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Make the holidays brighter and even more beautiful. Ulta Beauty gifting happens here. 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, Shaun Stewart. Hello, everybody. Hello. My goodness. So happy to be back. Welcome to the Daily Show. My name is Jon Stewart. Great show for you tonight. Later on, we're going to be joined by author Elizabeth Colbert. We will be discussing the environment. Do we still need one, by the way, you couldn't hear in the audience, but I said, we have Elizabeth Colbert on the show. And someone in the audience said, I love her. Like, literally just in the middle of it was just like, well, I love her, so we are pleasing her before. How was your Thanksgiving? Did you eat a lot there? I've eaten pie every morning for the last five mornings. I ate a lot. Did you stay safe? Are you safe? Can you believe it? Turns out Vecna was just winnow. I mean, I did not see that coming, But I hope your holiday was fine. Did you have any uncomfortable moments with Trump loving relatives? Well, if you did, I just want to say this to you. Sack up. Because on Thanksgiving, the White House press corps had to deal with actual Trump. Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person? And you're just asking questions because you're a stupid person. I'm sorry, sir. The question was, would you care for more stuffing? But look, don't blame the President. I didn't tell you. Boom. Don't boom. It's Thanksgiving. Everybody gets a little stressed out. I'm sure the president calmed down and delivered a more apropos message to The American people on this Thanksgiving holiday of togetherness. I love it. Yeah, see, we're not allowed to do that anymore. You know, we're not allowed. You're not allowed to use the word Indian anymore. The only one that wants you to are the Indians. God damn it, Grandpa, we talked about this. I had the same thing happen in my house. Look, we all hate sitting next to the doddering old person at Thanksgiving, which I think might be me now. But imagine if that was your job. And instead of being with your family and friends this holiday, you're in the press corps. You gotta fly down to Mar a Lago. I'm sorry, the Winter White House, and put up with this shit for a living. Today I'm in Florida, but generally I'm in the White House. I'm in the Oval Office. And I won by a lot. I ran a second time. I won by a lot. And I would say to myself, why are we calling it Gulf of Mexico when we have. I like Tom Cruise, the last of our movie stars. Biden can't hit a ball 30 yards. I'm telling you, I looked at his swing. You probably had your dinner already. But I didn't. And I know exactly what I'm going to have. Turkey. Yeah, we're all having turkey. Excuse me, I'm just gonna go doom scroll on my phone in the bathroom for a while. But, hey, everyone has trouble after throwing down a pound of turkey with all the fixings, keeping their thoughts straight. I'm sure his written Thanksgiving message to the American people will be more circumspect, more rooted in gratitude. On Thanksgiving night, he called Governor Tim Wallace seriously retarded on Thanksgiving. Are you confusing that with Festivus? And by the way, seriously retarded. Not even, like, playfully retarded, like. Like Mr. Bean. You know what I mean? Or celebratorily retarded, like the Black Eyed Peas song. Yeah, they're very lucky that started. Rhymes with it. You know, the press corps had to spend the whole holiday weekend down in Mar a Lago listening to this brain ooze. And then they couldn't even go back home by themselves. They had to fly back with this nut and ask him if he wants to clarify any of the nonsense.
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Do you stand by that claim of calling Tim Mall's retarded?
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What is happening. When Ken Burns does the documentary on this era. And then the President called Tim Walls retard? And by the way, to the. What do you think he's going to say to that question? Yes, on reflection, it was Obviously a poor choice of words. I have nothing but respect for Governor Walls and the entire Todd community. Perhaps it's time for me to step back and start to listen. He's not doing that.
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Do you stand by that claim of calling Tim Walls retarded?
B
Yeah, I think there's something wrong with him. Something wrong with him? With him? You were sitting with your family at Thanksgiving, belly full of turkey and pie, surrounded by the love of your extended crime family, but your initial instinct was to truth a slur at Tim Walls, and there's something wrong with him. And by the way, he's not the one who mysteriously got an MRI the other day. What was up with that?
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What part of your body was the MRI looking at?
