You're listening to Comedy Central. Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns, welcome to the show about it. N I'm not even gonna waste any time. I trust that you're good. Let's drum jump straight into this um. This is the best way to describe this book for me is it's basically like the Real Housewives of Washington, d C. It makes it look like the most scandalous place. You realize there's so many inner feuds and and things that we don't even know about. When I'm reading this book, I'm going we shouldn't the American people see that? Then, Like, why do they get the sanitized like this is how we are when in fact this is this seems like it seems like this is what's deciding the country. This is what the people are seeing the news, but the people are voting on what they see in the news. No, And I think that that's that's spot on, and it's one of the things that we believe so passionately about political journalism. It's one of the things that we I had to do in this book is that there's not some clean separation between the personalities of politics and the fuge that you're talking about. And the Real Housewives style drama and the policy of it. Right, it's the personality and those feuds and all the sort of high school level pettiness that actually drives what happens. And if people in Washington were more upfront about that, I think, first of all, they would confirm a whole lot of what the American people sort of suspect about their politicians. But secondly, you know, I think it would be possible maybe for the country to have more honest conversation about what's wrong here if we weren't all putting on a different face. When the cameras are running on Washington, Trevor, you see two very different kinds of politicians than what you see behind the scenes in private. But they don't know that, say, the audio is running, So this book exposes a lot. Let's talk about that. The audio, you know, I mean, one of the biggest bombshells from the book is the audio that that you released, which was the audio of Kevin McCarthy off the January six basically saying, yet, we've got to make Trump pay for this. He's responsible, except Mitch McConnell essentially being like, oh, I hope he does get impeached you. You you you're hearing things from politicians who said the complete opposite when they were on camera. So how did you hear about it? Well? Uh, Now, a lot, a lot of work, a lot of hours, a lot of talking to people at all levels of government and even people outside of government. I mean there's this perception among um folks who read political journalism that it's this Hollywood idea where like somebody in sunglasses comes and like drops you a bag outside Uh your house, are like, and you get the story of a lifetime. It ain't that. It's like a lot of work. It's a lot of shoe leather. It's a lot of time talking to people and hoping that you can piece things together to eventually get the full version of a story. And if I could just you know, look, you had a little fun with us at the correspond centers. Boys. Uh, we know that, we know that. But the but the honest, the honest response to uh, to your line that night is, look, if we were in a position to release that information the second we got it, of course we would have done that. But part of the exercise of writing a book, and part of why it's different from writing for a newspaper or producing a television show. Is that the people you're talking to, the sources you're working with, will be more candid with you, and we'll share more information. It's not just audio. It is documents, it is notes that they're taking in real time. It is their personal views and recollections when they feel they're sharing it for history and not you know, a show that's going to air in a couple of hours from now. That is that makes no sense to me, because I mean, it's not like this is ancient history. Well it's sort of. It's it's sort of this happened a year ago, and you're telling me the politicians are like, well, this will never see the light of day in a year. It is it is. It is actually extraordinary, and it's one of the things that I think, I mean, I think of the people running the country when we were trying to tell when we were when we were having when we were doing these interviews, you would see people sort of various, sort of uptightening this is this is for history, and like, oh well, if this is for history, and thinking, I say it is out next may I mean, like, let's talk about the you know, some of the other stories. For instance, there's a part in the book. We actually have the audio here and we'll go to the real students. There's a part of the book when you're interviewing Donald Trump himself. All right, there, you are interviewing the man. And in the middle of this interview, does he call Lindsay Graham? Does Indsay Graham call him? Lusa Graham calls him. Lindsay Graham calls him while you haven't been seen in the lobby at marral Lago from his guests to see Lindsay Graham calls him, and Trump does not get up from the couches, excuse me follows, He just like sits there and like takes that call on his cell phone and that puts the speaker so we can hear it. So we've actually got the audio. Let's let's let's play that call. And most importantly, would you tell them one thing? Can Trump play? Go? Legitimately play? Okay? But I thought it was a bullshit, So we played for the first time. You know, I've heard her head. So we're playing on a kind of right. We got a car and the three flitter com that may but WoT a bit more under even are playing by after that game making more and you