Behind The Show | Fingering the Pulse at Trump's Second Inauguration | Jordan Klepper - Ian Berger

Summary

Summary of "Behind The Show | Fingering the Pulse at Trump's Second Inauguration | Jordan Klepper - Ian Berger"

Release Date: January 27, 2025

In this insightful episode of The Daily Show: Ears Edition, host Jordan Klepper engages in a candid conversation with supervising producer and segment director Ian Berger. Together, they delve into the intricacies of covering Donald Trump's second inauguration, offering listeners an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the challenges and observations made during the event.

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Preparing for the Coverage

Jordan Klepper opens the discussion by recounting the preparatory efforts undertaken by the production team to cover the inauguration. Emphasizing the unpredictability of weather conditions, Klepper humorously notes, “[00:37] A: It was a cold one, I would say...discussing layers, how many layers we should bring...for the upcoming apocalyptic freescape.”

Ian Berger echoes this sentiment, highlighting the strategic weather meetings that were crucial for the team's success: “[00:54] B: ...weather strategy meetings that were very important and I think we succeeded.”

This meticulous planning underscores the team's commitment to delivering comprehensive and comfortable coverage despite the frigid temperatures in Washington, D.C., which Klepper later reflects on: “[01:00] A: It was, I would say, a June.”

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The Inauguration Event Dynamics

Weather and Logistics

Klepper and Berger discuss the logistical complexities faced during the inauguration, especially the last-minute shifts that left both attendees and the production team navigating blocked streets and unclear event placements. Klepper remarks, “[02:18] A: ...no one really knew where to go, what events were taking place.”

Berger adds insight into the disoriented yet jubilant crowd: “[03:10] B: ...Trump had a rally the day before...the fans were really happy that he had this rally because there wasn't necessarily, like, a lawn event or whatever, a great mall event to go to.”

Attendance and Atmosphere on National Mall

The National Mall, typically vibrant with activity, presented a subdued and somber scene this time around. Klepper observes, “[23:04] B: ...a sad little pizza Shop outside of Capital One arena with a bunch of MAGA red hats sitting there on dates, awkwardly eating mediocre pizza...”

This quietness contrasted sharply with the usual energy associated with such large-scale political events, leading to a reflective mood among attendees.

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Audience Reactions and Interactions

Garbage Truck Excitement

One of the most compelling segments of the podcast revolves around the unexpected enthusiasm surrounding a "MAGA garbage truck." Klepper shares, “[12:15] A: ...the MAGA garbage truck that went viral during the campaign will reportedly hit the streets during the Inauguration Day parade.”

Listeners are treated to humorous exchanges about the truck's significance, highlighting the whimsical yet fervent support among attendees:

• Jordan Klepper: “[13:19] B: ...they brought up it was like Our internal. The one thing that we found so much joy in asking. Go at the garbage truck.”

• Ian Berger: “[15:28] A: It was pure, unadulterated joy...it's attached to the sheer joy of seeing a thing.”

This shared excitement serves as a microcosm of the broader MAGA enthusiasm, blending political fervor with almost childlike delight.

Responses to January 6th Imagery

The conversation shifts to the sensitive topic of January 6th, with Klepper detailing their interactions with MAGA supporters regarding pardons for those involved:

• Jordan Klepper: “[06:57] A: ...one person who was a little ray of sunshine...he said, I've never seen these images before.”

• Ian Berger: “[10:53] A: This guy, this guy with a gun outside the Capitol, should he be pardoned?”

These dialogues reveal a spectrum of awareness and acceptance among supporters, ranging from genuine ignorance of certain events to outright defensive attitudes.

"MAGA Boys" and Subgroups

Another fascinating aspect covered is the emergence of subgroups within the MAGA movement, exemplified by the "MAGA Boys." Klepper describes their encounter:

• Jordan Klepper: “[17:20] B: ...they look like a boy band...they were pretty.”

• Ian Berger: “[18:01] A: ...dressed head to toe in bespoke MAGA gear...they had MAGA bro energy.”

The duo humorously speculates on the future trajectories of such groups, envisioning potential splintering and individual pursuits within the movement.

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Cultural and Political Observations

MAGA Supporters' Sentiments

Throughout the coverage, Klepper and Berger observe the multifaceted nature of MAGA supporters. Klepper notes, “[26:20] A: ...Donald Trump's vision for America finding its audience and, and being celebrated...”

Berger contemplates the sustainability of the movement, suggesting that the current jubilation might be a temporary respite from underlying tensions: “[27:34] B: ...they're gonna be so angry. Then prepare yourself.”

Future of the MAGA Movement

The hosts speculate on the potential future developments within the MAGA movement, including Trump's political maneuvers and the movement's resilience:

• Jordan Klepper: “[28:14] A: ...seeing what media conspiracy is working and what isn't...”

• Ian Berger: “[30:09] A: ...ParamountShop.com]."

These insights underscore the evolving dynamics of political support and propaganda within the movement.

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Reflections and Conclusion

In wrapping up, Klepper and Berger reflect on the unique vantage point provided by covering such a polarizing event. Klepper summarizes their role in dissecting the MAGA audience's reception to Trump's policies and rhetoric: “[28:44] B: There's a lot.”

Berger shares his perspective on the broader implications for American politics, emphasizing the importance of understanding the underlying grievances fueling the movement: “[29:52] B: ...they're just a brief pause in the tension...”

The episode concludes with a humorous exchange about potential future coverage locations, highlighting the relentless nature of political journalism: “[30:18] B: ...Great idea.”

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Notable Quotes

• Jordan Klepper: “[00:37] A: It was a cold one, I would say...for the upcoming apocalyptic freescape.”

• Ian Berger: “[02:18] B: ...no one really knew where to go, what events were taking place.”

• Jordan Klepper: “[12:15] A: ...the MAGA garbage truck that went viral during the campaign...”

• Ian Berger: “[17:33] A: ...dressed head to toe in bespoke MAGA gear.”

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This episode of The Daily Show: Ears Edition offers a nuanced exploration of the MAGA movement's current state, juxtaposed against the backdrop of Trump's second inauguration. Through candid conversations and firsthand observations, Klepper and Berger provide listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the event's significance, the supporters' sentiments, and the broader cultural and political implications for America.

Transcript

[A]

You're listening to Comedy Central. Hello, everybody. Jordan Klepper here, and your ears have wandered into a special podcast episode where we take you behind the show at the Daily Show. I'm joined virtually by supervising producer and segment director Ian Berger today to talk about our latest foray into the megalopolis figuring the polls at Trump's second inauguration. Ian, hello. How's it going?

[B]

Good, good. I'm happy to be home and thought out from that frigid weekend, but I think we had a good time.

[A]

It was a cold one, I would say. In prepping for this piece, a good 90% of it was discussing layers, how many layers we should bring, put on what was appropriate for the upcoming apocalyptic freescape.

[B]

Yeah, we had a few weather strategy meetings that were very important and I think we succeed. So go us.

[A]

People were very scared of this weather. And I will say in retrospect, not as cold as somebody growing up in Michigan. This was like a Tuesday. It was a regular Tuesday. It was, I would say, a June.

[B]

Tuesday in Michigan, which actually brings up a joke you had that I don't think made the cut. But we're like, if Maga and Trump can't weather 15 degrees Washington, D.C. how is he going to take Greenland? I don't think they know that much about Greenland, but I'm pretty sure they understand his calls.

[A]

We know for a fact they don't know much at all about Greenland. We talked significantly about Greenland, where it is, what it provides. The simple need to have Greenland existed out there in the MAGA universe, but the temperature, the reality of the temperature definitely didn't blend.

[B]

Yeah. And they want to make Canada the 51st state. I got news for you, that's also cold.

[A]

Yeah. People are, they're temperature sensitive. I think we also posited the idea that it was less a temperature decision on the Trump campaign part and more a, we don't want to see an audience smaller than Obama's decision. So there's, there's a lot of. Frankly, there were snowflakes everywhere.