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I have no ide. That's not physically possible to have. No idea. It's not possible. What would you say to the doctor. No, no, no, don't tell me. I want to find out at my MRI reveal party. It's the lymph nodes. What is happening? For God's sakes, man. Were you not curious at all when they laid you down in a tube for a half an hour to 45 minutes? You didn't want to know what they might be doing? Or did you just think to yourself, what a loud tanning bed. What is happening? I can do this all day. How about letting us have a gander at that mri, then? So if they want to release it, it's okay with me to release it. It's perfect. It's absolutely perfect. So you didn't even know what they scanned, but you got a perfect score? Because, by the way, that's how they score the MRIs. You either get a big stamp perfect, or you get in red ink. See me? You don't want that. You don't want to see me. What the. And while the President wasn't exactly sure which organs were scanned, he knew which one wasn't. It wasn't the brain, because I took a cognitive test, and I aced it. Did you ace it? Or is perhaps the cognitive test knowing what part of your body was staying? Maybe that was the test, But of course, because it was Thanksgiving, and Donald Trump so appreciates the time that these reporters have spent away from their families, he did end this brief session with some words of gratitude for the difficult jobs that these reporters do, especially the two reporters standing closest to him. I took a cognitive test, and I aced it. I got a perfect mark. Which you would be incapable of doing. Goodbye, everybody. You, too.
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Thank you, Mr. President.
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Two things here that I love. The first is when he goes, you, too. And the woman on the right whose face is like, what the did I do? I'm just standing there. She's the one with the cognitive question. I'm just. You couldn't finish the cognitive test. And you, too, like, what? What is that? That's just crazy. And he's calling him stupid. It seems like about a week ago, someone on Trump's press team was like, you gotta stop calling the female reporters ugly and piggy. And he was like, got it. I won't do that anymore at all. I know what I'll do. You're stupid. And the second thing I like about that clip is that Trump thinks he's delivering the mic drop. You're stupid. You're too good. Tip your waitresses. But then he's got a waddle all the way back to his bed. Look at him go. He's got a waddle all the way back there pretending he doesn't need handrails. Isn't that what's happening, by the way? That plane's not even in the air. That's just instability from the extra liquid sloshing around in his cankles. That's what he's telling when he moves. He's got so much extra fluid in there, it's like pushing a milk carton when he moves. Yeah, look at that. But let's forget for a moment about this president's ugly contempt for those who are charged with getting information about his presidency out to other Americans. And let's just spend a little time also enjoying the utter incoherence of his presidency in general. For instance, the policy change that Trump is making in the aftermath of the terrible national guard shooting in D.C. that horrible act was done by one individual who happened to be part of a larger group of Afghans who were brought here because they risked their lives helping the United States during our invasion of Afghanistan. Which, of course means we know that.
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Afghan national is the suspected shooter of these National Guardsmen.
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Yeah, yeah. People that shouldn't be in our country this way.
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So you announced that asylum, and that.
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Includes Somalians and includes plenty of others. Did you just Somalia Afghanistan because of this one Afghan? All Afghans are suspect. And also Somalians. He did to Somalia and Afghanistan exactly what he did to the reporters on the plane. You're banned from this country because of one terrible thing that one of you people did. You, too. What? What? If. If you're wondering what Somalians had to do with the Afghan shooter. Uh, yeah. What do the Somalians have to do with this Afghan guy who shot the national, uh, nothing. But Somalians have caused a lot of trouble. They had nothing to do with it. Just reminded me that there are other groups I also don't like. I don't see color. I just hate all of it. So our entire immigration system is now going to be based around the principle that if even one person from your ethnic or religious group up, you all got to go. And a screening process that can't tell the difference. How do I know it can't tell the difference?
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Your DOJ IG just reported this year that there was thorough vetting by DHS and by the FBI of these Afghans who were brought into the US So why do you blame the Biden administration?
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Because they let him in. Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person? And you're just asking questions because you're a stupid person. See, that question was not a stupid person's question. A stupid person's question would be, may I eat my desk? To which you would say, what a stupid question. It's your desk. You can do whatever you want with it. Look, the question relates to can any free society create a 100% foolproof system for immigrants or for its natural citizens? I mean, what criterion will we use? Now, Donald Trump said he plans to, quote, remove anyone who is not a.