don't believe it, go play with him. So here's the thing for for context for me, is this is the same Lindsay Graham who off the January six was bringing up the twenty five amendment. He was like, this is too much, We've gone too far. And then Trump has him on the phone and he's just like, dance for me. And this is three months later, so this is pretty Yeah. Is this Does this show us that the politicians are lying to the people or they're lying to Trump? That's that's a really good question. Look, I think we were shocked, uh not that Lindsay Graham will be calling Trump at that point. But you know, we all know that Lindsay Graham rode back to Donald Trump really fast, that his pronouncements on the night of January six, I had a very very short expiration date on them. But I think just hearing in in real time in front of us this you know, sort of dancing a monkey routine was really an extraordinary moment. And I don't know that he's lying to anybody. I think Lindsay Graham genuinely believes that he is playing a vital role as a diplomat between the establishment of the Republican Party and Donald Trumps, right. I just that's clearly how he's rationalizing it. It puzzled even some of his colleagues in the Senate, but you just heard there, you know, just how far it goes. I think Trump knows that Lindsay isn't like his biggest fan in the world, and that privately, you know, rolls his eyes, but that he's sort of, uh, you know, is trying to sort of stay in the arena, and so he has to keep Trump on his good side. And I think, you know, like you know, obviously Lindsay. Lindsay is pretty obviously aware of Donald Trump's liabilities and would admit that in privacy. I think, like what's the old saying, you can't be sbs or I think they kind of both know that the other isn't totally on the level, and so I guess it works, right, I mean, not for the country. It's it seems yeah, It's just it just seems like, if you know, if if Donald Trump didn't have as many scandals as he did, I feel like every single chapter in this book could have been its own book in a different time, with the different presidency to the great point I didn't know, but like there's a point in the book where you guys uncovered the fact that Jared kushna is the person who got Kanye West his campaign manager, and all of this was essentially a scheme to try and siphon black votes away from the Democrats. Like I'm like that in on in and of itself, that would be the bombshell of the day, and that it was just like, oh yeah, just one part of the book. Look, it's a great I think it's a great episode of sort of political uh you know, hijinks, right, but it's really revealing both of how desperate they were to try to mess with the basic electoral map of this election. I think it's also really revealing about how the White House and the President's family saw, you know, black voters and what they would be drawn to in this election. The notion that the way to get too siphon black votes away from Joe Biden was to get this sort of screwball celebrity into the race and just you know, of course those people will uh you know vote for him instead of the guy they know is the former a two term vice president. That says a whole lot about the people who running the country. You know, look with the Trump crowd, it's like a cartoon version of past presidents, you know, like the president's son in law who by the way it works in the White House, which is okay uh. And then secondly, it's like basically running the country as a de facto senior advisor with no actual title beyond senior advisor. And he's also like running the campaign on the side too, and and running the campaign, he's trying to wire in a third party candidate who happens to be like a celebrity. Like he's doing all this and like ostensibly there's ethics rules that kind of exists in the White House, but UM's it makes a mockery of any sort of like political norms or tradition way to put it, because what it feels like this book exposes in a in a really scary way because it's revealing and it's shocking. But when you get to the end of the book, you go, man, America is in trouble because it feels like there's a facade that is being presented by Washington, d C. It feels like there is definitely a game that's being played, you know, in the Capitol versus what everyday Americans are experiencing. And then the most important thing is it feels like the two party system has failed, because now it feels like Republicans on all with Trump they play along to try and keep their role, and then like Democrats on Altgate. But it feels like the things a sham, and by the time the American people find out that it really is a sham, it will be too late. One of the things that we hope we've accomplished with this book is to expose that sham to a pretty significant degree. The American people, I deserve to know what a gigantic gap there is between the way their politicians behave in public and the things they say in private about policy, about each other, and even about the American people. So again that's sort of the overarching journalist I got serprised here were Well, I'll tell you this if you are if you if you wanted to get it out there, a book is a nice stot, but if you really want people to pay attention, you've gotta make it into a TV show. Gentlemen, thank you so much, because it's coming your lot to God. There's feel talk about book. This will not talking available right now. The Eily Show with Trevor Noah Ears Edition. Subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content, and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast

You're listening to Comedy Central. Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns, welcome to the show about it. N I'm not even gonna waste any time. I trust that you're good. Let's drum jump straight into this um. This is the best way to describe this book for me is it's basically like the Real Housewives of Washington, d C. It makes it look like the most scandalous place. You realize there's so many inner feuds and and things that we don't even know about. When I'm reading this book, I'm going we shouldn't the American people see that? Then, Like, why do they get the sanitized like this is how we are when in fact this is this seems like it seems like this is what's deciding the country. This is what the people are seeing the news, but the people are voting on what they see in the news. No, And I think that that's that's spot on, and it's one of the things that we believe so passionately about political journalism. It's one of the things that we I had to do in this book is that there's not some clean separation between the personalities of politics and the fuge that you're talking about. And the Real Housewives style drama and the policy of it. Right, it's the personality and those feuds and all the sort of high school level pettiness that actually drives what happens. And if people in Washington were more upfront about that, I think, first of all, they would confirm a whole lot of what the American people sort of suspect about their politicians. But secondly, you know, I think it would be possible maybe for the country to have more honest conversation about what's wrong here if we weren't all putting on a different face. When the cameras are running on Washington, Trevor, you see two very different kinds of politicians than what you see behind the scenes in private. But they don't know that, say, the audio is running, So this book exposes a lot. Let's talk about that. The audio, you know, I mean, one of the biggest bombshells from the book is the audio that that you released, which was the audio of Kevin McCarthy off the January six basically saying, yet, we've got to make Trump pay for this. He's responsible, except Mitch McConnell essentially being like, oh, I hope he does get impeached you. You you you're hearing things from politicians who said the complete opposite when they were on camera. So how did you hear about it? Well? Uh, Now, a lot, a lot of work, a lot of hours, a lot of talking to people at all levels of government and even people outside of government. I mean there's this perception among um folks who read political journalism that it's this Hollywood idea where like somebody in sunglasses comes and like drops you a bag outside Uh your house, are like, and you get the story of a lifetime. It ain't that. It's like a lot of work. It's a lot of shoe leather. It's a lot of time talking to people and hoping that you can piece things together to eventually get the full version of a story. And if I could just you know, look, you had a little fun with us at the correspond centers. Boys. Uh, we know that, we know that. But the but the honest, the honest response to uh, to your line that night is, look, if we were in a position to release that information the second we got it, of course we would have done that. But part of the exercise of writing a book, and part of why it's different from writing for a newspaper or producing a television show. Is that the people you're talking to, the sources you're working with, will be more candid with you, and we'll share more information. It's not just audio. It is documents, it is notes that they're taking in real time. It is their personal views and recollections when they feel they're sharing it for history and not you know, a show that's going to air in a couple of hours from now. That is that makes no sense to me, because I mean, it's not like this is ancient history. Well it's sort of. It's it's sort of this happened a year ago, and you're telling me the politicians are like, well, this will never see the light of day in a year. It is it is. It is actually extraordinary, and it's one of the things that I think, I mean, I think of the people running the country when we were trying to tell when we were when we were having when we were doing these interviews, you would see people sort of various, sort of uptightening this is this is for history, and like, oh well, if this is for history, and thinking, I say it is out next may I mean, like, let's talk about the you know, some of the other stories. For instance, there's a part in the book. We actually have the audio here and we'll go to the real students. There's a part of the book when you're interviewing Donald Trump himself. All right, there, you are interviewing the man. And in the middle of this interview, does he call Lindsay Graham? Does Indsay Graham call him? Lusa Graham calls him. Lindsay Graham calls him while you haven't been seen in the lobby at marral Lago from his guests to see Lindsay Graham calls him, and Trump does not get up from the couches, excuse me follows, He just like sits there and like takes that call on his cell phone and that puts the speaker so we can hear it. So we've actually got the audio. Let's let's let's play that call. And most importantly, would you tell them one thing? Can Trump play? Go? Legitimately play? Okay? But I thought it was a bullshit, So we played for the first time. You know, I've heard her head. So we're playing on a kind of right. We got a car and the three flitter com that may but WoT a bit more under even are playing by after that game making more and you