you especially as somebody that does this work to help communicate the news to young people that so often are tired of hearing a cynical worldview constantly. The thing that I hate most is the, I think the greatest threat to our democracy is also one of the things that keeps me up the most at night obviously, which is the hopelessness and apathy that so many young people have.

That is a self-fulfilling prophecy, and I don't think that you have that, so I think you do have the juice. I got the juice. But I think, in terms of, I got the juice. In terms of what does the juice really mean though, 51% of what decides who we endorse as a candidate,

it goes beyond our questionnaire and where they stand on the issues. That's 49% of it. 51% of it is why are you running for office. We're not here just to support somebody because they want to have, you know, congressmen or women next to their name or they want to be a representative

just for the sake of having power, for the sake of having power. We want to elect somebody because they want to use that power for good to help the people that don't have it right now, to help build a more perfect union. And part of how we do that is our candidates, they don't take corporate money. We don't take corporate money. I was going to ask you about money. Exactly.

Yeah. Let's talk about money. So, first of all, there's a great movie that came out in 1992 called Juice. You weren't even born yet. You weren't even a thought yet. Your parents probably hadn't even met yet. The very last scene, he goes, you got the juice now, man.

And he goes, no. I want you just to think about that. Yeah. I'll have to follow up on it. Money. So I go to Leaders We Deserve website. And before I even really read the bio and see the video, it's like, yo, click here for some money.

So it had me thinking, where is your money coming from? So that's a great question. You're welcome. When we started, it was a huge risk that we took because we were actually ready to launch on the day that we were supposed to launch, 12 hours before Donald Trump got indicted the first time. Right.

And then we launched a week after that. And then he got indicted a week later. Four indictments, yes. But when we launched, we had no money, actually. And what happened is we took a huge risk and we put it out there. And we raised over a million dollars in our first 72 hours. Jeez, crazy.

From what I am most proud of by far is right now in our first 72 hours. Geez, crazy. And what I'm most proud of by far is, right now, in our first 14 months of existence, with just a small team of four people and great friends around us, we've been able to raise nearly $12 million to support young people. But... But that would not...

That would not be possible without 130,000 individual donors who've donated, on average, far less than without 130,000 individual donors who've donated, on average, far less than $1,000 to our organization. So no single person has control over us, other than just making sure we do the right thing and our candidates do the right thing, which I think we need more of. Once you take money from a corporation, it does change things, doesn't it? Just a little bit.

It taints things a little bit. Yeah. And so you're saying that that's not what you got. Okay, great. Young men of your generation that that's not what you got. Okay, great. Young men of your generation, I'm not putting this all on you, but I am curious, a lot of them are supporting Donald Trump. Yeah. What's all that about, dude?

That's a great question. Yeah. And are you, and as leaders, we deserve supporting Democrats, progressives, conservatives, who? So right now, excellent question. I'm not just going to be your friend there. I'm going to push back a little bit. No, you absolutely should.

We support young progressives running for state legislature and Congress. And the main places that we look for them are people that have a background in social movements. People like Bryce Berry, who's running and will soon be the youngest person ever elected to the Georgia state legislature at the age of 23. He is a seventh grade algebra teacher. Jesus. And a former organizer with March for Our Lives. And then the, so that's really... Also proving that if you know algebra, it still has no relevance in the modern day world.

Exactly. You got to become a state legislature. Yeah. Exactly. And so that's really what we're doing. If you could talk or give advice to Kamala Harris, the one thing you could tell her to mobilize young Democratic voters, what would it be? And please tell me it has nothing to do with the Hoc Toi podcast.

It does not. Okay. What I would say is listen to us and what we're saying. I think I just showed how old I was. I didn't even say that right. Right? Yeah. What I would say is listen to us and what these young people are saying

and what we're going through, right? And realizing, and I think to a large extent, she's done a pretty good job of that. But there's still a lot more work that we need to do to make sure that we're listening to these young people and giving them faith that their voice and their vote actually matters to somebody like the vice president or the future,

ideally future president of the United States, and that they know that there's a lot more elections that affect you than just the presidency, this presidential election. An abortion ban is really gonna be decided by your state legislature, and that's why most of the work we do isn't even in Congress right now.

It's in state legislatures to help put up a fight against the radical abortion bans. Where just earlier today... That's why... That's why this year we've been investing, the state that we've actually invested the most in this year is Texas, where we spent over $1.5 million. And the reason for that is we know as Texas grows and when we do flip Texas,

because I believe that Texas, like Florida, is not a red state, it is a gerrymandered and voter-suppressed state. Okay. Right? If we flip Texas, we could have a future where we don't even need to win Pennsylvania, Michigan, or Wisconsin to win the presidency, because all you need is Texas in that scenario

with the key typical Democratic strongholds. And we're not investing for one cycle with our PAC. We're investing with time in the market of change, if you will. Where we know that we have the greatest advantage on our side that anybody can have in politics, that none of these corporations, not even people like the Koch brothers, can buy more of, which is the fact that we're going to outlive most of the people who are against us.