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Net asset to the United States.
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How do you. By what measure? How. If they can't love our country, we don't want them. But how do you measure that? What if they stand at the border? On a scale of mm to mm, how much do you excuse. Do you say to the moon and back or just to the moon? How much? I mean, this is. It's utterly incoherent. Can you give us a more specific idea of which groups would pass your muster? I love the Irish special people. I really do. I love the Irish. We're back. Italians. We love the Italians.
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Donald Trump defended wanting immigrants from, quote.
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Nice countries like Denmark and Switzerland. Okay, now I'm starting to see a pattern. I'm sure it's only in my head.
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Refugee admissions into the country right now are essentially at zero, with the exception of Afrikaners fleeing persecution in South Africa.
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So one horrific act by one Afghan means all Afghans are suspecting. But we now welcome with open arms all Afrikaners because, I mean, really, what have white South Africans ever done to anybody? Is there anyone else that you would just let in as well? Anything weirdly specific? I also like very competent people coming into our country. Maitre d's wine, you know, experts, even. Waiters, High quality waiters. You gotta get the best people. We're so Somalians aren't welcome unless they're also sommeliers, by the way. By the way, I want to make this clear. I don't mind Trump having strict standards. The problem is if you are from the so called less desirable countries, he does not view you as individuals. You are just part of a larger amorphous blob of suspicion that deserves no grace. And if one of you f cks up, all are condemned. But he doesn't even hold that standard for his own ethnic group, people from Magistan. Now that happens to be a group that's got its own pretty solid criminal backstory. And I'm not even referring to January 6th. Let's just go ahead and give them a mulligan for the whole trying to overthrow the government. Just look at the crimes they've committed since January 6th.
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Owning unauthorized firearms, defrauding investors of $41 million.
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Arrested after a dog attack that injured four people.
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Reportedly raised a firearm during a traffic stop.
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Making a terroristic threat. Convicted of plotting to kill FBI agents.
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Tried to bribe child sex victims, Thefts of industrial copp.
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Obviously that's not in order of severity. We were ratcheting up. We're gonna kill an FBI agent paying off child sex trafficking. And where's my copper? Where? That was industrial copper. I was, I was gonna do something that people do with copper. I was going to make a lamp. Some of these people, it's almost like they already knew before they were pardoned that they were going to use their second chance to commit more crimes.
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Zachary Alam. He was sentenced to eight years for assaulting police officers on January 6, before.
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He demanded a pardon from Trump.
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When a local station asked Alamo what he would do once he was released, he said, quote, that's just for me to know and you to find out.
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And boy, did we find out. After he was arrested for a home invasion, apparently at Salvador Dali's home, Dali came home and went, where's my mustache? Just have to make one out of industrial copper. So considering how devoted to crime some of Magistan is, I would assume Trump has no choice but to denaturalize and deport everyone in MAGA as well. Or January 6th. People, they're patriots in so many cases. These were people that actually love our countries. They were peaceful people. These were great people. There has never been a group of people treated so harshly unfairly in our country's history. Really? No other group treated this harshly? I guess we've forgotten slavery and how Ellen treated her staff. There goes that invite. That's the real Trump standard. If you're not part of Trump's group, you have no margin of error in this country. But if you are, it's all margin of error. Not only are you not judged by the worst of your group, the worst of your group isn't judged at all. And to anyone who thinks that Trump's Third World immigration crackdown is really about national security and is not just an opportunity for a USA complexion, correction. I have but one thing to say to you. Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person? When we come back. Elizabeth Colbert, don't go away. This episode is brought to you by Netflix. Global superstar and comedy sensation Kevin Hart returns for his fifth Netflix special. Acting My Age.
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I'm not the same man that I used to be.
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I go down the stairs sideways. Go ahead. You in a rush. Go around with a fresh perspective on life, family and getting older. Older you get, the less you can have. Is this sesame seeds on that bun? Get it out of here. Kevin's bringing his signature high energy humor and physical comedy. And a true return to his standup origins. Watch Kevin Hart, Acting My Age now streaming only on Netflix.
