cover of episode Trump’s Shock Nominations, Charlamagne’s Plea, and Coppola’s Vision

Trump’s Shock Nominations, Charlamagne’s Plea, and Coppola’s Vision

2024/11/15
logo of podcast The Daily Show: Ears Edition

The Daily Show: Ears Edition

Key Insights

Why did Trump choose RFK Jr. and Matt Gaetz for key cabinet positions?

Trump's selections of RFK Jr. for Health and Human Services and Matt Gaetz for Attorney General reflect his penchant for unconventional and controversial picks, often aimed at garnering media attention and loyalty from fringe figures.

How did Democrats respond to Trump's cabinet nominations?

Democrats adopted a strategy of non-interference, allowing Trump's controversial picks to proceed without opposition, possibly hoping to avoid further polarization and to let Trump's choices speak for themselves.

What is Charlamagne Tha God's stance on Trump's presidency?

Charlamagne Tha God expresses cautious optimism, hoping that Trump will not act as a fascist as many fear, and suggests that Democrats should not overly antagonize him but also not appease him unnecessarily.

What themes does Francis Ford Coppola explore in his film Megalopolis?

Megalopolis delves into themes of risk, freedom, and the potential for humanity's future, drawing parallels between the fall of ancient Rome and the current state of America's republic.

How did Francis Ford Coppola finance Megalopolis?

Coppola self-financed the film by borrowing money against his winery, reflecting his commitment to artistic freedom and risk-taking in filmmaking.

What advice does Francis Ford Coppola give to young filmmakers?

Coppola advises young filmmakers to make their films in any way they can, emphasizing the importance of personal expression and creativity over financial constraints.

What does Francis Ford Coppola believe about the current state of media and its impact on society?

Coppola criticizes the media for selling identities rather than products, suggesting that this approach manipulates consumers and diminishes their sense of self-worth to increase sales.

Chapters

Jordan Klepper discusses Trump's controversial cabinet picks, RFK Jr. for Health and Human Services and Matt Gaetz for Attorney General, highlighting the reactions and concerns from both parties.
  • Trump announces RFK Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
  • Matt Gaetz is nominated for Attorney General, sparking outrage and concern.
  • Republican senators avoid commenting on Gaetz's nomination.

Shownotes Transcript

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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 Klepper. Welcome to The Daily Show. I'm Jordan Klepper. We got so much to talk about tonight. RFK Jr. is now your primary care doctor.

Matt Gaetz is taking the DOJ to prom. And Charlemagne the God does a wellness check on democracy. So, let's get into another installment of Trump 2.0 coming from the White House. I'm gonna come. Thoroughly dislike hearing that.

You've been feeling under the weather since the election. Don't worry. Pretty soon, everyone else will be sick, too. President-elect Trump on Truth Social just made it official. He wrote, quote, I am thrilled to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services. Unpasteurized whale juice forever.

Wow. This is exciting news. We are making things in America again. Specifically, patient zeros. Of course, with Trump, there's never just one horrifying thing to focus on. Today, the fallout continued over Trump's pick for Attorney General, Matt Gaetz. House Republican and guy who's had more needles in his face than pinhead.

Now, yesterday, Trump selected Gates to lead the DOJ. And his future employees couldn't be happier. Multiple current and former senior officials left speechless, calling it insane, unbelievable, and one saying he is the least qualified person ever nominated for a position in the Department of Justice. I think what I'm hearing is he has a lot of potential.

Seriously, the least qualified ever. Keep in mind, that includes one of Trump's previous AGs, who once starred in promotional videos for a toilet for well-endowed men. And yes, this was a real thing that happened during Trump's first term. You don't remember it, which is okay, because if it's in any consolation, maybe someday we'll forget all this, too.

But I'll tell you. I'll tell you who's not disappointed by this pick. I'll tell you who's not disappointed by this pick. Matt Gaetz, a.k.a. the guy who plays Bob's big boy in porn parodies. Gaetz is ready to go. In fact, as soon as he was nominated, he immediately resigned from his house seat so he could get the ball rolling. He's just that eager to begin generally attorney-ing.

Unless, you know, there was, I don't know, some other reason he resigned so quickly. He's been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee over an allegation that he paid for sex with a 17-year-old. His resignation from the House will effectively end that investigation with that report due to be out Friday. Wow. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. What a crafty legal maneuver by Matt Gaetz. He must be dating a girl who does mock trials.

Now, call me old-fashioned, but it seems to me like a guy who was recently investigated by the Justice Department isn't the best fit to lead the Justice Department. But maybe that's coastal elite talk.