Right. It's a good point. When we get our ballots, we're always very familiar with the presidency, but there's so many other people on the ballot. And it would be nice if those names were as familiar as well. Exactly. You were a survivor of the Parkland shooting in 2018. Since then, depending on how you define a mass shooting,

there's been 54 more mass shootings in this country. This could be very disheartening. to define a mass shooting has been 54 more mass shootings in this country. This could be very disheartening. Yet when I see you, when I meet you, and when I see you on TV or anywhere, you seem resilient, you seem inspired, you don't seem disheartened. Tell me, what is the trick? How do you stay up? Cuz it can break you.

It can. And you know that better than anybody. It can. And I'm going to be completely honest with you, Michael, in that truly it's things like The Daily Show. And I mean that. Good answer. No. But truly.

And the reason why I say that is because there's so much negativity and vitriol in the media constantly. It's hard to watch it when it feels like you're being told constantly the world is on fire, but you still need to be informed. Watching things like The Daily Show, and really a huge person that I have to thank for getting involved in politics in the first place

is actually John Oliver. Sure. Because I started as a young debate student when I was in ninth grade in high school, I started watching his show, and it gave me a completely different perspective into how hilariously corrupt a lot of these different state legislatures and politicians are,

but how it doesn't have to be that way. And one thing that was really hard for me to learn, the hardest thing for me to learn after the shooting, and I think this goes for a lot of my classmates, was that it's okay to be happy... Right....no matter what you've gone through. Right. And I say that... Yeah. I say that... I say that...

because I have learned, I have learned it is an absolute happiness, joy, are not antithetical to progress, no matter how hard the issue is that you're working on. They're an essential part of it. And that was a hard lesson to learn. Because... Thank you. Because after the shooting, there were so many people,

you know, naturally, what do you do in a photo if somebody takes it with you, no matter what you've gone through? You smile. Right. Right. Right. There were so many people that would make, you know, right-wing people online that would make memes of us smiling, saying, these are the faces that you make

when you're standing on the bodies of your dead classmates. Jesus Christ, yeah, and That had a horrible effect on us. Yeah, and it really started to tear us apart But I realized at a certain point that they actually need us not to be happy and believe to believe that change isn't possible Because I know from talking people like Dolores Huerta who I was at a protest with a few years ago And I asked her what is the most important thing? That you can tell other young people, other activists, for them to know?

And she said, the most important thing is that you have to make people believe that change is actually possible. If we didn't believe change was possible... Whoo! ...after Parkland, if we didn't believe change was possible, if we didn't have, in some ways, the ignorance to believe change was possible in a we didn't have, in some ways, the ignorance to believe change was possible

in a Republican state legislature like Florida was, we wouldn't have been able to raise the age to 21 because we would have listened to those negative ad peddlers and pollsters and pundits. It was a Republican governor, a Republican, and you guys went and actually achieved some change. And we raised the age to bygone to 21 in Florida. And not just that, we passed a red flag law

that can disarm people that are at risk to themselves and others. And that law has since been used in Florida alone over 19,000 times. Wow. Wow. And... And, Michael, guess who uses it most? Who? Republican sheriffs. Right, Republican sheriffs use it most. And guess who hasn't repealed it?

Ron DeSantis, because it has such wide bipartisan support. We cannot buy into this lie that this is such a partisan issue We can't do anything about it and I like I heard you say somewhere else that a lot of the Republicans that helped pass that still got reelected they did because that is ultimately what it comes down to if they fear Oh, I'm not gonna get reelected, but but they got reelected exactly. We're still there But that's why it's so important that young people use their voice and I'm not gonna say to reelected, but they got reelected. Exactly. Some of them are still there. But that's why it's so important that young people use their voice.

And I'm not going to say to them right now that this is going to get solved if you just elect Kamala Harris. Everything's going to be better. It's not going to be. We have been left the results of a 50-year chess game that conservatives have played here through things like the Federalist Society, the Heritage

Foundation, and so many of these other institutions that Donald Trump is simply a symptom of, and he is only that, a symptom of it. If it wasn't him, it was going to be somebody else. Our generation has to start laying the groundwork now to reverse-engineer a lot of that so that we can actually reinstate things like Roe versus Wade, so that we can overturn things

like D.C. versus Heller and Citizens United and all these other insane decisions that the Supreme Court has made. Keep it up. Thank you. Your positivity is very inspiring. For more information, check out LeadersWeDeserve.com. David Hogg, everybody.

We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. Thank you. Thank you. That's our show for tonight. But before we go, the Daily Show's official indecision We'll be right back. day scan the qr code or head to link below. Paramount Podcasts.