don't believe it, go play with him. So here's the thing for for context for me, is this is the same Lindsay Graham who off the January six was bringing up the twenty five amendment. He was like, this is too much, We've gone too far. And then Trump has him on the phone and he's just like, dance for me. And this is three months later, so this is pretty Yeah. Is this Does this show us that the politicians are lying to the people or they're lying to Trump? That's that's a really good question. Look, I think we were shocked, uh not that Lindsay Graham will be calling Trump at that point. But you know, we all know that Lindsay Graham rode back to Donald Trump really fast, that his pronouncements on the night of January six, I had a very very short expiration date on them. But I think just hearing in in real time in front of us this you know, sort of dancing a monkey routine was really an extraordinary moment. And I don't know that he's lying to anybody. I think Lindsay Graham genuinely believes that he is playing a vital role as a diplomat between the establishment of the Republican Party and Donald Trumps, right. I just that's clearly how he's rationalizing it. It puzzled even some of his colleagues in the Senate, but you just heard there, you know, just how far it goes. I think Trump knows that Lindsay isn't like his biggest fan in the world, and that privately, you know, rolls his eyes, but that he's sort of, uh, you know, is trying to sort of stay in the arena, and so he has to keep Trump on his good side. And I think, you know, like you know, obviously Lindsay. Lindsay is pretty obviously aware of Donald Trump's liabilities and would admit that in privacy. I think, like what's the old saying, you can't be sbs or I think they kind of both know that the other isn't totally on the level, and so I guess it works, right, I mean, not for the country. It's it seems yeah, It's just it just seems like, if you know, if if Donald Trump didn't have as many scandals as he did, I feel like every single chapter in this book could have been its own book in a different time, with the different presidency to the great point I didn't know, but like there's a point in the book where you guys uncovered the fact that Jared kushna is the person who got Kanye West his campaign manager, and all of this was essentially a scheme to try and siphon black votes away from the Democrats. Like I'm like that in on in and of itself, that would be the bombshell of the day, and that it was just like, oh yeah, just one part of the book. Look, it's a great I think it's a great episode of sort of political uh you know, hijinks, right, but it's really revealing both of how desperate they were to try to mess with the basic electoral map of this election. I think it's also really revealing about how the White House and the President's family saw, you know, black voters and what they would be drawn to in this election. The notion that the way to get too siphon black votes away from Joe Biden was to get this sort of screwball celebrity into the race and just you know, of course those people will uh you know vote for him instead of the guy they know is the former a two term vice president. That says a whole lot about the people who running the country. You know, look with the Trump crowd, it's like a cartoon version of past presidents, you know, like the president's son in law who by the way it works in the White House, which is okay uh. And then secondly, it's like basically running the country as a de facto senior advisor with no actual title beyond senior advisor. And he's also like running the campaign on the side too, and and running the campaign, he's trying to wire in a third party candidate who happens to be like a celebrity. Like he's doing all this and like ostensibly there's ethics rules that kind of exists in the White House, but UM's it makes a mockery of any sort of like political norms or tradition way to put it, because what it feels like this book exposes in a in a really scary way because it's revealing and it's shocking. But when you get to the end of the book, you go, man, America is in trouble because it feels like there's a facade that is being presented by Washington, d C. It feels like there is definitely a game that's being played, you know, in the Capitol versus what everyday Americans are experiencing. And then the most important thing is it feels like the two party system has failed, because now it feels like Republicans on all with Trump they play along to try and keep their role, and then like Democrats on Altgate. But it feels like the things a sham, and by the time the American people find out that it really is a sham, it will be too late. One of the things that we hope we've accomplished with this book is to expose that sham to a pretty significant degree. The American people, I deserve to know what a gigantic gap there is between the way their politicians behave in public and the things they say in private about policy, about each other, and even about the American people. So again that's sort of the overarching journalist I got serprised here were Well, I'll tell you this if you are if you if you wanted to get it out there, a book is a nice stot, but if you really want people to pay attention, you've gotta make it into a TV show. Gentlemen, thank you so much, because it's coming your lot to God. There's feel talk about book. This will not talking available right now. The Eily Show with Trevor Noah Ears Edition. Subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content, and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast