Trump Pisses Off Japan with Pearl Harbor Joke & Afroman Cucks the Police in Court | Rebecca Traister

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Daily Show: Ears Edition

Episode: Trump Pisses Off Japan with Pearl Harbor Joke & Afroman Cucks the Police in Court | Rebecca Traister
Host: Jordan Clark (on behalf of Jon Stewart & The Daily Show team)
Date: March 20, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into a trio of headlining stories: President Trump igniting diplomatic tensions with a Pearl Harbor joke, rapper Afroman’s courtroom satire following a police raid, and an enlightening interview with author Rebecca Traister about her latest book, Angry Girls Will Get Us Through. The show expertly blends sharp political commentary, pop culture absurdity, and thoughtful discussion on the power of anger in social change, all delivered in the irreverent and clever tone characteristic of The Daily Show.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Headlines: Trump’s Pearl Harbor Joke and US-Iran Tensions

• [01:28–03:16]
  • The ongoing war with Iran is getting messy—rising oil prices, downed jets, and lack of international support.
  • Trump causes diplomatic outrage by jokingly referencing Pearl Harbor:
    • Quote [02:33]:
      Trump impression: "Because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan?"
      "Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor?"
  • The Japanese Prime Minister is reportedly furious. Jordan Clark jokes, "I haven't seen an American bomb in front of Japan that badly since ... you get the idea."
  • The segment lampoons Trump’s attempt at “charm” and America’s thirst for a win amid foreign policy blunders.

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2. Afroman Courtroom Saga: Free Speech with a Side of Satire

• Background [03:16–06:01]

  • Recap: In 2022, Ohio deputies raided Afroman’s home searching for unproven evidence, frightening his family.
  • Instead of staying silent, Afroman retaliated with viral music videos featuring real security footage and satirical lyrics mocking the deputies, e.g. “Mama’s lemon pound cake, it tastes so nice, it made the sheriff wanna put down his gun and cut him a slice.” ([04:49])
  • Song titles included “Will You Help Me Repair My Door?” and “Why You Disconnecting My Video Camera?”
  • Quote [05:06] (Host):
    "Rap songs have really evolved. They used to say 'f*** the police,' now they body shame them over carbs."

• The Lawsuit & Testimony [06:01–10:28]

  • Deputies sued Afroman for defamation, leading to awkward courtroom exchanges:
    • Officer/Lawyer [06:38]:
      "Sean, you were called Officer Pound Cake by Mr. Thomas multiple times."
      Officer received 'hundreds of pound cakes' at work as a result.
    • (Host's roast [06:54]):
      "I can't imagine the pain of being sent free desserts."
    • Deputy Randy Walters also sued for being called "the son of a bitch" and was forced to answer if that was a factual statement:
      • Quote [07:42]:
        "That would be an opinion. I'd assume that would be an opinion. ... Yeah, she's been dead for years."
      • The host riffs, suggesting the legal profession now includes determining "who is a bitch."
    • On whether Afroman slept with an officer’s wife, the deputy had to respond under oath:
      • Quote [09:10–09:33]:
        "It's caused tremendous pain in my life that my wife is cheating on me with Mr. Foreman. But we all know that's not true, correct? ... I don't know."
      • The host jokes about the implications and the absurdity of such testimony.

• Afroman’s Free Speech Defense [11:20–11:43]

  • Quote (Afroman):
    "After they run around my house with guns and kick down my door, I got the right to kick a can in my backyard, use my freedom of speech, turn my bad times into a good time."
    "I don't go to their houses, kick down their doors, flip them off on their surveillance cameras, then try to play the victim and sue them."
  • Verdict: Afroman successfully defends his right to satire in court—a win for free speech.

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3. Costa Doing Business: Fast Food Wars, Bubbly Shortage, and Pokemon Card Profiteering

• [13:35–18:44] — Segmented by Michael Costa
  • Fast Food CEO Feuds:
    CEOs of major burger chains try to one-up each other online by out-biting burgers for viral content.
    • Mockery of A&W’s “teen sauce” and jokes about "middle-aged burgers" with life experience.
  • Topo Chico Shortage:
    Bubbly water brand temporarily unavailable, spawning jokes about selling "Guadala Agua" from Tijuana.
  • Pokemon Card Mania:
    Logan Paul sells a card for $16 million. Costa jokes about being scammed by playground kids.
    • Quote [17:45, Host]:
      "Over 16 million for a single card."
    • Quote [17:48, Costa]:
      "Follows my three main rules: buy low, sell high, and always take financial advice from Logan Paul."
  • All segments satirize American capitalist obsessions, with Costa’s over-the-top salesman-sergeant persona.

