The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Trump’s New Portrait, Biden’s Ominous Farewell & Who Gets Ceasefire Credit?

Episode Date: January 17, 2025

Jordan Klepper covers Biden's ominous farewell address, in which he warned about the end of democracy and formation of an oligarchy. Desi Lydic and Michael Kosta try to sort out the most important detail of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire: Who gets credit? Plus, Grace Kuhlenschmidt makes an election prognosticator answer for his wrong prediction.Representative Tom Suozzi of New York’s third Congressional District sits down to discuss what he thinks is the best strategy for Democrats during Trump’s second term, and avoiding the GOP’s culture war distractions to focus on building up the middle class.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 I'm Jordan Klepper. We got so much to talk about tonight. Biden says bye. Pundits have some explaining to do. And a war breaks out over who ended the war. So let's get into headlines. Let's kick things off with Donald Trump.

Today was a big day for the once-and-future president. Picture day. He took the official photo that will be hanging up in DMVs and airports all over the country. So, let's see what sunny face we'll be staring at for the next four years. Oh! Oh-ho-ho! Man! Man! Let's see what Sonny Face will be staring at for the next four years. Oh! Oh-ho-ho!

Man! Man! You know what? The wild thing is, this was the now let's do a silly one. Whoo! There's also another person who's taking his photos down from the White House, Joe Biden. A lot of people are worried about a second Trump presidency, so last night's farewell address was a chance for the president to offer the nation some

comfort. President Biden and his final farewell address from the Oval Office delivered a stunning warning to the nation on his way out. Potential rise of a tech industrial complex that could pose real dangers. An oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy. Okay!

Yeah. Thanks for the encouragement, Mr. President. I'm shitting my pants in comfort. Look, I know you've only got a few days left, but don't just give us problems. Maybe offer some solutions, I know you've only got a few days left, but don't just give us problems. Maybe offer some solutions, you know? There's a dangerous threat of oligarchy from a rich elite. And that's why I'm pardoning Luigi Mangione.

Go get him, tiger. You're still falling. You're still falling here. Yes, Biden used his last speech as president to warn us about a new American oligarchy. We're still falling. We're still falling here. Yes, Biden used his last speech as president to warn us about a new American oligarchy. And you can tell the message hit home because of how many people, and this is true, how many people immediately went to Google

to search, what is oligarchy? And weirdly, Google responded, don't worry about it. Turns out, you don't need to Google oligarchy to understand what it actually looks like. Just tune into the inauguration this Monday. NBC News is now reporting that Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg will all three attend Donald Trump's inauguration next week. The CEOs of Apple and Google will be there.

Sam Altman from OpenAI. TikTok CEO, show two. He was invited to sit on the dais where former presidents and family traditionally sit. Whoo! That is right. Facebook's at the inauguration. Google, Amazon, the CEO of Zoom will be there

wearing a suit top, short bottoms. Uh, CEO of Uber will be there in two minutes. Maybe five minutes. You know what? They're looking for a new CEO. Even the CEO of Vine will be there. I mean, he'll be panhandling outside, but he'll be near, near there. The inauguration, guess this, can't just be billionaires

who get off reading your DMs. There has to be more. I mean, who else is Trump inviting to watch him take the oath of office? Performing at Trump's inauguration will be familiar names from his campaign, including Kid Rock, Lee Greenwood, and the village people.

First responders from Butler County, Pennsylvania, where Trump survived that first assassination attempt, will march in the parade. And the MAGA garbage truck that went viral during the campaign will reportedly hit the streets of Washington, D.C. during the Inauguration Day parade. Whoa! Trump's bringing back all the characters from the campaign like it's the Seinfeld finale.

We're gonna be watching from home like, look, it's the cats and dogs from Springfield! And they're wearing Trump's ear bandage! I mean, they're even bringing the garbage truck. He used it as a prop in one campaign stunt, and now it's going to be in the parade. I mean, it's not even going to drive itself. It's gonna ride in the back of a limo.

I mean, now that this garbage truck is a MAGA celebrity, the sky is the limit. It's gonna get its own right-wing podcast, join the White House staff, and every Trump sycophant is gonna start sucking up to it, then finally, reporters will catch the truck getting a handjob from Kimberly Guilfoyle in the Rose Garden.

Tale as old as time. But I will say, this inauguration list must be so embarrassing for anyone who didn't get an invite. I mean, Sean Spicer's gonna be like, does anyone know if the garbage truck has a plus one? You know, let's move on, because while the new presidency is about to begin, there's a frenzy of activity

happening at the end of the current presidency. Yesterday, President Biden announced a breakthrough in the war in the Middle East, phase one of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. And what I found really uplifting is that we finally sealed the deal. New reporting this morning that there was extraordinary cooperation

between the outgoing and incoming administrations. The New York Times reports there was coordination between both presidential teams, and that each directed their advisors to work together to push Israel and Hamas over the finish line. Look at this. Look at this. You see this? This is truly inspiring. Two administrations, two rivals,

working together to make the world a better place, focusing on what's important, creating peace in the world, not petty fights over who gets the credit. Does this deal belong to Biden or Trump? Who do you give credit to? It could not have happened without Trump. This is President Biden's negotiation.

If Donald Trump wasn't elected in November, none of this would have been happening. This credit goes to Joe Biden. Joe Biden... Not 100%. That's not fair. Babel! Come on! What is all this arguing about? There's enough credit for everyone who deserves it. goes to Joe Biden. Joe Biden is the president. Not 100%. That's not fair. Babel! Come on! What is all this arguing about? There's enough credit for everyone who deserves it.

The presidents, the diplomats, and most importantly, everyone who changed their profile pics. You're welcome. Hey, what else do you expect from the media? Stirring up drama is their thing. I'm sure the two statesmen at the heart of the negotiations are content to share the credit. President-elect Trump wasted no time angling for credit

on the ceasefire deal we've been talking about this morning, posting on his social media site that, quote, this epic ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our historic victory in November. How much credit do you give to the Trump team for this deal? Trump is already taking credit for it. Well, you know, this is the exact framework of the deal I proposed back in May.

Exact. First off, Joe, I don't think that's the brag you think it is. Everyone's been ignoring this thing since May. Then something happened. I don't know. And Donald, can you just throw this man a bone, please? Haven't you done enough to poor Joe?

You took his second term. You took his legacy. You took his wife to go see Baby Girl together. Can't you just share a little credit with him? But guys, a little perspective here. The important thing isn't who gets credit. The important thing is that after over a year of war, we finally have a ceasefire.

A new wrinkle in the hostage ceasefire deal. Israel's war cabinet a short time ago delayed a vote to officially ratify the deal because they say Hamas has reneged on some parts of the agreement. Like I said, the important thing is we thought about having a ceasefire. And what a fun couple of hours it was.

For more analysis on the ceasefire deal, we turn to Desi Lydic and Michael Kosta. -♪ Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Michael, I want to start with you. Michael. Michael, isn't it counterproductive to be debating credit and picking sides? It sure is, Jordan, because all the credit belongs to Donald Trump. He gets the credit. Give him all the peace points. He's an unhinged madman who threatened to unleash hell. It goes to show that completely over-the-top threats work.

You don't believe me? I'll f***ing annihilate you. I hate my life, and I've got nothing to lose. Michael, you've got plenty to lose, including this argument, because this was all Biden. Trump's just a little kid thinking he opened the pickle jar when Joe Biden had been loosening it for months.

Give him the peace points. Seven peace points for Joe Biden. Okay, guys, what the hell are peace points? It's the points you get for peace. And they go to Donald Trump. He's basically the president now. The president now is Joe Biden. This was all Joe Biden.

Hold on. No, I'm getting some breaking news. It sounds like the deal may be falling apart. Like I was saying, this was all Donald Trump. He's basically the president now. You're flip-flopping. You're flip-flopping. So you maintain that this was Trump's deal, Costa. Absolutely not. Donald Trump's not even close

to being the president. He can't even win peace points yet. But he can lose peace points, and that means he's minus 26. What the f*** are peace points? Think about him like a pickle jar. Oh, come on. The entire deal is because of Joe Biden. Wait, hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm getting word. The deal might be back on. Joe Biden's replacement, Donald Trump.

You did it, big guy. Congrats. where the deal might be back on. Joe Biden's replacement Donald Trump. You did it, big guy. Congrats. Oh, my God. You're pathetic, Costa. Joe Biden did this. Hold on. I'm just getting an alert. Just want to make sure it's not about the deal. Oh, okay, it's fine. My kid's just missing. Anyway, Joe Biden did Middle East peace!

Guys, guys, can't there be a compromise here? Like, for the sake of unity, surely you can come to an agreement on sharing the credit. I... I guess we could split the credit. In phase one, Biden gets the credit until Trump takes over. Right. Then in phase two, Trump takes the credit for six weeks. And then if the peace holds, in phase three,

both sides will coexist peacefully sharing the credit, each of them both getting four peace points peace points. -...four peace points. Wow. I mean, I still have no idea what peace points are, but the fact you guys achieved this agreement is historic. Well done. Thank you. It was my idea. No, I get the credit. Remember the pickle analogy? I loosened the deal.

It's my credit. If you talk about pickles one more time, I will kill you. I hate my life. I have nothing to lose. All right. Well, we'll have to go back to the negotiating table. Desi Lydic and Michael Kosta, everyone. When we come back, we'll find out why Kamala didn't win the election. Don't go away. Yeah! Applause

Applause Welcome back to The Daily Show. Before the election, we sent Grace Kuhlenschmidt to ask election analysts who they predicted would win the presidential race. Now, two months later, she followed up with some of those predictions. Last time I was in Washington, D.C. was just two months ago, which feels like a lifetime. I was so young and naive looking for answers.

What is your prediction for this election 2024? And Alan Lichtman gave them to me. Kamala Harris will become the first woman president. But Alan Lichtman was wrong. Donald Trump has been elected president. Can you just admit that you got it wrong with your foolish little equation? You got it wrong, Alan.

You live in a total world of denial. You've got it wrong. Say whatever you want. You were imposterously and stupidly wrong! Alan... I seriously trusted you. Well? No, no! It's not your time to talk yet.

I seriously trusted you. And I thought that what you told me was the truth. I was being honest with you. No, you weren't! You weren't out of it! It was a prediction! You weren't out of it! Not a fact, and I told you.

I'm a human being, right? You didn't tell me that you were a human being and that you might be not. I certainly didn't mean to hurt anyone. I'm not psychic. My predictions are based on history, and this year, which you know is the craziest year ever, the pattern of history was broken.

That can happen. Did you even notice I got a haircut? Actually, you did and it looks great. I agree. It really frames my face. If only Alan's political judgment was as good as his taste in haircuts, but it wasn't,

and I needed to know why. What are some of your excuses? I definitely think I was thrown off by pushing Biden out. We've never seen a sitting president, the elected nominee, forced out. So that leads me to perhaps reevaluate my call on the contest key. See, yeah, I knew that was stupid and I was gonna tell you, but I didn't want a woman's plan. The broader point is, I do think Harris's race and gender played a role here. There

are deep strains within this country of misogyny, racism, xenophobia. I wish you had told me that the first time. Could have maybe thrown that in there. And to be fair, Alan wasn't the only thought leader who got this prediction wrong. Have you talked to Charlie XCX about this or anything? Talked to who? Charlie XCX. I or anything? Talked to who? Charlie XCX. Maybe I'm not hearing you right.

Charlie XCX. Charlie XCX. I don't know who that is. Yeah. She said that Kamala is brat. And it just, at this point, I'm kind of thinking, perhaps Trump was more brat. Oh, OK.

Yeah. But you and her have not spoken. We have not spoken. I was secretly glad they hadn't spoken because that would make me crazy jealous, which is an issue I'd been working on with my therapist. But did Alan have any regrets of his own? Are you thinking, why did I ever get into politics? Why didn't I, you know, just stick to modeling or something?

This is one prediction in over 40 years. I was listed as number 85 of the world's 100 leading geopolitical experts. But people think, oh, he made a wrong prediction. That invalidates him as a person. It's crazy. I one time was in an Uber and there was an iPad on the back of the seat and it said, what sound does a dog make? And bark was right there. I clicked moo. But lucky for me, it's

not my dog. And so it really had no impact on my life. I'd like to say one more thing. Please. Yes. We shouldn't just write off an error. We can learn a lot about our politics and our society from analyzing the mistake. Wow. Yeah. If you can't learn from your mistakes, then you're in big trouble. You know what, Alan? I forgive you. And I hope that we're back here in four years. I hope so. And I hope you're right big trouble. You know what, Alan, I forgive you. And I hope that we're back here in four years.

I hope so. And I hope you're right that time. The great Benjamin Disraeli, the former late prime minister of England once said, finality is not a word we use in politics. I think Charlie XCX said that. That's that? I think Charlie XCX said that.

Oh, fuck. Every time you say that, I kind. What's that? I think Charlie XCX said that. Every time you say that, I kind of go, what? It's not a name that rings any bells. Thank you, Grace. When we come back, Democratic Representative Tom Slazi will be joining me on the show. Don't go away. Welcome back to The Daily Show.

My guest tonight is a Democrat who represents New York's third congressional district. Please welcome U.S. Representative Tom Swazi. -♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh They're here for Klepper, not for Swazi. I didn't want to say it. I think we share the love that is here. You got a lot on your plate, Congressman. A lot going on. There's a lot going on right now. I want to talk to you about, we obviously, Monday is the inauguration. You wrote a big...

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Yeah, but do you have it in your calendar? Yes. Yeah? I'll be there. Yeah, you're not gonna storm the Capitol before that, are you? No, no, no. They did that already. Did the Democrats meet together? Yeah, did you guys meet together and discuss

whether we're yin and yang trying to stop these proceedings? We'll be there. We'll be there. We can't stop it. You can't stop the proceedings, no. Well, maybe if you worked a little harder during the election, you could. I'm just spitballing here. Just rub it in, Jordan. Rub it in. Well, here, I'm curious.

You wrote an op-ed a few weeks ago talking about how Democrats should move forward in this new era of Trump. Essentially, Democrats should meet Trump halfway rather than be a party of no. And for you, I'm curious, does that mean 7.5 million deportations instead of 15 million deportations? How does one meet the Republicans halfway? Well, you've got to resist when it's appropriate.

You know, like when he was president before, we resisted. I resisted when he wanted to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. You have to resist when he wants to deport the DREAMers. Now, if he wants to weaponize the DOJ, you have to resist. If he wants to get rid of the climate stuff we've done, you've got to resist. So there's things you have to resist on.

But the people want us to work together to try and solve problems. And we've tried all the stuff of just tearing him down as much as we can and didn't work. He won. And now people want us to work together to address the border, to address cost of living and inflation,

to address the things that really happen in their lives. I mean, people do want things to get done, right? But in 2016, it felt like the Democrats' angle was to be a party of note, to be obstructionist. And they won the midterms. There was success after that. Joe Biden was the next president. Is that a winning strategy?

It felt like being obstructionist, being resistive, if not leading to electoral victory this past election had some successes in 2016, 2018. Well, let me just first make a prediction, okay? The Democrats are going to win in 2024. Whoo! But... In 2024? 2020? What year was I saying?

You said 2024. What year are we in now? Aren't we in 2025? Why did you guys clap for that? Yeah, well, maybe... I was just testing you guys. Failed completely. 2026. Yeah. Yeah, let's start with math and then work towards 2026, shall we? Oh, the math major.

I was a math major. What am I gonna say? I know what is in the past and what is in the future. Right. Okay. So you think 2026... 2026, we're gonna win. Okay. And I think that people... Let's try that again. In 2026, we're gonna win. Okay. So... We are not editing around with that, okay?

This is that we are leaving that in. Our politicians are fallible. This is what we're learning here with Swazi. I'm human. You're human. So, the bottom line is, is that people are really sick. I talk to people all the time. I mean, that's what you do if you do a good job

in elected office is you talk to people. And people are sick and tired of everybody just fighting with each other all the time. And in this year, let me think about the years now, in 2024 in February, I ran a special election to replace George Santos after he got kicked out. And you guys remember George Santos, right?

America's greatest volleyball player. So in that race, I talked about the need to secure the border. And a lot of experts came to me and said, Tom, what are you doing? Why are you talking about the border? That's a Republican issue. I was like, this is what the people are talking about. They want us to address the border. So we can't say we're against deporting criminals. We have to work to try and secure the border.

We need to fix the broken asylum system. We need to also treat people like human beings. We need to give the Dreamers a path to legalization. We need to do something about the people we invited here 20 and 30 years ago, what are called the TPS recipients, temporary protective status. You had an earthquake, you had a flood, you had a civil war. We said, come to America where it's safe. We invited them here.

Let's give them some sort of permanent status. Let's do something... Let's do something... Let's do something... 50% of the farm workers in the United States of America are undocumented. Let's... There have been bipartisan deals over the years

to try and do border security, fix the asylum system, deal with the dreamers, TPS and farm workers, Afghan readjustment, health care workers. There have been deals, but we couldn't get enough support to get it over the finish line. Let's figure out how to build the consensus of people throughout the nation, business, badges and the Bible to try and say, what can we do to get people to work together to actually get these things done and make our country better?

I mean, I think trying to build consensus. Sure. I mean, today, today you had a vote today. You voted for the preventing violence against women by illegal aliens act. This is a bill that was introduced by Representative Nancy Mace, right? And you and 140 Dems voted against this,

but you and 60 other Dems voted for this. And part of it is, you know, I actually don't think that's gonna get through the Senate, but I think that it's part of sending this message that, hey, we're willing to meet you halfway to try and get stuff done. Is that message getting across? It's not gonna get done, it just happened today.

Right, but you're saying this act of goodwill by the Democrats towards the Republicans, that this message will get across. That Marjorie Taylor Greene is hearing this and being like, this is what this was. He's a good guy. Come on. Yeah.

So the bottom line is, the natural inclination of human beings is, is you take a shot at me, I'm gonna give you a shot back. That's normal human behavior. And, like, the Republicans obstructed Biden every single which way. And that's natural human behavior. The problem is we're not getting stuff done to fix the problems.

So it's like when Michelle Obama said, when they go low, we go high. And a lot of people gave her grief for that, for saying that. But in reality, we need to try and reach our hand out and say, let's work together. Let's get some stuff done. If they swat our hands away and say, ah, sucker, you know, like that, then the people will see that. Haven't they been doing that for a year?

Yeah. Yeah. It's all been sucker. They're the party of this. It's all been sucker. They're the party of this. As your mom said, two wrongs don't make a right. And the reality is we have serious problems that exist in our country. And we have to figure out how can we get stuff done.

At least that's why I'm in public life. That's the reason I do this job. I mean, this is an unusual lifestyle, and it's only worth it if you actually get stuff done to make people's lives better. And I think that right now... Whoo! I think that right now,

that's what the American people really want. Mm-hmm. So, you know, we all know all the bad stuff about Donald Trump, okay? We know about, you know, inappropriate grabbing, and we know about, uh, you know, we all know all the bad stuff about Donald Trump, okay? We know about, you know, inappropriate grabbing, and we know about, you know, January 6th, we know about Stormy Daniels, we know about selling Bibles, and we know about all the different, you know... Sure....anyone.

Yeah. And so now he's the president of the United States of America come Monday. So we have got to figure out how do we resist when essential, but how do we resist when essential, but how do we try to work together to get stuff done when we can? I think that, I mean, that is a fine line that people are asking. I know there are people who are more progressive who see this and fear that we're sleepwalking towards autocracy,

that suddenly this resist energy is gone, and that if suddenly we normalize this or don't bring it up enough, then we've sort of lost the plot, and the goalposts get moved yet another field over. Do you worry about that? Yeah, I do worry about it. I'm like every other human being. When you give it to me, I'm going

to want to give it back to you. But the reality is, we've got to get stuff done to make our country better. We're facing serious threats from China. We're facing serious threats all over the world, quite frankly. We're facing threats here in America, and people want their lives. We've lost our middle class in our country.

The minimum wage is still $7.25 an hour in 20 states in the United States of America. People are pissed off. They lost their jobs. They don't have their health insurance. They don't have pensions anymore. They're not making enough money. They go to work every day.

If you make $10 an hour, and you work 40 hours a week, and you work 50 weeks a year, math major, that's $20,000 a year, okay? If you make $15 an hour, you work 40 hours a week, you work 50 weeks a year, that's $30,000 a year. Now- Is that right? Does that all work out?

Yes. I mean, about seven minutes ago, you thought the year was 2020. So I'll check that net. The bottom line is everybody in America, whether you're a progressive or a conservative or anybody in between, everybody in America should believe that if I work hard in return for working hard, I make enough money so I can live a decent life. I can get a house, I can have health insurance, I can educate my children, and I can retire

a day without being scared. The problem is that's not happening in our country for too many people. That's why everybody's so pissed off and that's why Trump found an opening because he says, oh, I hear you. I realize how bad things are for you. Now he's not going to do anything about it. He doesn't support increasing the minimum wage. He doesn't support what's called the PRO Act to try and have more unions in the United

States of America. Child tax credit. We've got to do things. Democrats have to make it clear to people, we're the party for working people. If you work hard, we want you to have a decent life so you can live the American dream. That's what the Democrats should be talking about

to the American people, not all this other stuff about somebody's personality or what's wrong with them. Talk about issues that will make their lives better. But even, you... You... Well, you could... But how do you... I hear you. I feel you...

You go out here and the American public, when I go and talk to people out in America, yes, they talk about the pocketbook. They care about money. They care about buying houses. But the Republicans are also dictating these conversations. And I know sometimes from a political standpoint, you're getting pulled in these culture wars. But the Democrats aren't necessarily bringing

those culture wars up, and they want to stand up. Here's what I'm curious about. You've been faced with very real bills to pass and what to support, where to throw your name behind. You just voted for stronger regulations at the border. But there was recently, like a week ago, this, what was it, the national ban on transgender girls and women's sports. You voted against that ban. How do you, how do you walk this line here? It's not easy. It's very tough. But the bottom line is, is that Donald Trump and the Republicans

have been master pickpockets. So what do pickpockets do? They work in teams. One person comes up to you and they bump into you. And when you're jostled, because you get bumped into, the other person picks your pocket. So they use issues like transgender. They spend $200 million on transgender commercials. And the Democrats never responded. While the people are all excited,

we've got to worry about protecting Social Security and protecting Medicare. So we can't let ourselves be distracted by the... Even the border, to some extent, was an effort to get people all pumped up while they were doing other stuff. And the best example is Trump just came out a week ago and he said Panama Canal, Greenland,

and changed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. OK, what happened to reducing the price of eggs and gasoline that you said is so easy to do? What happened to end of the Ukrainian war in one day? So he's a master of distraction. And so I recognize that. And I think that the people need to recognize that we can't allow ourselves to be distracted by some of these issues.

Now, the Republicans have done a better job, okay? We've got people that are far left on our side. They've got people that are far way right over there. Like you said before, Marjorie Taylor Green, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, they did a better job weaponizing our left to say how the Democrats are like that. We didn't do a very effective job saying, the Republicans are like that.

So you've got to try and navigate this. Like what? I feel like people know who Matt Gaetz is. They don't care. I mean, half the people care, but the other half don't seem to care. The whole Republican Party didn't get painted with Matt Gaetz. And so, for example, in my race, okay, Donald Trump won my district by 19,000 votes. Joe Biden had won back in... I gotta get my dates right,

back in 2020. Sure. OK, he won by 11 points, OK? Trump just won my district by five points. That's a 16-point swing. For me to win by 11,000 votes, considering that not everybody who votes for president necessarily votes for the Congress member, for me to win by 11,000 votes,

I had to get 20,000 people that voted for Donald Trump to actually vote for me. Now, that's not an easy thing to do. But because people know me, and because they know that I'm gonna fight for them, not just for the party, I'm gonna fight for the people, and I talked about issues like the border. I got endorsed by the Nassau County PBA.

A Democrat hasn't been endorsed by the Nassau, including me, hasn't been endorsed by the Nassau County PBA for a long time. So you've got to be able to talk to the people about the issues they're concerned about and not let yourself be painted with this brush when they try to distract people. Now, you're watching these confirmation hearings?

I haven't really been watching them that much, but I, you know, a little bit. Oh, what do you... Oh, you don't have the time to... What do you do? what's your job? I, well, they're doing their hearings. I'm doing a ways and means hearing about the budget. I'm just saying check in maybe? No, no, no, yes, okay.

But I don't sit there and watch three hour hearing about what's going on, but yes. Who's it for, me? I gotta watch these things. Tom, watch these, hear it. But I don't vote, I don't vote on the confirmation. You don't vote on any confirmation? That's only the Senate does that.

But do you in seeing this? I follow it, yes, I follow it. Is there anybody who worries you the most? Yes. Oh, do you have somebody in mind? Who? Who keeps you up at night? I'm concerned about some of the national security issues

that the people that are going there, they don't have the proper... When Hegseth was being grilled the other day, I was concerned that a lot of the focus was on his personal problems, which obviously there are personal problems that he has. Yeah. But I wish they had focused more on the fact

that he's never really managed more than 200 people. And there are 3 million people that work for the Pentagon. It's the most lethal weaponry force in the history of the world. And it's really something we rely on so much. And I wish they had talked more about his management skills versus his personal problems. And I don't want to shit talk your fellow Democrats there, but I know that is a critique right now. David Brooks had an article about that that looked at this hearing and everybody's going for the viral moments and Hicks definitely has some holes in his background, some character flaws that

they're piecing apart. But should they have aggressively gone after perhaps some of those holes in experience and or knowledge with the organization he's going to run? Yeah, I think they should have. I mean, this is kind of like what I was saying before about Trump. We know about all of his issues, OK? And we just focused on that over and over again when we should have been talking about, no, we have a better plan to rebuild

the middle class in the United States of America. Joe Biden always said, we want to build from the bottom up and the middle out. Now, people don't really know what that means. That means we need to create more jobs in America when you go to work every day, you make enough money so you have a good life. We need to focus, Democrats need to be getting back

to that basic, simple message of what happened in our country when we lost our manufacturing base, when we saw globalization, when Milton Friedman wrote a paper that said, don't worry about the employees, don't worry about the community you're in, only worry about the shareholders. And that's what we did.

Starting in the 1980s, we only worried about the shareholders. It worked. We made a lot of money. The problem is the Dow Jones went up 2,500%. The GDP went up 1,500%. But workers' wages went up only 30%. We've got to start. We've got to get back to the basic messages,

the basic messages that affect people's lives. And how much money you make and what your health insurance and pension plan is, is the most basic thing for so many people in our country. And if we can get back to those basic messages, the Democrats will win over and over and over again. We can't let ourselves be distracted. Mm-hmm.

Here, here. You're taking the seat once held by George Santos. Do you follow his career closely and ever think that after you get out of doing your time here and when you're finished with your term in 2062 or whatever you want to do. Do you ever wish that you could kind of follow his trajectory and get on Cameo? No. I've had a history in politics of, you know,

winning and losing, and everybody I get involved with ends up getting in trouble, so don't mess with me. You can run against me, but if you beat me, your life's over after that. So... Lovely. Well, with that, Congressman Tom Swasey, everyone. We're gonna take a quick break. We're gonna back after this. -♪ We're gonna back after this.

-♪ -♪ We're gonna back after this. -♪ -♪ We're gonna back after this. -♪ Thank you. That's our show for tonight. Before we go, please consider supporting the California Fire Foundation. They are on the ground working with local fire agencies and community organizations

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