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This episode is brought to you by State Farm.
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Listening to this podcast.
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Smart move. Being financially savvy. Smart move.
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Another smart move, having State Farm help.
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Eligibility vary by state. Welcome back to the show. My guest tonight a at the New Yorker and a Pulitzer Prize winning author. Her latest book is called Life on a Little Known Dispatches from a Changing World. Please welcome to the program. Elizabeth Colbert. It's so nice to see you again. Likewise. The last time that we spoke, you had written a book called I believe the Sixth Extinction.
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You got it.
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And it was about how we were all going to die.
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Well, I'm not sure we all are going to die.
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Most of us are going to die. Many, many species since then you've put together. This is, it's a wonderful book of essay. I won't even hold it up. It was up on the thing there. But what it says to me is you have since then traversed to all ends of this planet. Still cooking.
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Well, we still live. I think that one of the great ironies of my career, such as it is, is that in writing about a lot of very, very serious environmental problems. I've been to the most amazing places on Earth, which really give you an appreciation of what a fantastic place planet it is that we live on and how we might want to take an interest in that.
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We might want to take an interest in that.
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It's just a thought. It's just a thought.
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When you see these places, Greenland. You went searching for whale songs. Does it seem more resilient than at first glance it may look. Even with our own depravity, when it comes to polluting it or whatever we're doing.
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Well, you know, obviously life on this planet is extremely resilient or it wouldn't be here. Right. And I think that we do see that whenever we sort of take our foot off the gas pedal, a lot of things do spring back to life. So there are a lot of real success stories.
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Restorative.
A
Yes. I mean, when we stop doing things. When we stopped hunting for things, for example. I'll give you a really local example near where I live, please. When we stopped hunting turkeys. It's a very timely example. Around Thanksgiving, we stopped hunting wild turkeys. Wild turkeys bounced back. Life is extremely resilient. That is.
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But there are also repercussions from that. I've noticed that these turkeys have gotten very sassy, Very.
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It's true.
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Just operate with impunity now they walk.
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Across the street, they think they can get pardoned for anything.
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Gobble, gobble, mother. Like, they don't even. Yeah, that part.
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Yeah, yeah. But life is very resilient. But we are really. Let's just say we are piling it on.
B
We are piling it on. And that brings us to the other question, which is, I feel like the message about the tenuousness of our environment is out there. It's sort of like awareness. I think there's an awareness. It doesn't seem to be commensurate, though, with a change. Is that something that you've noticed? Yeah.
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Good.
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Thank you.
A
Yeah, yeah.
B
Why is it that we have not changed? What are the reasons why you don't think we have changed our behavior? And do you think how far up our bodies does the water have to be before we might change something?
A
Well, we seem really intent on, you know, pushing this experiment about as far as it can go. And I think that that is a very interesting fact about humanity. It's actually really, really interesting as well as terrifying. Which turns out, you know, that a lot of what you learn about the world these days is very Interesting and terrifying at the same time.
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Right. What is it about? Because if you're an environment. So if you think, okay, global warming.
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Is real, I guarantee you that.
B
And it is caused by human activity. Is it realistic to think? Because what we've been told over the last 35 years is human activity is the cause and we've just got to reduce human activity. But that seems to go against 10,000 years of human activity, which is. I like that. Easier, faster, smaller, tastier, deader. So how do we square those things?
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Well, I think that. That, you know, you could argue that's the question of our time. But I will answer that question with a story which I first heard from a climate scientist on the top of the Greenland ice sheet.
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You were standing with him on the top of the Greenland ice sheet.
A
Yes, yes. And if you think about your geological history, so New York, about 10,000 years ago looked a lot like Greenland. Right where we're sitting now was under about a mile of ice. The ice retreated. We enter this period of unusual climate stability, and we know this from a lot of different lines of evidence, including the ice on Greenland. We enter this period of climate stability, we invent what we call civilization. We invent agriculture, writing, all the things, towns, cities. We become very sedentary and set in our ways. And what do we use these 10,000 years to do, but to invent ways to disrupt the climate. Now, if you were thinking about, you know, what you need to do when you inherit, very fortunately, a period of unusual climate stability, it would be to try to sort of keep it that way. But we have gone. Chosen to go in the opposite direction with all the evidence, mounting, mounting evidence of the risks that that entails. And once again, that's a fascinating thing to do, but not exactly what you'd recommend.
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See, what I hear from that story is if we keep this up, we could turn Greenland into Manhattan.
A
That is absolutely. That is absolutely true. Keep it up. But there's 20ft of sea level rise in there.
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But we.
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So Manhattan won't be here.
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Right. But is there anything to. Oh, we won't be here. So we'll just go up there.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Can I tell you what a great idea, because I imagine rents up there are going to be much.
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Yeah, yeah. There's going to be a lot of competition for some people.
B
But I think part of that is, you know, it makes us seem wildly irresponsible and selfish. And I'm not suggesting that we might not be that, but what species would be a better care? Like, we've done like humans have done. Amazing. There's like 8 billion of us. And now when you think about the creature comforts of the United States and all the so called first world industrialized societies, is it fair for us now to turn to, you know, the different hemispheres that are less developed and go, I get you want the mini fridge, but unfortunately you can't get there in the same way that we did. I feel like it's easy for us to castigate humankind, but I feel like humankind is doing, we just want to, when it plugs in, know that it, that it works.
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Yeah, well, there's, there's a bunch of different ways to answer that. I mean.
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Yes, other than yelling at me.
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Yeah.
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I'm just trying to be honest about how, why I think we haven't done anything thing.
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Well, that's one of the reasons we haven't done anything. I mean, I think obviously, you know, when you ask less, less developed countries to cut their energy use and our energy use is way up there, we're like up there with the Saudis basically.
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With Per, and we were, I think we're, I think responsible for what, 40% of global warming or 50%.
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Yeah, basically in terms of just like aggregate, you know, aggregate emissions that are up there. And the point, another point you have to make is they don't go away, they just stay there. We're the top, we're number one and. Yeah, come on. Yeah.
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And I gotta tell you, tone of voice didn't sound as enthusiastic as, didn't match the words. Elizabeth.
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Sorry. Sorry, am I.
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The problem is, what I'm getting at is my lack of understanding of this because I consider myself accepting of climate science.
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Yes.
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Understanding of some of the depredations of it and an overwhelmingly larger user of energy than anybody outside the United States.
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Yeah, no, I admire your candor and I think that that is we are all. I, that sounds like what you said.
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You were gonna break up with somebody.
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We are all in that and all of us, that's basically all of us in the US and some of us even more than others. And I am definitely, you know, in my, in writing that book, I, you know, burned up tremendous amounts of carbon. So we are all, you know, part of that society that burns a lot of carbon. And the question is, is there any way to get from here to there? And the answer is I genuinely don't know.
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Wait, what then? What are you mad at me for?
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I'm not mad at you. I'm not mad at you.
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But so and this is what brings me to the next point, which is, I think I do know how.
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Oh, tell me, because.
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I'm just gonna ask my wife to fast forward to just that part and go, you're gonna want to use that. You're gonna want to use the phrase with just that same intonation when I say something like, I think we can make it to the airport on time. And then you're going to want to go, oh, tell me. Here's what I think. We're so focused on the idea of it as a moral question, as the idea that our stewardship of the environment is about virtue and not about sort of our, the nature of wanting to reproduce and make life easier. That we've, we've pushed people away from the movement and in the wrong direction. If what you're saying to them is you want a better life and that makes you corrupt because your better life has to have more bicycling. Like Ed Begley Jr. He's miserable right now. He hates doing everything. But my point being, it seems like we just. The better strategy would be honestly to accept it and do mitigating structures that can help do it and work on cleaning whatever it is that we produce out of it and worry about what comes after that next. No.
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Well, how are we cleaning it?
B
Isn't carbon capture a thing? Isn't that something that they.
A
Well, I did write a chapter of that book. It's about carbon capture. And I believe, I hate to quote myself, but I think I said something like, it may be vital without being viable. I mean, we really don't have, you know, large scale carbon capture doesn't exist and it's not clear that it will. And the other point that I really need to make about carbon capture is it takes a lot of energy.
B
So do electric cars. I thought that was going to get us at.
A
Why would you use that energy to, to take your carbon out of the air? Why don't you just make carbon free energy? That would kind of be. I think everyone would agree.
B
But isn't that because it's been so far more expensive, so it's not politically viable? In other words, like if we were. You saw what happened in New Jersey. New Jersey electric prices went up 20%. AI is now on the horizon. And what AI is not, AI is not saying, hey, let's preserve the environment. AI is saying, do you have any water? Do you have any electricity?
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Yeah, exactly.
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When I. They say, oh, well, that's worth it because I will solve this. My guess is what AI solution is Going to be like, yeah, you guys should use less electricity, send it our way. So exactly. Are we thinking about this in the wrong way?
A
Well, I mean, sometimes, you know, I think that the key thing to remember about climate change, unfortunately, is you're not arguing. You know, you're not even arguing with AI you're not arguing with politics. You're not even arguing with Donald Trump. You're arguing with physics. You're just arguing with basic physics. So we may be thinking about it all wrong, but the physics of it are inarguable, and they've been understood. Another point that is really key to understand is they've been understood for over 100 years now. This is not hard science.
B
That carbon going into the atmosphere heats up the Earth.
A
Exactly.
B
No, no, no. That I. That I understand.
A
Yeah.
B
It just seems unrealistic to expect 8 billion people to row all in the same positive, moral direction. It feels like if we're gonna do this, it's gonna come from somewhere else.
A
Well, I think the question is, where is that somewhere else? And now we're getting into a really big question. Where is that somewhere else? Deep questions, John. And I also. I'm gonna provide it. Okay. So I. I often do go out into the world and I give talks, and climate change is one of the topics. And at the end of the talk, people always ask me the same question. How are we going to solve this? And I say to them what I'm going to say to you right now. If I had the answer, do you think I would keep it from you? Do you think that I wouldn't have written it in this book if I had the answer? I do not have this answer. It's not that I'm withholding. It's not that I'm holding out on you, John.
B
I feel like you are. I feel like you don't want to tell me.
A
I will also say one thing that I will say, though, is that there are better and worse things to do. I think that that's pretty clear. And what we are doing right now, under a certain president whom you have, you know, amply taken care of earlier in the show, we are, you know.
B
That is not the blurb for our Emmy campaign. I don't know what would be exactly.
A
You can use that one.
B
Thank you.
A
You know, we are really moving so far in the wrong direction, and we are trying to force our allies to move in the wrong direction. So any kind of progress that was being made and some modest amount of progress was being made, we, the US Is now trying to Destroy. And that is something that is pretty unconscionable.
B
But does that point to how difficult this is, that it's not so politically viable, like as soon as everybody's on board until gas goes up 10 cents. So the minute, you know, originally there was all the, like, we're going to put a carbon tax on things, and that's the only thing that's going to reduce consumption. And the minute they did that, they got voted out of office and new people came in, or the farmers in France, you know, were like, you can't do this to us in terms of trucking or the way that we produce things. There are political realities to this.
A
Yes, there are, but I think that there are other political realities too, which we, you know, there's actually tremendous amounts of money to be made on clean energy if we would, you know, stop. Basically, you know, we prop up fossil fuels in this country to the tune of many billions of dollars worth of tax.
B
Sure, sure. But we also do that to green energy, solar energy. Well, we're trying to.
A
We're trying to. Yeah, right, exactly. So I don't know that we can assume that the politics of this, the politics of this are always, you know, and I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist, please. Yeah. But the politics of this are always being manipulated by people who have a pretty solid vested interest in the status quo. Who might those be? Yeah, I think that the.
B
Epstein.
A
Yeah. I think that, you know, the US Is now the largest oil and gas producer on the planet, and there are very, very serious economic interests at stake here. And so I think that the way that the politics get manipulated, that is a serious problem. But I don't think that politics have to be opposed to progress.
B
Right. And my understanding is that we have tried to do those things and that it has not been as viable as we would have liked in terms of solar and the new grid and all those other things that it's, it's been difficult. And I wonder, like, are we going to have to make cleaning up the carbon more worth it financially? Or as you say, maybe it's. That's just not a possibility.
A
Well, I think that, you know, if you do look at what is happening in China right now, and China is, you know, has managed to overtake us pretty much, you know, in the time since we last talk talked, become, you know, by far the world's biggest emitter on a sort of annual basis.
B
Right. And the building coal plants, like it's nothing, like it's going out of style.
A
They, they, they are also putting up clean energy. Like it's not like it's going out of style. Yeah.
B
And they're going to coal plants and clean energy.
A
They're going to own those new industries and we are going to, you know, sort of cling to old industries. And so it's sort of like if you were, you know, making kerosene lamps, you know, in the 19th century and someone said, well, there's this great invention called a light bulb, maybe you'd want to get into that.
B
Right.
A
He said, no, we really want to stick with kerosene lamps. And that is really honestly what we're doing. That is what we're doing. And so what we're doing might seem to make a lot of sense right now, but I think when we look back on it 10, 20 years from now, both economically and environmentally, it will not make sense.
B
No, I agree with you and I think it doesn't make a lot of sense. It's more that unfortunately, making sense has not been our forte.
A
Exactly, exactly.
B
That's kind of my point is all I was saying.
A
Well, I totally agree with that.
B
I knew we would come to a thing. So if you could. Thank you. Very nice. If you could just give my wife a different phrase to say to me, that would.
A
Yeah. Well, I also just do want to make one point before.
B
Yes, please.
A
Before I. You know, it really is true now that solar putting up new solar energy is the cheapest form of new energy, of added capacity. That is true. And that fact is something that we should be celebrating and building on.
B
Is that with subsidies over that or it just is the cheapest?
A
It is cheapest.
B
It just is reliability as well.
A
Even in the developing world, a lot of countries are moving that way. A lot of countries that have a lot of sun because it is simply cheaper. Not even for environmental.
B
See, there you go. That's a piece of information I did not have and that maybe could change my cynicism on this.
A
Well, far be it from me to want to change your cynicism, John.
B
Okay. Life on a Little Known planet Available now. Elizabeth Colbert. Nicely done. Meet the computer you can talk to with Copilot on Windows working, creating and collaborating is as easy as talking.
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B
Hey everybody, that's our show for tonight. Before we go, if you're sitting at home thinking, hey, you know, I like seeing you on the TV there, old John, but I wish I could be disappointed by your height in person. Well, I've got good news for you. Not just coming here. I'm going to be on the old Broadway. The old Broadway. Can you see it? I'm going to move it in and out like in 3D this holiday season starting December 12th, a play called All Out Reading, a collection of stories by hilarious writer Simon Rich, who's just fantastic. And there's going to be a rotating cast, I think four each time. We're going to have Jim Gaffigan, Mike Birbiglia, Sarah Silverman, Abby Jacobson, all kinds of incredible comedians. It's my first appearance on Broadway. Aside from obviously very kind of you. Aside from my brief five year run as guy in Elmo costume in Times Square asking people if I could tickle them. Come check out all out if you'd like to find out more at the link below. And tune in all this week. Desi hosting your show tomorrow. Josh hosting your show Wednesday, Jordan hosting your show Thursday. Here it is. Your moment is done. And they came in and. And they were unvetted. They were unchecked. There were many of them and they came in on big planes and it was disgraceful. Actually, if you were in America, he'd be talking about you. Yes, thank God I'm not in America. 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, This has been a Comedy Central podcast. Join Vanguard for a moment of meditation.
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Episode: Trump Berates Reporters, Gets Mystery MRI & Closes Border to (Non-White) Immigrants | Elizabeth Kolbert
Date: December 2, 2025
Host: Jon Stewart
This episode sees Jon Stewart and The Daily Show News Team dissecting Donald Trump's latest outbursts—berating reporters, making bizarre comments about an MRI, and announcing a controversial immigration crackdown. The show then shifts, featuring a thoughtful interview with Pulitzer Prize-winning environmental writer Elizabeth Kolbert about climate change, resilience, and the difficulties of global and personal change. True to form, the tone oscillates between biting satire, incredulity, and earnest inquiry.