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4. Interview: Rebecca Traister on 'Angry Girls Will Get Us Through'

• Introduction & Book Thesis [20:01–21:42]

  • Traister’s book reclaims anger as a powerful, often ignored force for justice, spotlighting women, girls, and gender nonconforming people whose anger has catalyzed social change.
    • Quote [21:23, Traister]:
      "This book is about the women who have pissed those men off...angry women and girls and gender nonconforming people who have been angry at inequity, at injustice."

• Erased Histories of Angry Change-Makers [22:45–25:02]

  • Highlights figures like Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old who refused to give up her bus seat nine months before Rosa Parks and whose actions were foundational to ending segregation.
    • Quote [23:06, Traister]:
      "Claudette Colvin was 15... she became a plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that... bar[red] racial segregation on public transportation."

• Navigating Burnout and the Power of Community [25:02–27:21]

  • Recognizes that righteous anger can burn people out, but also forges collective action.
    • Quote [25:44, Traister]:
      "Anger can be very destructive... it can also draw people together. It's the building blocks of organizing and of movement."
  • Advocate for community as an antidote to exhaustion.

• Media, Authenticity, and Resonance [27:21–28:46]

  • Comedy and anger as tools for engagement; realness trumps performative outrage.
    • Quote [27:57, Traister]:
      "I think all of us here can recognize and connect with things that are authentic versus things that are performed... You can't perform anger in a way that's gonna resonate."

• Young Readers, Curiosity, and Long-Form History [29:01–30:07]

  • Traister pushes back against the idea that young people only want "snackable" content. She argues they crave rich, detailed stories.
    • Quote [29:20, Traister]:
      "We really undersell the curiosity... of young people. Yes, there's all kinds of candy around. You know what? People are curious about the world."

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Trump's diplomacy:

  • Trump impression [02:33]: “Because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan?”
  • (Host): "He didn’t do a Japanese accent, so let’s call that progress."

• On Afroman's legal defense:

  • [09:33, Host]: "Just look at me and my whole deal here. I think a reasonable person could assume I'm unable to satisfy my wife."
  • [11:43, Host]: "Afroman should run for president... you can't tell me it wouldn't be an improvement."

• On anger as a social engine:

  • [25:44, Traister]: "Anger can explode relationships... but [it] can also bring people together... the building blocks of organizing."
  • [27:57, Traister]: "You can't perform anger in a way that's gonna resonate... make sure that it's coming from a place that's real."

• On youth curiosity:

  • [29:20, Traister]: "We don't take seriously the curiosity and appetites of young people... they actually have hunger [for] fuller, richer, more complex stories."

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Segment Timestamps

• 01:28 — Show kickoff; headlines preview
• 02:33 — Trump’s Pearl Harbor joke
• 03:16 — Afroman's defamation victory & music video saga
• 04:49 — Sample lyrics from Afroman's satirical songs
• 06:38 — Courtroom testimony: “Officer Pound Cake”
• 09:10 — Testimony: Defamed officer’s pain over Afroman’s lyrics
• 11:20 — Afroman's free speech statement
• 13:35 — Michael Costa's Financial Satire ("Costa Doing Business")
• 16:25 — Topo Chico shortage and satirical business opportunity
• 17:45 — Pokemon card value spike
• 20:01 — Interview with Rebecca Traister begins
• 21:23 — Traister describes the book's focus
• 23:06 — Claudette Colvin story
• 25:44 — Traister on burnout, collective anger, and community
• 27:57 — Authenticity vs. performative anger in the media
• 29:20 — Young audiences and curiosity

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Tone & Final Thoughts

The episode strikes a signature Daily Show balance: acerbic, insightful, and frequently absurd (e.g., the “bitchcourt” legal tangent or Michael Costa’s war-veteran-of-capitalism schtick). But underpinning the jokes are sharp critiques—of American politics, policing, fast food marketing, and even how society processes (and suppresses) righteous anger. The interview with Rebecca Traister delivers earnest intellectual weight, connecting historical injustice to present-day activism, and challenges assumptions about how anger works and who gets to claim it.