[B]

Yes, there were. Circling back. You want to tell us about that weekend overall compared to the inauguration you went to eight years ago?

[A]

Yeah. You know, eight years ago, nobody really knew what to expect. There was a lot of shell shocked reactions to the Trump administration going into this. I knew it was gonna be a weekend full of red hats, people celebrating, people excited, and we were not disappointed. As far as that goes, you enter into Washington D.C. and it is on lockdown. I think what we had this year, because there was such a last Minute shift in the ceremony, how there was going to be nothing out there on the National Mall. Like, it was very confusing to travel around Washington, D.C. streets were blocked off. Nobody knew where to go, what events were taking place. And so us, as a production, it was confusing navigating that. But we kept running into people who were there for the celebration. No idea where to go, what to do, where to stand, what to expect.

[B]

Confused but happy. It didn't matter. They had, like, you're with your people. If you're a MAGA fan, it didn't matter that you didn't know where to go. It felt like, yeah, it felt like people were kind of asking if we knew about things or where they should go. But at least Trump had a rally the day before, which, when we were first planning this, seemed like, oh, that's a good story point. Because it's kind of crazy to me to say I'm going to have a rally the day before the inauguration, which is basically a rally. So. But, you know, Trump needs attention. So he was doing that. But then because things got changed so much, it kind of, like, I think his, you know, his fans were really happy that he had this rally because there wasn't necessarily, you know, like a lawn event or whatever, a great mall event to go to.

[A]

It's. In retrospect, I understand the need for this rally. At first I was like, this man just wants nothing but celebrations. But when you have to feed the beast that is Kid Rock, placing him the day before on stage. Like, Trump was gonna Give Kid Rock 3 or 4 songs to perform Inauguration Day. Hard to slide that in. It wouldn't be totally surprising if he did on Inauguration Day, sneak Kid Rock in there. But it felt a little bit cleaner to have him the day before. It really was an event that was like, let's bring everybody who has made a lot of noise and created awful music and culture wars, let's put them on stage to dance around. And I think the fans were very excited to have it.

[B]

Yeah. In fact, like, one of the lanes we wanted to explore. It was kind of a game we had that, again, didn't make it into the piece because you go out in the world and you find other stuff, great stuff you weren't expecting was that we were treating it like it was a destination wedding, but one of those, like, really long destination weddings with too many events and a lot of the MAGA crowd, like, bought into that. They're like, absolutely. It's like a destination wedding. That's great. And I think we even had Jokes about, like, you know, the gifts for Trump and, you know, whether they. Where they would be seated and whether they'd get invited to the Tuesday brunch. But, you know, it really was like a destination wedding because there was parties everywhere and people are drunk during the day, and there's a lot of outfit changes.

[A]

So one premise that we had walking out was like, oh, this does feel like this big weekend. And we started joking with people about whether or not they had seen the Trump registry and given to the Trump registry and perhaps is no surprise anymore. Everybody, everybody didn't bat an eye. Like, the idea that, like, oh, no one, I buy a bunch of Trump shit. So I've already paid a ton of money to the vendors right around here for the newest Trump merch. But secondarily, like, oh, yeah, there's a tithing to be paid we've already gifted to the campaign. And we. We joked with a lot of people about, like, how important it is to give money to the Trump campaign because your voice won't be heard if you don't give money. And, of course, the more money you give, the louder your voice will be. That, as a comedic premise, feels sound, but does not land as a comedic premise there. It just lands as a baseline reality.

[B]

Yeah, and that's a sad state of affairs for, like, you know, politics in general in America. But, yeah, there was no shame in that. We just know shame.

[A]

Again, we've talked about it on the show, but the implicit is now explicit. And so perhaps we are the silly ones to be like, isn't that crazy? They're like, oh, you mean Bezos and Musk and everybody standing right behind Donald Trump when he swore that. No, that's just America.

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. I want to talk about some of the things, like, you were surprised to see. I mean, we can talk about, like, the reactions to the J6 photos. What did you think of that? What were you expecting? What? You know, how did it play out?

[A]

Well, we went down there expecting some pardons to come down on day one of the new Trump administration. And frankly, we've been covering J6 since we were there on January 6th. And I think the question we had in New York was, like, what is the line? Is there truly a line with the Maga faithful? So we printed out pictures and images from January 6. People who brought a gun, a man who brought a gun and shot it outside of January 6th. We brought a picture of him, police officers being beaten. And we kind of confronted people about, like, we understand you want, quote, unquote, blanket Pardons. When you ask the MAGA faithful, like, what do you think about January 6th, folks? You know, to a person, they all would say, like, pardon. And then you'd follow up, blanket pardons. And most people said, yes, of course. Yet when confronted with the actual images, confronted with what they did, a good number of the people we talked to did. Did draw a line. Did see a police officer getting beat and say, well, of course not. Not. Not violent protesters. And I think looking back at what Trump did the next day, which is essentially pardon everyone and commute the sentences of the people who were violent criminals, the majority of the MAGA folks we interacted with did see a line and drew the line at violence and attacking cops. And there was even one person who was a little ray of sunshine who. Who saw these images of cops being attacked, beaten, and was somewhat horrified and said to us, I've never seen these images before. When we asked him what. Where he got his media sources, he said it was just conservative media. He was very open about that and vulnerable. Where was this? At this Capitol, January 6th? Yeah. Have you not seen this image? No, I have not seen that. Have you seen any of these images? Some of them, but not these. Really? Maybe the ones. Maybe the media that I'm following is not. It's not showing these. What. What it could be. It could be. What. What media do you follow? All conservative. Did you watch the January 6th hearings? No, I didn't. No. Okay, so this is new. So that's my fault. I should have been better informed.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

I will say that's a refreshing thing to hear. And we went on to have a conversation beyond what is. Even in the piece where he said he will. He said he promised to do his own research and engage in other media sources. Who knows if that man is knee deep in Huffington Post right now or not. But there was a true openness to him that we rarely see at this Trump.

[B]

Yeah, he was genuinely concerned looking at those pictures. Concern one for the victims in those photos, but concerned for the state of the world that he had never seen them before and confused by it. And it's kind of amazing. And then, of course, we did run into the.

[A]

It does speak to many of the folks we show this to. I don't think it seen many of these images. Their media diet doesn't show that to them, but usually approach it with, well, you're trying to manipulate me. What this man showed, and perhaps it's a crack of the wall, it's a little bit of the light that's coming Through a case for optimism. I don't know how you want to frame it, but. But the MAGA faithful were not defensive when it came to these conversations. They've won. They feel they're on cloud nine, they're getting what they want. And so in that moment you're like, why did we get this person to actually be somewhat reflective? It's because the defensiveness has gone. He's doing a victory laugh and perhaps there's an openness, or at least we saw a moment of it.

[B]

Yeah, that was incredible. It was incredible. But. And of course there are people who just have like blinders on and like their guard up no matter what you show them. I think of the guy in the hockey jersey, he, he went from like kind of trying to deny the reality of the photo to just admitting that he didn't care. He's like, oh, maybe that's antifa. Oh, maybe the cops are attacking him. And then finally he was like, I don't care what you show me. Like, truly, it is the, it is the old line. Trump could shoot somebody, it could be on video and there will be people like, I don't know. He still seems alright.

[A]

This guy, this guy with a gun outside the Capitol, should he be pardoned?

[B]

Did he shoot the gun?

[A]

Is that a real gun or is.

[B]

That a fake gun?

[A]

He shot the gun up in the air. Yes, yes. He should be pardoned because.

[B]

Yeah, I think he should be pardoned.

[A]

Why?

[B]

Because I don't think he should be. I don't think he was. I think he should be pardoned.

[A]

Yeah, absolutely. What about this guy spraying a bear spray at the police office? Self defense. That's so. Pardon. Yeah, that's a tough one. Was that from the same day? Yeah, that's January, January 6th. The most photographed crime in human history.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Okay. Well you can show me 8 million more.

[A]

I'm pro. Pardon. Well, like when you ask somebody something uncomfortable in the Trump world, the first thing is like, well, it's antifa, or that's a manipulated image or that didn't happen. Like they throw out a bunch of possibilities and then when you get through all of it, it ends finally with, I don't fucking care. Yeah, yeah, thank you.

[B]

You can just admit that right away and we could wrap by lunch. If you just all said it right away, it would be great. Another thing we kind of discovered, which was on a lighter note, a pretty funny thing about a special VIP guest, everybody there was excited about Garbage Truck Baby.

[A]

One thing you're most excited about seeing today Donald Trump at 5:00. That's it. And his garbage truck. And the garbage truck. Yes. This garbage truck, the MAGA garbage truck that went viral during the campaign will reportedly hit the streets during the Inauguration Day parade. And these full grown adults who voted for the President were really, really pumped. The garbage truck is here. Yeah. No, yeah, I didn't know that. The garbage truck truck is here. No, I did hear that. I did hear you. It was coming. Yeah, yeah, that's funny. That's what I'm talking about. Garbage truck is here. Have you heard about that?

[B]

No.

[A]

The one that Trump sat in. Yeah. Donald Trump garbage truck was scheduled to appear at this inauguration. And we, we, we laughed about it on the show when that news article came about, like, who the VIPs were, they mentioned garbage truck. You know, we had a field day with it on the show. And so the question that we had before coming down is like, do people really give a shit about the garbage truck? And it turns out the answer is, yes, they do. They are so excited.

[B]

The group of three women, they reminded us about their excitement because they brought it up. We didn't actually have to prompt them. They were like, oh, I'm also very excited about the garbage truck. The funniest thing might be that the garbage truck was never there. As far as we can tell, this.

[A]

Was a weekend of metaphors. Like, if you want years from now, we look back at what was the Trump presidency like. You see nothing but metaphors. You see a rich man hanging out with his billionaire friends, leaving his supporters out in the cold. You see a bunch of people coming to Washington, excited about one image of American greatness, that being a garbage truck. And yet the third metaphor being the garbage truck that was promised never even fucking arrived.

[B]

It's funny because it was reported that it would be there. It feels like those convoys that were forever supposed to be heading to the Capitol, they show these Images of like 7000 truckers are driving in the Capitol, protest vaccine mandates, and it just didn't exist. But everybody would post about it. So it feels like that I'm sad. How could they not get the garbage truck there? It doesn't seem like it takes that much. But.

[A]

I remember day one, we shot this piece over two days, the day before at the victory rally and inauguration Day. And one of those first interviews, the women brought up garbage truck. And so we just decided, because the reaction was so funny to us, that we would ask everybody about the garbage truck. And everybody was so, so freaking excited to a T that it became like Our internal. The one thing that we found so much joy in asking. Well, we gotta ask. Go at the garbage truck.

[B]

Wait till you see their faces light up. It was like a switch. Like, I think you made the observation, and it didn't make it to the piece, but, like, their reaction and, like, obviously, discussion and excitement over garbage truck is very childish, but their reaction was like. Like that times a hundred. It was like telling your child you could have ice cream for breakfast, where you tell a kid that, like, oh, my God, this is the best day ever. Yes, that was. It was that kind of reaction. It was like a child finding out they're getting extra dessert.

[A]

It was pure, unadulterated joy. It was like they're excited about two things. One, they're excited about migrant families being detained at the border, and a garbage truck has arrived in Washington, dc. What joy.

[B]

This is a new, serious chapter in America. We're excited about the garbage truck we did get.

[A]

One of my favorite moments in these pieces was the lovely couple at the end. One dressed as Spider man, the other dressed as a traditional MAGA supporter with a fight, fight, fight T shirt. And they were bummed, as most people were out there on the Capitol lawn, that there was no event. And when we told them that the truck was potentially there, they got so giddy. And the man in the Spider man said, ooh, ooh, ooh, I saw one. I saw one. Such joy. And then when we slowed it down to be like, wait, wait, you saw a garbage truck? Not necessarily the garbage truck. And. And he conferred. Yes. That it was a garbage truck. And I'm so excited that I saw a garbage truck. To me, that was such a lovely comedic heightening and also an articulation of what that joy is. It's not even attached anymore to the trolling event of the garbage truck or Donald Trump's supremacy. It's attached to the sheer joy of seeing a thing. And that's MAGA 2025, everyone.

[B]

Yeah. It was the exact same kind of reaction to my child in a stroller being pushed around Brooklyn and seeing an actual garbage truck and pointing truck. Truck. It was the exact same thing, except my child was 2.

[A]

And to be clear, your child's not in control of or has a say in who should be running the largest democracy on planet Earth. Correct.

[B]

Did not vote. Did not vote.

[A]

Did not vote. Did not vote.

[B]

Did not donate money to the Trump campaign.

[A]

Wow. So it has no say.

[B]

Yeah. No say. One other group I want to talk about were the. I think they call themselves the MAGA Boys. And they look like a boy band. We saw them from a distance and it was like too incredible not to approach.

[A]

Not only are we excited here in the US but the world is excited. We're excited to get rid of the old administration, you know, just wipe the slate clean. You do that with like dope dance moves or something? No, we do that with crazy crypton AI.

[B]

We only used a little bit of them, but that was a fun interaction. What was your reaction? What did you think of them and what do you think of their story? Remember, they kind of told you who they were and what they did or supposedly did?

[A]

Yeah. I mean, it's fascinating to see. Donald Trump means different things to different groups. The MAGA faithful are not monolithic. And these guys, these guys were dressed head to toe in bespoke MAGA gear. Like expensive red, white and blue leather.

[B]

Jackets are nice jackets. I'm not going to lie. They were pretty.

[A]

They were nice jackets. And they were. They had energy. They. They had, they had MAGA bro energy. And they told us their story, which was essentially that, like, they found this. They found this team, this MAGA team. They traveled around in a bus and they had converted their, their bus into a podcast bust that is hitting the country and bringing the power of talk MAGA boydom, all of that stuff to change America. When we asked them how are they going to change America? And they said, through the power of AI and crypto. Big crypto guys, huge into AI crypto. They talked a lot about bitcoin and all sorts of. All sorts of cryptonomics with us. I think when we brought up like, oh, well, the big news was the Trump coin and it made so much frickin money. We're like, oh, how many of those did you guys get? They. They missed it.

[B]

Their whole thing is Trump and crypto and Trump coin. They missed that investment opportunity and they felt so stupid and they should. And then their excuse was, we didn't think the Trump effect would be that big while they're dressed in head to toe Trump gear. Yes. Like, if anyone should know that it's that big. You guys have, like, dedicated your life to this. Look. You are it.

[A]

You are it. You believe in this man and crypto and you missed the moment because you underplayed it.

[B]

I feel like that missing that moment has, like, altered their course in some ways that we can't. We don't know. But like, their lives would be very different, obviously. But, like, I almost feel like sadly missing that moment. I could see them, like the group splintering and then blaming each other. And MAGA Boys is over. Like you think this is. If I was. We were writing that episode of TV about them, that's what I think it would be. That missed. We missed. They missed Trump coin. And then now they're. They got to blame each other. It's really.

[A]

I think you. I imagine them like a traditional boy band, like an NSYNC or Backstreet Boy. You got your. You got your vibe of who's the Justin Timberlake and who's going to break out, who's going to end up having substance abuse problems, who's going to have a solo career in the MAGA sphere and become a crypto rapper or something. You know, a year and a half from now, like, you could really see it all distilled in those.

[B]

You're the quiet one. You're the one who's gonna get thrown out of your job in law enforcement. This is what. Okay, I figured it out.

[A]

And you're all going through divorces right now. Okay. That's the tie.

[B]

That's a lot here. Okay, you know what?

[A]

You know what a moment that stood out to me too is like the culture of MAGA is fascinating. And we, we were outside Capital One arena and then we did most of our interviews. And I went in, not to the arena, but the hotel and just watched most of that victory rally. And it's wild to watch these events played out over an hour and a half. You watch Kid Rock do multiple songs that are anti Deep State. And then he does bow with a bar with Trump speeches intercut in between where he's wearing like a wife beater. There's a guitar solo. And the audience is filmed filled of like 50, like. Of like thousands of 50 to 60 year olds half dancing and half not knowing what to do. It's a weird cultural moment. Village People comes in like, it's just. It's abrasively. It's abrasively. Like wedding band culture.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

To an audience that is not super into it, but is just excited to have been invited to the wedding.

[B]

Yeah. And had a few cocktails. So they're gonna dance so hard to these songs that they've never given a shit about.

[A]

And like traveling around D.C. that day, the Village People has now just become almost a trolling song. There's literally rickshaws that were riding around trying to get people to hop on playing the Village People, I walked into a pizza shop that for the inauguration had brought in a DJ to spin tunes who was playing YMCA at a sad little pizza Shop outside of Capital One arena with a bunch of MAGA red hats sitting there on dates, awkwardly eating mediocre pizza and listening to a DJ blast the Village People, where you're just like, are you guys even enjoying this? Is this what victory looks like? Is this what the new culture is? And I don't want to be pretentious that the new culture has to live in some world of, like, Philip Roth novels or us just zoning out to the newest electro jazz, but there's something to what is.

[B]

There should be better music. There should be better music in America's, like, for future.

[A]

We should aspire to something better than essentially a DJ in a pizza joint playing a gay anthem from the 80s.

[B]

Right? Just want to finish and talk about the vibe at the mall on the second day, because obviously there was not an event there. But we went there knowing people would just show up because what else do they have to do?

[A]

It's. We were unsure where to go. There was. There's a 20,000 people, I believe, were getting into Capital One arena with, like, a promise of perhaps seeing Donald Trump later in the day. But for the thousands, you know, some people said there's hundreds of thousands of people who came to D.C. to see Donald Trump. They had no place to go. And it was fascinating. The people. We walked around on the National Mall, like people were starting to congregate there. They had taken down the jumbotrons. They had taken out any place for people to hang. But Donald Trump was in the Rotunda. And so people kind of made their way there as a pilgrimage. People were bummed out. They'd spent thousands of dollars to get there. We felt for it. We would see families there who came down to D.C. for the first time, spent a bunch of money to get there, and now they didn't know where to go or what to do. And so there was a. There's like, a melancholy on the. The National Mall. We ran into a few people who, like, who spoke to that. I think we laughed. We called it a calm. We felt. It was, like, somber. Felt a bit like a funeral at times.

[B]

Well, I mean, because we've shot on the mall a bunch, and obviously we were there on January 6th, and that day is very different and the energy is very different. But it was so odd to be there and see that many people being quiet. Like your brain. When you see that many people, you're kind of anticipating just, like, noise. But it was really quiet. Like, I think you touched on that on the piece. But still they had to go and gather Somewhere. So it's not like there's like great museums in that town that they can all go to.

[A]

Yeah, I don't know, it's Martin Luther King's day. Maybe if there could be like an African American museum that can help Americans reflect on our troubled history with racial inequality, maybe that would be a nice opportunity.

[B]

Literally hundreds of yards, just a couple hundred yards from where we were standing, not like another section of the city. Like right there. You could go right there today.

[A]

It created such a fascinating, organic situation, which is true. The MAGA faithful are always asking, where's the party at? And oftentimes it's in a fricking parking lot. But then a jumbo jet comes in and a man yells about immigrants for an hour and a half and they buy a silly hat. That day, nobody knew where the party was at. And so they meandered and they wandered. They didn't know how to like organize their excitement. And the reality was the party was inside the rotunda with a bunch of rich people who are taking care of the things that they want to take care of and they're left to sort of wander the National Mall among these monuments, essentially lost.

[B]

So obviously we've been to Trump events when he's won and Trump events when he's lost, and the ones when he, he lost were really kind of hairy. January 6, even the million MAGA march before that was in a way kind of scarier. But now they've won and they're feeling pretty good. Did you notice a shift in the tone and the vibes for yourself at this event?

[A]

People were definitely jubilant and excited to be there. I didn't see any vibes that were the anti media vibes that we've seen in the past. I don't see that as a long term solution to this, this tension that exists oftentimes out there in the field. But because this weekend was an example of Donald Trump's vision for America finding its audience and, and being celebrated, people seem just, just happy and didn't pay us any mind. We are, we are part of the, we are part of the media landscape that they don't have to pay attention to now, weeks from now, as, as things perhaps don't go as well as they, they imagine they could go in their own minds. I, I imagine sort of, perhaps there's a tension that gets brought back into it. I think that's what happened with us last time, eight years ago. Again, I don't think, I think it's going to be a very different four years than Trump's first four years. Yeah, but I do think. I do think this is just a brief pause in the tension that and the anger. I think the MAGA movement is based on anger and grievance aimed at something, and therefore this was more of an aberration to what is maga, as opposed to a new angle for it.

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. But just wait until Congress refuses to change the Constitution so he could run for a third term. They're gonna be so angry. Then prepare yourself.

[A]

I'm already prepared. I've already heard the rumor that he's gonna run as vice president next time around, which I'm like, oh, that makes too much sense, God damn it.

[B]

It really does. Oh, my God. Any thoughts going forward? I mean, we've covered Trump in the past. I think he took a little break from rallies, but still, he can't resist doing them. Any ideas about covering these kinds of events in the next few months?

[A]

We always talk about what we like about going to these events. You know, it's. It's like a. It's. It's a laboratory of ideas. We get to see that the conversations that Donald Trump has in front of the media or he tweets about, like, what actually resonates with his supporters. What we discovered with this one, we talked, you know, since. Since Trump was elected. We hadn't gone to one of these events before, and so a lot has happened. And so we brought up things like Greenland and what. And. And the Panama Canal and Canada.

[B]

There's a lot.

[A]

New Mexico, the. Oh, yeah, the Gulf of Mexico. Slash America. We brought up a lot of these issues, and it is fascinating to see what has penetrated. Like, again, more often than not, we see people create an argument for Donald Trump out of these things that they haven't thought about perhaps ever in their lives, but also stuff that doesn't. Doesn't resonate with them. They had no opinions about the Panama Canal. They were grasping at straws about Greenland. And I think as we move forward, who knows how many of these events there will be? But I think we always are on the search to see what people actually are talking about and how the propaganda is working. And many times I think that's what we do out there. We're testing what propaganda works and what doesn't work. And when you're in a hotel and you see people cheer for Donald Trump, saying he won the youth vote by 36, that propaganda is working. But then when you're out in the cold and you hear people have no idea what's going on with Panama Canal. You see that propaganda hasn't taken hold yet. And so I think we're going to continue to stress test how America's propaganda diet is sitting in.

[B]

Well, I'm looking forward to it. I would make kind of one ask of the universe and that would be like, he's in Florida all the time. Do a public rally down there so we can go to Florida in the winter and not a northeastern frigid city. Just do that.

[A]

I couldn't agree more. I think we support Mar? A Lago being the second White House. Let's do the events down there. For the love of God. The Daily show asks you Donald Trump.

[B]

Great idea. All right, Jordan, thank you.

[A]

A big thank you to Ian Berger. We're gonna continue fingering the polls together for Trump Part two, and hopefully we'll be back here to tell some more war stories. This has been behind the show at the Daily Show. Thank you for listening. 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 1110 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount plus Paramount Podcasts.