Kolbert’s Credentials: Staff writer at The New Yorker, Pulitzer Prize winner, author of The Sixth Extinction and the new book Life on a Little-Known Planet.
"Life is extremely resilient…when we stopped hunting wild turkeys, they bounced back." (25:21)
"We seem really intent on pushing this experiment as far as it can go. It's interesting and terrifying at the same time." (26:47)
“Is it fair for us now to turn to less developed countries and go, I get you want the mini-fridge, but you can’t get there the way we did?” (29:33)
“In writing that book, I burned up tremendous amounts of carbon. We are all part of that society." (31:51)
"If I had the answer [to how we solve climate change], do you think I would keep it from you?" (36:53)
“Putting up new solar energy is the cheapest form of new energy…even in the developing world, a lot of countries are moving that way because it is simply cheaper, not even for environmental reasons.” (41:31, 41:51)
Mocking Trump’s MRI Confusion:
“No, no, no, don't tell me. I want to find out at my MRI reveal party.” – Jon Stewart (07:35)
On Trump's Response to Reporters:
“You’re asking questions because you’re a stupid person.” – Donald Trump (06:05, 14:39)
On Group Condemnation vs. MAGA:
“...if you're not part of Trump’s group, you have no margin for error in this country. But if you are, it’s all margin for error.” – Jon Stewart (20:01)
Kolbert on Environmental Policy:
“If I had the answer [to solving climate change], do you think I would keep it from you? Do you think that I wouldn’t have written it in this book if I had the answer? I do not have this answer.” – Elizabeth Kolbert (36:53)
Kolbert on Fossil Fuel Interests:
“The U.S. is now the largest oil and gas producer on the planet, and there are very, very serious economic interests at stake here. … That is a serious problem.” (39:15)
Kolbert on Clean Energy Economics:
“Solar is the cheapest form of new energy…That’s something we should be celebrating and building on.” (41:31)
| Timestamp | Segment/Quote | |---------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:53 | Jon Stewart opens with Trump-Thanksgiving coverage | | 06:08 | Press questions Trump about using the slur “retarded” for Tim Walz | | 07:33 | Stewart mocks Trump’s MRI confusion | | 10:21 | Trump’s sign-off: “You too.” | | 13:02 | Stewart on Trump’s knee-jerk Afghan/Somalian ban | | 18:22 | Stewart lists crimes by MAGA supporters; “Where’s my copper?” bit | | 19:19 | “Never a group treated so harshly…” – Stewart’s response | | 23:40 | Elizabeth Kolbert interview begins | | 25:21 | Kolbert: “When we stopped hunting wild turkeys, wild turkeys bounced back”| | 26:47 | Kolbert: “We seem really intent on pushing this experiment” | | 28:02 | Story from Greenland; “invent ways to disrupt the climate” | | 34:07 | On carbon capture: “It may be vital without being viable.” | | 36:53 | Kolbert: “If I had the answer, do you think I would keep it from you?” | | 41:31 | Kolbert: “Solar is the cheapest form of new energy” |
Stewart’s tone is playful and exasperated, loaded with wit and incredulity. He pokes fun at Trump’s statements with absurdist riffs and vivid analogies, while engaging Kolbert in a sincere, sometimes self-deprecating conversation about climate paralysis and personal culpability. Kolbert’s approach is measured, thoughtful, and occasionally amused but never sugarcoats the realities.
This episode blends sharp political satire with a sobering, candid discussion about climate action, inequality, and the messy realities of change. Stewart and Kolbert agree there are no easy answers, but urge a clear-eyed look at both systemic and personal obstacles in improving our relationship to the planet. The episode is a microcosm of The Daily Show’s strengths: lampooning power, interrogating hypocrisy, and, at times, wrestling with the world’s most intractable problems.