For listeners seeking a blend of sharp news satire, culture riffs, and a sincere exploration of activism and history, this episode delivers across the board.

Transcript

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[Jordan Clark]

You're listening to Comedy Central. From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central. It's America's only source for news. This is the Daily show with your host, Jordan Clark.

[Daily Show Host]

Platform, we got so much to talk about today. Afroman is winning hip hop's weirdest beef. Michael Kosta wants to steal your kids Pokemon cards. And the war with Iran is more busted than your March Madness bracket. So let's get into headlines. We are now almost three weeks into the war in Iran, and it's not going great. Oil prices are surging. Our planes are getting shot out of the sky, and now Pete Hegseth is asking for an extra $200 billion to fight this war. And they say women be shopping. Huh? And on top of all of this, our allies are angry that Trump started this war without consulting them. But of course, President Trump is smoothing things over with his trademark charm. Why didn't you tell US allies in Europe and as about the war before attacking you out?

[Jordan Clark]

Because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan?

[Depop Advertiser]

Okay.

[Jordan Clark]

Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor?

[Daily Show Host]

Okay. Wow. The Japanese prime minister did not like that joke. I haven't seen an American bomb in front of Japan that badly since you get the idea. Although I will give Trump credit, though. He didn't do a Japanese accent, so let's call that progress. But taking all of this into account, it feels like America could really use a win right now.

[Rebecca Traister]

Rapper Afroman wins a defamation lawsuit filed by seven Ohio sheriff's deputies. He's calling it a victory for freedom of speech.

[Jordan Clark]

Yeah. We did it, America. Yeah, we did it. Freedom of speech. Right on.

[Daily Show Host]

Yeah. Whoa. Now that. That looks like American victory to me. I mean, just look at what he's wearing. If aliens landed here in America, they'd be like, take me to your le. Oh, it must be this guy right here, right? His glasses. Love the glasses. Now, you might remember Afroman from his hit song Because I got High. Or you might not remember it because you got high. But Basically, back in 2022, local police in Ohio busted down Afroman's door, rummaged through his clothes, took money from his house, scared his kids, all to look for evidence of crimes that they never ended up charging him with. Now, after a raid like this, a lot of people might try to lay low for a while, not piss off the cops. But Afroman happened to notice this particular moment where one of the deputies was searching his kitchen and looked longingly at a lemon pound cake. And Afroman did what Afroman does.

[Jordan Clark]

He released multiple satirical music videos using his own security camera footage of the incident that included images. You're seeing some of that here of these officers.

[Afroman]

Mama's lemon pound cake, it tastes so

[Jordan Clark]

nice

[Afroman]

it made the sheriff wanna put down his gun and cut him a slide.

[Daily Show Host]

Oh, man, I'll tell ya. I'll tell you, rap songs have really evolved. They used to say the police, now they body shame them over carbs. And that was just the beginning. Afroman put out a whole series of videos about the cops addressing specific grievances in songs like Will you help me repair my door? And why you disconnecting my video camera? As well as songs with more general observations.

[Afroman]

Randy Walters is the son of a bitch. That's my.

[Daily Show Host]

I'll tell you. And that is why AI will never replace real musicians. Now, a lot of people found these cuck the police music videos funny, but the police officers who starred in them did not. So last year, they sued Afroman for defamation. And right away, the officers had a problem, which is that when you sue someone for making fun of you, you have to get up on the witness stand and talk about how badly you suffered from it. Which led to moments like this.

[Officer / Lawyer]

Sean, you were called Officer pound cake by Mr. Thomas multiple times.

[Daily Show Host]

Received hundreds of pound cakes at work.

[Jordan Clark]

Whoa.

[Daily Show Host]

Oh, my God. My God, the horror. The horror. I can't imagine the pain of being sent free desserts. I just hope Afroman doesn't find out that I love banana pudding from Magnolia Bakery. It would be devastating if my haters sent me hundreds of them with the Nilla wafers specifically. I mean, oh, God, I would never recover. Remember, Officer Pound Cake wasn't Afroman's only target. Officer Randy Walters sued Afroman for saying I I mean, what was it again?

[Afroman]

Randy Walters is the son of a bitch.

[Daily Show Host]

Right, right, right. Which again meant Randy Walters had to get up on the witness stand and answer the question, are you a son

[Officer / Lawyer]

of a bitch when they call you a son of a bitch? That would be an opinion. I'd assume that would be an opinion. Okay. Because there's no way we can prove whether you're a son of a bitch or not. Yeah, she's been dead for years. Sorry. I'm sorry about your letting me.

[Daily Show Host]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. No one mentioned your mom. Your dad could be the bitch. Okay, I gotta say, I didn't realize that determining whether or not someone was a bitch was part of the legal profession. It does give me for my new pilot bitchcourt with Judge Jordan. And this. This. It could still work. You know, anybody who's buying. And this is generally the big challenge with the defamation lawsuit, because to win, you have to argue that a reasonable person would believe that Afroman's claims were facts and not just jokes. And that's especially awkward because Afroman also said he slept with Randy's wife or. Oh, wait, no, I'm sorry. How did he put it?

[Jordan Clark]

Yes.

[Daily Show Host]

Thank you. So now poor Randy Walters had to argue that a reasonable person might believe that, which led to perhaps my favorite moment of the trial.

[Officer / Lawyer]

So you're claiming that is the defamation statement is that he said he had sex with your wife? Yes.

[Jordan Clark]

Okay.

[Officer / Lawyer]

And that's painted you in a false light. It's caused tremendous pain in my life that my wife is cheating on me with Mr. Foreman. But we all know that's not true, correct? I don't know.

[Daily Show Host]

I don't know. Just look at me and my whole deal here. I think a reasonable person could assume I'm unable to satisfy my wife. Look, okay, okay. Obviously, obviously, no one thinks that Afroman is sleeping with this guy's wife. I wouldn't dare slander them or their beautiful child. Now, can I just say. Can I just say this. This puts Officer Pound Cake in an even. An even worse light. The other guy is like, Afroman called me a son of a bitch and said he my wife. And then you're like, yeah. And he said, I had a sweet too. Again. Okay, the central question of this case wasn't whether Afromance songs were factual. It was whether people would think they were true. And this is how his lawyer made the case.

[Officer / Lawyer]

Look at that suit. Does this look like a man who thinks that everybody's gonna assume that everything he's saying is fact.

[Daily Show Host]

I'm beginning to see how brilliant wearing that suit. Ladies and gentlemen, does my client look like someone you should take seriously? He dresses like the DJ at the club where Betsy Ross strips. And by the way, I love this lawyer too. Look at, look at Hagrid Esquire over here. Let's wrap this up. I got the big ZZ Top case at three and then I gotta go back to forging my own swords. Thank you, your honor. But there were actual free speech issues on trial here, and Afroman was unapologetic about his rights.

[Afroman]

After they run around my house with guns and kick down my door, I got the right to kick a can in my backyard, Use my freedom of speech, turn my bad times into a good time. Yes, I do. And I think I'm a sport for

[Jordan Clark]

doing so because I don't go to

[Afroman]

their house, kick down their doors, flip them off on their surveillance cameras, then try to play the victim and sue them.

[Daily Show Host]

Wow. Wow. I don't know if I want to stand up and salute because of the speech he gave or because he's wearing all the American flags. Regardless, I'd say Afroman should run for president, except that was a real thing that happened in 2024 and all of you idiots didn't support him. We could have had President Afroman, right? And look, I'm not saying that would be ideal, but you can't tell me it wouldn't be an improvement. When we come back, Michael Toss and we'll tell you how to get rich. Don't get away.

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[Daily Show Host]

Welcome back to the Daily Show. If you want honest and rigorous financial news, then go eat a dick. But if you want to get rich, then you want Michael Costa in another installment of Costa Doing Business. Ho.

[Jordan Clark]

Attention. Welcome to Costa Doing Business. I'm your Dolla Dolla Bill, Sergeant Michael Kosta. And by the time I'm done, you maggots will be money marines ready to blow your bank account sky high. The only PTSD you'll come home with is pretty tall stacks of dinero now you're probably thinking, whoa, Costa isn't profiting off war with Iran. Immoral? Number one. No. Number two. Wrong war, dumbass. Hit me. A new frontier in America's fast food wars. The CEOs of our favorite burger joints engaging in some online corporate trash talk.