I assume congressional Republicans are excited for one of their own to be elevated to such a lofty position. Let's hear them gloat to reporters. I tried to talk to a lot of Republican senators tonight about Matt Gaetz being nominated to the post, and they made clear they were not ready to engage. I'm having trouble. What about Matt Gaetz? Do you support him? We have a confirmation process. I don't know yet. I'll think about that one. Do you think Matt Gaetz is confirmable?

Senator Kennedy, what do you think of Matt Gaetz as Attorney General? Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving? Matt Gaetz has nothing to do with Thanksgiving. Besides him and the turkeys both needing pardons, of course. I would say, I like this strategy for avoiding the press, though. Sir, do you have regrets about the internment camps? Happy Arbor Day! Happy Arbor Day!

And if you're wondering, why does Matt Gaetz's own party hate him so much, the answer would actually take some time. It's not just the underage sex allegation. It's also that he routinely attacks other Republicans. He doesn't do any work himself, and his personal quest to overthrow Speaker Kevin McCarthy so divided his party, a fellow Republican had to be restrained by the mouth from fighting him on the House floor.

It was the first time in history Congress had to call a face mask penalty.

And Gates hasn't just been instigating coups against his own leaders. Even his social skills gave his fellow Republicans the ick. Take it from Republican Mark Wayne Mullen. We had all seen the videos he was showing on the House floor that all of us had walked away of the girls that he had slept with. He'd brag about how he would crush ED medicine and chase it with an energy drink so he could go all night.

First of all, I'm not sure Matt Gaetz knows how to brag. You're going around telling co-workers that you're freebasing Viagra, and you know I had to use an extra small condom, bro. Yeah! Hit me up, chap. Also, also, yeah. Super tiny. Yeah, bro. Oh, I could barely get it off. Yeah!

Also, for the love of God, who drinks energy drinks? Pound some coffee like an adult sexual predator, man. Clearly, the Justice Department is about to get a hardcore bro makeover. I mean, once Gates is in power, you're gonna get to plead guilty, not guilty, and the f***'s your problem, man? More importantly, there's not a single thing we've seen from Matt Gates' career or character that would make him fit to be the Attorney General of the United States. Luckily.

All it will take to stop him is for his own colleagues who legitimately hate him to show the slightest bit of spine. What say you, Mark Wayne Mullen? Are you going to vote for Matt Gaetz? I completely trust President Trump's decision-making on this one. I don't get it. Do you hate Matt Gaetz or not, Mark Wayne? You can't have it both ways. Unlike your mom did when she couldn't decide whether to name you Mark or Wayne.

Come on! There you have it, folks. The Republican submission to Donald Trump in a nutshell. Matt Gaetz is a creep who forced me to watch his sex tapes, and yes, I will be voting for him. Happy Thanksgiving. For more on the congressional reaction to the Matt Gaetz nomination, we go live to the Capitol with Desi Lydic. Desi! Desi!

We've heard from Republicans, but what's the Democratic strategy for Matt Gaetz? Well, Jordan, I spoke to Democrats, and their strategy is to vote for him unanimously. Wait, Democrats will vote for him? Yeah. It's part of a new strategy that they call, and I quote, f*** around and find out.

Yeah. See, if Donald Trump wants a coke clown as AG, Donald Trump gets a coke clown as AG. Have fun watching his press conferences where he shows a video of him Eiffel Towering some chick.

Do you need me to explain that to you, Jordan? No, no, no. I get it. Is that really how the Dems are going to respond to the AG? Well, not just the AG, the entire Trump presidency. RFK at the health department. Fox News guy is defense secretary. Democrats are not going to try to clean up the MAGA messes anymore. You know, you want to be bad and smoke a cigarette? Well, guess what? Now you're going to smoke the whole carton. But good news, according to RFK's new health guidelines, it's healthier than ever.

I understand that impulse, but isn't that gonna just be bad for the voters? Well, I asked Nancy Pelosi that and she said, "Oh, the voters? How did the voters vote again last Tuesday? Oh, I got a recount right here."

Turns out she didn't have the recount. It was just her middle finger. Right, right. I guess Democrats have a right to be upset, but aren't they at least a little concerned that Gates could weaponize the judiciary to go after them? Yeah, see, I asked Nancy Pelosi about that, too, and she said, oh, yeah, I'm so scared of legal mastermind Matt Gates coming after me. I can't wait to see his indictment written in crayon. Here's what I think.

Here's my response, and then you can imagine my surprise when she just pulled out her middle finger. Yeah. Yeah, it seems like she only has that one move. Yeah, it's a decent move. So their attitude towards Republicans is basically, you made your bed, now you get to lie in it. Yeah, exactly. But with Matt Gaetz, he might want to change his sheets first. Desi Lydic, everybody. We come back. Charlamagne Tha God will be joining us. Don't go away.

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With more pet-friendly domestic violence shelters, survivors and their pets can escape and heal together. Visit Purina.com slash purple to get involved. Welcome back to The Daily Show. We all know I've got great opinions, but I'm not the only one. Studies show that other people also have opinions. So, here with another installment of In My Opinion is our good friend, Charlamagne Tha Goddard.

Hey, look, I'm not going to bullshit you. Right now, I'm confused. Yeah. More confused in America after finding out John Krasinski won Sexiest Man Alive. He wasn't even the sexiest man on The Office. Yeah. Y'all let Kevin hit. Yeah.

And what's confusing me is that for three years up until last Tuesday, if you asked any Democrat what they thought about Donald Trump, they say something like this. Donald Trump said he would be a dictator on day one. No one has ever been more dangerous to this country than Donald Trump. Trump is fascist to the core. I want to be dictator running around trying to punish his enemies. Look what his objectiveness. It is totally democratic.

He says that he wants to be a dictator on day one. He means it. Damn. Joe Biden was on such high alert, he almost opened his eyes for a second there. So the part that's confusing me is, if all that is true, what the hell is this? It was an encounter many thought could never happen. But in front of a roaring fire, the current and future president exhibited warmth. Who knew the fall of democracy would seem so cozy?

It's like seeing Hitler take over Europe in a Snuggie. That's not how you beef. Trust me, Drake isn't inviting Kendrick to a slumber party anytime soon. When you get in a room with someone, even J.D. Vance called Hitler, you don't say, I have your back. You say, I have a Glock. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And look, look, look, look, look. I understand that you have to transfer power peacefully because you're not fascist. But there's nothing in the Constitution that says you have to be nice about it. At least take the opportunity to f*** with him. All right? Swap his Diet Coke with kombucha. Change the computer passwords to Eric's birthday so he can't log in. All right?

Switch the toilet paper in the Oval Office toilet so it hangs under. I don't know, man. Do something. OK. And look, just because I don't want Democrats singing Kumbaya with Trump doesn't mean I think they should go all in on trying to take him down. First of all, they already tried that a lot. OK. I don't have the energy for it anymore. Dude got impeached twice. I still get PTSD when someone says the words Mueller report.

But also, and this is an unpopular opinion if you're not a Republican, I want Trump to succeed. Or at least, I don't want him to fail so badly he takes down the country with him. Yeah. Yeah. Come on. Come on. Okay? Okay?

I love America. We got Waffle Houses here, all right? And there's still a chance that Donald Trump and his friends won't turn the country into a fascist funhouse. You know who says they won't? Donald Trump and his friends. Donald Trump is not going to rule as a dictator. He's not a dictator. He's not a threat to democracy. He's fun. He's not a fascist. Was Hitler making self-deprecating jokes? No. They accused me of being a Hitler-type guy.

or a Hitler lover, and I'm not. I'm the opposite. Opposite of Hitler. I don't know what that means unless this is his weird way of telling us he's circumcised. So, listen...

Both sides had their campaign rhetoric. Trump came out on top. And in a few years, we're going to find out who was right and who was wrong. I'm a person who's called him a fascist. I want to be wrong. And maybe we all will be because don't forget, one thing Trump loves more than anything is being unpredictable. He loves it more than he loves his children.

OK, bad example. He he loves it more than KFC. And now he has a chance to do something truly unexpected. Don't be a fascist. And maybe you think that's not possible. But you know me. I'm an optimist. I think if I can just talk to Donald Trump directly, I can convince him. So let me try. Mr. Trump, sir. Mr. Trump, sir, you're a manly man with great hair and the tightest neck pussy I've ever seen. He's listening now.

Sir, I need to talk to you about your plans. Right now, you can do anything you want. You have both houses of Congress, and thanks to the Supreme Court, you can feed Nancy Pelosi to alligators and call it an official act. But that's what all your enemies say you're going to do. And just think about how stupid they'll look if you don't. You know what liberals hate even more than being thrown into a CIA black site? Being wrong.

You could own to live so hard just by not being a fascist. Not being a fascist is so easy. Look, I'm doing it right. By the way, I'm still doing it. It's simple. OK, you don't even have to do good things for America. Just do nothing. Go golfing. All right. That's right. You love golfing and you're so good at it, too. We all know he cheats.

You know what, Mr. President? We'll even let you have a little personal corruption as a reward, okay? Just leave the Constitution in one piece, and we'll let you skim a billion or two out of the Medicare budget. It's fine, okay? You could literally sit on your ass doing nothing for four years straight, and you'll be considered the greatest president of all time just because you didn't destroy democracy like they said you would. Yes! Yes!

And listen, Mr. President, if you just destroy the economy, lead us into a recession, I can live with that. That's normal Republican president stuff. Just keep your big, strong, not tiny hands out of the fascist cookie jar. And maybe, maybe I still think you're going to do it anyway. But to quote the great philosopher Sabrina Carpenter, please, please, please don't prove I'm right. But that's just my opinion.

Show the way to God, everybody. We come back. Francis Ford, couple. I'll be joining you on the show. Don't go away.

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Welcome back to The Daily Show. My guest tonight is a legendary Academy Award winning filmmaker whose latest film is called Megalopolis. Please welcome Francis Ford Coppola. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Sir, this truly is an honor. I will say, I remember in college going to see Apocalypse Now. I got to see it in the theater. It was being re-released and I saw it in the theater. And it expanded my mind as to what I could and should expect from cinema. It was surreal, it was dark, it was literary. And then last week I get to go and see Megalopolis.

And it continued on that trajectory, expanding what one should expect or can expect and see in cinema. -'Cause you didn't say the last thing. You said, "Apocalypse Now" was all those things that got terrible reviews. -I didn't want to say it, you know? -And we've done it again. -This is what it is. Court the bastards, right? -Well, you know, I mean,

They want movies to be something that they cannot risk, they cannot possibly lose on. And to me, making art without risk is like making babies without sex. It's possible, but it's not the way to do it. Yeah, yeah. You're not wrong.

This film deals with a lot. This film is, there's big themes in here. Time, Rome, ancient Rome, the fall of America. You've been working on this, or been thinking about this idea for 40 years? Well, I, not exactly, but I was working on something that I thought could be my style because, you know, I made a lot of films that...

I'm happy you enjoy but they were all in different styles and I wondered if I had a style or basically it was going to be different for every movie so I took after I made of John Grisham movie called the I think was the Rainmaker I took 10 years or turns out I took 14 years off and I I just wanted to learn more you know what I what I what I could do and I kept notebooks and eventually I decided that

since America founded itself based on Rome, because they didn't want a king. Rome invented a new form of government called the Republic because they had had a terrible king. And they absolutely did not want a king. And America

didn't want the English king and the people who founded America were all, you know, educated people, which meant they spoke Latin, they studied Latin, they studied the Roman, and they had read Caesar and the Gaelic Wars and Cicero, so they decided to make a country with senators

And with Roman law, we all know what pro bono means and habeas corpus. That's because we took Roman law. And what happened to Rome when it lost its republic was a lot of money came into Rome

But instead of going to the people, it basically made the senators rich and powerful. And the same thing happened in America recently after World War II. So with exactly the same situation, the same situation,

result happened and we got a new government which may very well not continue the republic. We don't know. We're about to find out. We're about to get the news. Yeah. I mean, if Megalopolis follows this once great city in decline, do you know who the attorney general is in Megalopolis? Has that been decided?

Well, I'm sure he's someone who is going to... If he's not Attorney General, he's going to be arrested by the Attorney General. Yes. So that's probably what's going to happen. Part of this... You also self-financed this film by selling off some of your winemaking. But the same as with Apocalypse Now. Apocalypse Now, I ended up... You know who owns Apocalypse Now, by the way? No. I do. You know why? Why? Nobody wanted it. LAUGHTER

And if you can imagine, interest during the time of Apocalypse Now was 21%. That's not a joke. It's true. Is that right? Yeah. But now it's not so much, so it's better. You sell a part of your winery, though, to pay for this project. I basically, I didn't. I borrowed the money from the bank based on a winery that I had. Now I have to pay it back in a year.

Is that advice you would give to a young filmmaker, is first start in the wine business to get your financials settled? My advice to a young filmmaker would be make the film any way you can. And, you know, whatever way, make it with your iPhone, make it with your parents' credit card, but try to make it be personal because movies...

You know, everyone in the world, all of our cousins, because we're all related in one big family, as you know. I mean, really. Is that right? Oh, yeah. I haven't seen any cut of the winemaking business from you, though. I feel like, aren't we a little bit more...

I mean, you do -- yeah. -We're cousins. -Okay. So, yeah, you don't pay off, cousins. -You don't pay off. -You can't help me with my tuition. -Yeah, and we've only existed for about 300,000 years. And we know only -- since his writing has only been 6,000, 7,000 years, we only know what happened the last 10,000 years. And that's when the men really took over and we had, for the first time, a patriarchy. Before that, we don't know what we had. It might have been better.

But we have no way we can guess. And if it was a matriarchy, the thing that's different between a matriarchy and a patriarchy is that the women didn't really give orders, but they were good colleagues. And we worked together, and we ensured, you know, that there was enough water for the kids, and there was this and that. Women are very, very good leaders. They really are. It's true. I know. I know. Perhaps...

Perhaps the country can look into giving one a shot in the near future. One day, I'm sure. I mean, we all... You know, I try to see the bright side of everything because I'm like your previous host. I'm an optimistic. I truly am. I love people and I want the world to be beautiful for our children because they didn't do anything to deserve the mess that they might inherit. Isn't that the truth? Isn't that the truth?

There's a lot of hope in Megalopolis. There is. The film is filled with hope, and the ending is very positive. And I stand by the ending. The ending, you know, really what it comes down to is that we are capable of solving any problem that was put in front of us. We... There's no... You know, we're intelligent, but...

You know, there's no creature on Earth anywhere even close to what we can do, and the octopuses are very smart, and they're very nice.

But the human being is extraordinary. And the fact is that why do people constantly try to make you feel less than you are? And that's because you're a better customer if you don't feel too powerful. You know, we spend probably $8 trillion a year on advertising, which is basically selling a little bit of happiness to people.

in the form of what they can buy. But you can't sell happiness to happy people because they're already happy. So what that means is there are efforts to make us be less happy than is necessary. So we'll be better customers. And if you tell people, hey, human beings are geniuses, we're all a family of geniuses, they'll say, well, yeah, but we are, but those people are not, so let's

Let's let them in our country. Let's treat them terribly. And the truth of the matter is that that's not true, that we're being kept deliberately felt to be less than we are so we can be better sold to. And that's what's happening. I mean, I do think...

I'm hearing you. I mean, the media landscape does treat us as consumers and consumers only. I think what is compelling about some of what you're trying to do in Megalopolis is to break open some of the mold. Well, to explain what's going on, because even what you said isn't true anymore. It used to be. What? Yes, it's not true. Did it just change? Yes. It just got worse. Okay.

Because what they're doing is, it used to be that you sold by what the product was. Now you're selling the identity. If you look at television today, and you look at the way it's styled and the way they're dressed and who they're married to, you're meant to say, hey, those are people like us.

And so they're selling an identity. And then by you buying the identity that they've sold you, they want you to be loyal to the brand that that identity is loyal to. And that's, when they start selling who you are, then you know that it's gone too far. Yeah, yeah. I agree with that. Where my cynicism comes in...

My cynicism comes in as if this is all a war for attention, whether it's on social media, whether it's the Internet or just media in general. I feel like the quickest way to get those eyes is with short, loud bursts of anger and flash.

And what it does is it warps the way in which we take in information, hold information, and communicate in general. I think, like, I feel myself being unable to hold long conversations or depth of thought is harder and harder to reach because of these mediums that we're in. You work in a medium, cinema, that'll ask people to sit and think about something for hours.

-Two hours. -But they don't ask that anymore. Now they ask you to go to see something that you already know what you're gonna see because you've seen six versions of it already. And therefore, they want you to be addicted to it the way they want you to be addicted to a particular food product or something. In other words, they don't want there to be any chance

that they won't make money. But how do you balance? That's what they are doing, but what are you doing? How do you create in that atmosphere? Because I feel like your audience, no matter what, is going to walk into that theater or watch it at home. Well, there's a line in my movie that he says, when you leap into the unknown, you prove you are free. So I leap into the unknown whenever I can because I want to be free. Because I don't even wear the same socks anymore.

What do we got? I got two different colored socks. You got two different colored socks? I don't have to wear the same colored socks if I don't want to. And neither do you. Ben Drake's Rules, Consistent Loveless is in select theaters and available to stream now. Francis Ford's called back. We'll take a break, right? We'll be right back after this.

That's our show for tonight. Now, here it is. Your moment of death. People within the Trump team are now jockeying over who will get a spot in his second cabinet. And you can call this one Game of Thrones Trump edition. Like the legend of Caligula, the Roman emperor, who wanted to nominate his horse as a Roman consul. I feel like we're in the Twilight Zone. If you know Star Wars, this is Emperor Palpatine stuff. It was more Star Trek than Star Wars.

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 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount+. Paramount Podcasts.

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