[Rebecca Traister]

The CEO of McDonald's taste testing their new burger. But the. The tiny bite he took quickly going Viral.

[Jordan Clark]

Now the CEOs of McDonald's fast food rivals making their own videos with a lot bigger bites. Yeah, that's right. The fast food wars are back. And I smell an opportunity that'll clog your wallet and your toilet. But be careful, because war is hell. After the fast food wars of the 80s, my Uncle Bob was never the same. He'd wake up in the middle of the night screaming, where's the beef? I promised the beef's wife I'd get it home safe. Of course, like all wars, this thing has spread across the region. Canadian burger chain A and W has entered the fray. Incoming. Alan, from A and W here with you. Heard about it.

[Officer / Lawyer]

Here it is.

[Jordan Clark]

The teen burger and the teen sauce.

[Officer / Lawyer]

The iconic teeny sauce. I invite you to join me for this. Just you, me, and a couple of teen burgers.

[Jordan Clark]

I'm sorry, teen burgers? Those better be 18 burgers. Alan, trust me, telling people you like the taste of teen sauce is not the flex you think it is. Let's keep this guy 500 yards away from Wendy just to be safe, okay? And for the record, I'm not into teen burgers. Costa prefers his burgers with a little experience. You know, a burger that's been around the block. That's, that's. That's why I'm all in on middle aged burgers. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. It might be graying on the sides and you need to apply a prescription cream to its back every once in a while, but this is a burger. Who gets all my Simpson references and still thinks it's cool? I drive an 88 Camaro. Plus it's got the one thing I look for in a burger. No other options. Pick you up at 8 burger. Now, no matter what age burger you prefer, if you want to wash it down with something bubbly, it's going to be a problem. Hit me.

[Lowe's Advertiser]

America is running out of Topo Chico.

[Jordan Clark]

Coca Cola owns the brand and says the flagship product is temporarily unavailable in America. It's due to facility upgrades at the water source and production facilities in Mexico.

[Rebecca Traister]

Due to the shortage, these last remaining bottles have gone up to $6 apiece.

[Jordan Clark]

Whoa, $6 a bottle that's almost as expensive as a pint of clean blood. But hey, don't let the price of sparkling H2O stop your bank account from H2 growing. Because I'm currently seeking investors in Senor Costa's Guadala Agua. It comes straight from the source. The pipes of a Tijuana motel that I've been crashing at. Now, it isn't exactly what you'd call sparkling, but it does have bubbles. Now available at Whole Foods Newark Airport's only grocery store. But. But we're not talking about making money if we're not talking about trading, not stocks. I'm talking trading cards. Hey, yay me. The thrill of hunting down rare in demand Pokemon cards has been sparking excitement for three decades now. And some of these cards can be worth a fortune. Influencer Logan Paul recently sold one card for millions.

[Daily Show Host]

Over 16 million for a single card.

[Jordan Clark]

Yep. And this follows my three main rules of buy low, sell high, and always take financial advice from Logan Paul. But buyer beware. There are a ton of fake Pokemon cards out there. My $10,000 rare Pikachu turned out to be a Polaroid of a rat spray paint.

[Daily Show Host]

I know.

[Jordan Clark]

Then when I went to get a refund, Timmy was gone from that playground. And then the parents got all freaked out at me for screaming at the other kids when I'm the victim. How is that fair, huh? You, Timmy. Oh, what's that? That must be the dinner bell. Which means I gotta go pick up a hot middle aged burger and take her out for a $6 Topo Chico. And you know that guarantees I'll be tasting that special sauce.

[Daily Show Host]

Hey, hey, hey, hey.

[Jordan Clark]

Sorry, folks. That's just the cost of doing business.

[Daily Show Host]

Thank you, Michael. We come back. We're back at Playthrough. We'll be talking about the show. Don't go away.

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[Daily Show Host]

Welcome back to the Daily Show. My guest tonight is a writer at large for New York magazine and best selling author whose latest book is called Angry Girls Will Get Us Through. Please welcome Rebecca Traister.

[Jordan Clark]

Welcome.

[Daily Show Host]

Rebecca, welcome.

[Rebecca Traister]

Thank you for having me.

[Daily Show Host]

Of course. Angry girls will get us through. Angry as in good. Anger is a good thing, a force for good. Can be a good thing.

[Rebecca Traister]

Can be a good thing.

[Daily Show Host]

Can be a good thing.

[Rebecca Traister]

Can be a good thing.

[Daily Show Host]

Walk me through this. How can this be a good thing?

[Rebecca Traister]

So there's a lot of different things that anger can be, including political anger. I would say that we live in a period in which a certain kind of political anger that is not good is radically shifting this country in a terrible way. That's a punitive anger on behalf of an inequitable power system and angry people, a lot of angry white men who want to get back their power and are doing an enormous amount of destruction. This book is not about that. No, this book,

[Daily Show Host]

this book, Angry white. Oh, there's no angry white men in here at all. How am I going to relate?

[Rebecca Traister]

This book is about the women who have pissed those men off. So this book is a book about angry women and girls and gender non conforming people who have been angry at inequity, at injustice.

[Daily Show Host]

And

[Rebecca Traister]

I would argue that that kind of anger is good, can be good. But also one of the reasons I'm writing this book and one of the reasons this is an adaptation for young readers of a book that I wrote for adults is because that anger has been under recognized. We don't get taught about it. It's not appreciated. In fact, women and girls and gender nonconforming people are often told that their anger makes them ugly or hysterical or crazy or dangerous. And in fact, when I have gone back to, to get an education that I never got and I had a very good education but was never taught that at the beginning of almost every major social movement that has reshaped this country, not just the officially women's movement, one, civil rights, environment, labor, there were angry women and girls at the start and their stories haven't been transmitted to us. So this is an attempt for me to begin to tell some of those stories that I don't think got recognized or appreciated. And, and it's specifically about the anger that didn't get appreciated as catalytic and righteous.

[Daily Show Host]

Now it's. Also a good time to write about history. It's being rewritten as we speak.

[Rebecca Traister]

It sure is.

[Daily Show Host]

Is there any you. You kind of walk through a lot of characters within the women's movement. Is there anybody who stands out to you in this as particularly important in a moment like this?

[Rebecca Traister]

Well, there are a lot of people who are very important. I will tell you somebody I've been thinking about recently, in part because she just died. A woman named Claudette Colvin. And that's a name that a lot of people might not immediately recognize. And that's in fact kind of nuts. Claudette Colvin was 15 in 1955, March of 1955, almost exactly 70 years ago, when she as a 15 year old girl refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery. This is nine months before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat. Now, the civil rights movement, which had been planning to stage an action around this, did not want Claudette Colvin, this 15 year old girl, to be the face of that action. She did get arrested. She became a plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that ultimately that in 1956 would bar racial segregation on public transportation. So she, which she's incredibly important, her choice that day on that bus actually changed the law. And yet we're not taught about her. There are a lot of very messed up reasons that we're not taught about her and that the movement itself wanted to choose Rosa Parks, who herself is angry in ways we're not taught about. She's also in this book. But one of the reasons that I think about Claudette Colvin in particular, writing this book for young readers, is that the way she described her choice that day as a high school student, was that because she'd been reading history specifically about the abolition movement a century before her. She says that she felt like the ghosts of Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth were pushing on her shoulders, gluing her to that bus seat. And it reminds me of why it's so important that we have this history, that we do tell these stories of anger and resistance. Because a 15 year old girl can be inspired by them 100 years later and wind up a plaintiff in a Supreme Court case that winds up altering the law around segregation and public transportation.

[Daily Show Host]

Now I'm curious, you see the import in recognizing the pattern where anger has been in many ways whitewashed or sanded down. And you're asking people to connect with that anger right now. But I think a lot of people also feel the burnout attached to like how does someone hold that anger, that righteous feeling that they have when they're pissed off at the system. But when I go and talk to a lot of people who are watching the news, there's no shortage of being mad at it. But almost for self survival, there's a desire to step back and give yourself that space. How do you reconcile keeping that fire burning and also staying sane in this world?

[Rebecca Traister]

Well, it's such a great question and it's so real. And especially these past couple years, I've heard that so much from so many people. People who were angry in the first Trump administration and now are tired. Right. It's another reason that it's really important to tell a longer and more complex history. And the first thing I want to say is that anger can be a very destructive force. I never want to pretend that it can't be. It can explode relationships between allies, between friends. It can be very combustible and destructive. We don't talk enough about how anger, shared anger can also bring people together. It's the building blocks of organizing and of movement. It's also how people support each other. And when you discourage people on the margins from expressing their anger, that means they can't let other people know what they're angry about. And they can't hear the other people who might be right next to them in class, on their block, at work, who are angry about the same things and with whom they could form a bond that winds up being supportive people they can work together with, do organizing, and also celebrate with. One story in this book is about kids who planned a trans prom. You know, there's celebration in anger and in organizing, there's comfort through the losses. And then there's also people who can spell you when you're exhausted. And so one of the things that I want to stress about anger, including for young people, is that while it can be harmful and hurt, it can also draw people together. And we don't talk enough about that. So actually, I think that the answer to burnout, there's sometimes no answer to burnout, but community helps. Community, connection, working together, really listening and paying attention to who the. The people who are angry about the same things you are, how they're doing, how they're feeling. Can you help them? Can they help you?

[Daily Show Host]

You talk a little bit in this about your own writing process and how years ago, comedy was a tool many people used as a way to invite people in and still do, but that you shifted to an angrier stance and immediately found that that was resonating more or it got Much more attention. But when I look at the media landscape right now or the platforms with which people engage in anger is sort of the bar for engagement. So how do you balance what seems to get clicks with actual effectiveness? Feels like the conversation happens amongst a din of anger and it just gets lost within that.

[Rebecca Traister]

So that's a question that I think we could ask about almost any era, right, where you're trying to break through. Whether that's in newspaper periodicals or whether it's in a television era or now, whether it's in an Internet clickbait era. And there's not an easy answer, except that I think people, I think all of us here can recognize and connect with things that are authentic versus things that are performed. Right. And I don't think there's a formula. You can't perform anger in a way that's gonna resonate. You can perform it in a way that's gonna make people laugh. That might make people. But, you know, I don't think there's a single solution to that problem. I think it's a matter of continuing to think hard about what we wanna say and to whom we wanna say it and how we wanna say it and make sure that it's coming from. From a place that's real and not just trying to get the attention. Because people can see through that pretty quickly.

[Daily Show Host]

I think, oh, I hope people can't see through inauthenticity. That's my greatest fear. It really is. Your audience for this is primarily a younger audience. Did you consider boiling this down to a 90 second TikTok?

[Rebecca Traister]

They love me on TikTok. Yeah, no, I'm a huge TikTok star

[Daily Show Host]

in talking to audience though, is there, you know, there's lots of conversations around a shorter attention span and the way in which to get there, get their attention. Have you found a response from younger audiences into digging to this history that they haven't heard yet?

[Rebecca Traister]

Yeah, you know, I have two younger readers at home and I know a lot of younger readers because of them in my real life. And you know, it's funny, there are shorter attention spans, but I think we really under. We undersell the curiosity. We don't take again part of what this book is about. We don't take seriously the curiosity and appetites of young people. Yes, there's all kinds of candy around. You know what? People are curious about the world. We send them scary messages about it all the time. Right. We tell them they live in unprecedented times. That's terrifying for young people to hear. They actually sort of have hunger. And you know, there are lots of different ways they can be satisfied, but with actually getting fuller, richer, more complex, sometimes funnier, sometimes angrier stories. So I actually, I give young people a lot of credit for having varied appetites.

[Daily Show Host]

Well, it's a great book, I think it is. It does elucidate some history that a lot of people don't normally see. And if you really could get that down to a 90 second TikTok, I'm working on it. You're gonna get it. The book is Angry Girls Will Get Us.

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[Daily Show Host]

That's our show for tonight. Now here it is. Your moment is end.

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A dancing robot is entertaining customers at a restaurant, but things quickly get out of hand when the robot starts smashing plates. A waitress jumps in and tries to drag the out of control robot away, but the robot keeps up the silly antics.

[Jordan Clark]

Explore more shows from the Daily Show Podcast universe by searching the Daily Show.

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