Desi Lydic & Jordan Klepper Unpack Trump's Confusing Project 2025 Response | Aasif Mandvi
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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 hosts Desi Lydic and Jordan Klepper. Welcome to The Daily Show.

I'm Desi Lydic. And I'm Jordan Klemper. We got so much to talk about tonight. The White House is at war with the media. Donald Trump tries out social distancing. And we find out who's going to win the black votes. So let's get right into the headlines.

off with the big story of the past week, a national crisis with global implications. Somebody shit in the bed in Gwyneth Paltrow's guest house. According to the Daily Mail, a house guest of Gwyneth Paltrow's Hamptons home suffered, quote, catastrophic diarrhea in bed. The house guest then blamed the disaster on Ozempic before fleeing the property. Oh,

Is one of the side effects of Ozempic not caring about cleaning up the diarrhea you get from Ozempic? Why would you run out after that? If there's anyone who would be sympathetic, it's the woman who tells you to squirt coffee enemas up your butt.

And pardon my word choice here, but I want to sit in this mess for just a minute. Because it brings up an interesting question. When you shit the bed as visibly and as nationally as this guest did, should you stay in the house?

Or is it time to leave? I know that some people would say that the guest just had a bad night. He's a decent man with a lifetime of service as a house guest, and he's earned the chance to stay and clean up his mess, but the thing is, we all know he shit the bed. We can't unsee him shitting the bed. And now every time we see him, we're going to be wondering, is he going to shit the bed again?

Are we-- are we still talking about the houseguest? All I'm saying is Gwyneth has every right to be skeptical about inviting this houseguest to stay over again for the next four years or so. I mean, it might be too late in the summer to get another houseguest. There's plenty of time to get another houseguest! Okay, okay, okay. Okay, okay. But who's to say that another guest might not shit the bed even worse? I mean, sometimes the bed shitter you know is better than the bed shitter you don't.

Maybe, maybe, but we should at least be honest about the bed shitting instead of pretending that the bed was never shat in. Otherwise, we're going to delude ourselves into thinking that this is the best house guest we can get, and now all of a sudden it's January, and there's a house guest that nobody wanted, and nobody in the house is allowed to get a goddamn abortion. I... I...

I'm almost certain we're not talking about the House guests. No, we're not. We're not. Okay, gotcha. So, Joe Biden shit the bed, and now his campaign is trying to desperately change the conversation back to Joe Biden's opponent.

New reporting today on a plan from President Joe Biden. It's a plan to tie Donald Trump to Project 2025 and focus on what a second Trump presidency could look like. Democrats have been shouting from the rooftops that this Project 2025 is a blueprint for Trump to gut democracy if he wins. The DNC purchased five new billboards in Miami tying Trump to Project 2025 today. The current President Joe Biden just tweeted...

Google Project 2025. He wants us to Google it? Kind of phoning in the attack there, aren't you, Joe? Although I'm not entirely convinced Biden wasn't trying to just Google Project 2025. I mean, his next tweet's going to be, Alexa, how do you win a debate?

But yes, if you haven't Googled it yet, Project 2025 is a 900-page blueprint for Donald Trump's second term. It's basically conservative fan fiction, which could very well become fan reality. And it's full of terrifying proposals that range from burning more fossil fuels to outlawing pornography, which is bad news for people who like to masturbate and horrible news for people who like to masturbate to our flourishing coral reefs.

Maybe it's just me. I don't know. The people behind Project 2025 were some of Donald Trump's top aides, but apparently it's getting a little too controversial for Trump now because he's running away from it like it's a disabled veteran who wants a selfie. Donald Trump chose today to try to distance himself from Project 2025. On Truth Social today, Trump wrote, I know nothing.

about Project 2025. I have no idea who's behind it. I disagree with some of the things they're saying, and some of the things they're saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck. But I have nothing to do with that. Really? You expect us to believe Donald Trump didn't read a 900-page... Okay, now that I'm saying it, I hear it, yes. I hear it. I do. Okay, yeah, I do. Okay.

But let's look at this. Okay, this is textbook Trump. He hides his dog whistles next to some plausible deniability. Every tweet is like a Cheesecake Factory menu, you know? There's something for everybody. And he doesn't mind if it's full of contradictions. He hasn't read Project 2025, but he likes parts of it. He has no idea who's behind it, but he hired most of them. He thinks it's abysmal, but he wishes them luck.

He's got one hand in his pocket and the other one's giving a high five. By the way, if Trump's saying, "I don't know who these people are, but I wish them luck," sounds both odd and oddly familiar, it might be because of this. - President Trump was asked late today about Jeffrey Epstein's alleged co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell. - I don't know. I haven't really been following her too much. I just wish her well, frankly.

Here's a tweet idea for Joe Biden. Google Ghislaine Maxwell. But yes, the Biden campaign would love the media to start talking about Project 2025 so they can stop talking about things like this. News broke today that a military doctor specializing in Parkinson's visited the White House eight times in eight months.

Eight times in eight months? That is shocking. I can't get one doctor's appointment in eight months. I had to go to the CVS Minute Clinic to get my tubes tied. Now, as it turns out, this doctor only examined Biden during his annual physicals, and the other visits were for other people at the White House. So this story might have blown right by until this happened.

The White House today facing repeated questions about President Biden's medical history. Has the president been treated for Parkinson's? No. Is he being treated for Parkinson's? No, he's not. Is he taking medication for Parkinson's? No. But the press secretary refused to confirm that Dr. Kevin Kennard, expert on Parkinson's disease, visited the White House eight times from last summer to this past spring. Hold on a second. Not what you should be able to answer by this point. Wait, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, wait a minute. Come on.

Ed, please, a little respect here, please. It is, you're asking me. I cannot, but I just, I also said to you, Ed, I also said to you, for security reasons, we cannot share names. We cannot share names.

Look, I know she's trying to protect people's privacy, but any time you're being that cagey with information, it just makes it look like you're hiding something. It almost would have been better to just make something up, like Joe and Jill and Dr. Parkinson's are in a throuple. Do you want the youth vote or... For more on the questions over Joe Biden's health, we go live to the briefing room with our senior White House analyst, Michael Kosta.

Michael, why is the White House being so cagey about the president's health? Guys, I've been talking to White House officials, and it turns out the media is blowing this way out of proportion. You know, so have Parkinson's doctor visited a few times. Big deal. An STD doctor has been here every day for a week, and no one's asking if the president has an STD. What? What? Does the president have an STD? Ha, ha, ha, ha.

That'd be pretty cool, huh? No, no, no. Does he have an STD or not? Answer the question. Guys, calm down. He definitely does not have hepatitis A, if that's what you're asking. No. Does he have hepatitis B or C? D-E-F-G. Sounds like a preschool in here. I mean, this is what the White House is talking about. The media needs to calm down.

calm down. No, no, the White House can't drop concerning information and then be angry when the media tries to report on it. There's nothing to report on. Biden's fine, but even if he isn't, which he is, the White House has a great medical staff with tons of spare organs. God, does Biden need organs? No one said anything about getting organs from pigs. Why would he even need that? Biden's in great shape. He's got the heart of an ox. Wait, okay, are...

Are you talking figuratively or literally? I know, right? No! No! Come on! Answer it! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. A little respect, please. A little respect. Okay. Sorry. Sorry. Okay. Thank you. Now, let's be calm and let this family grieve. What? What?

I can't share names about which family is grieving, which sitting president of the United States, which they're not, but they could be one day, which might be today. Oh, my God. Michael, Michael, answer this one question clearly without raising any further questions. Okay, where is the president right now? The president is at the NATO summit. Great. Great. Okay. And he's in all of our hearts. Wait, what? No. No, we hate you. Okay? Jeez, Michael Kosta, everyone. Yeah.

Hardy Fiber Cement Siding handles conditions that can cause damage to vinyl. From fire to hail, Hardy Siding stands tall through it all. Helping trade professionals look their best when they recommend Hardy Siding and Trim. See the proof at JamesHardy.com. Welcome back to The Daily Show. If Joe Biden has any hope of winning the presidential race, he'll need the support of black voters, which means responding to their interests and not calling them all Barack.

But it raises the question, what do black voters think of the presidential candidates? Our own Josh Johnson went to find out. What up, world? It's Josh Johnson, full-time Daily Show correspondent and full-time black guy. But more than that, I'm also a part-time voter. Now, black voters have been the backbone of electing Democratic presidents since Bill Clinton went on Arsenio. In fact, 91% of black voters voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and 92% voted for Joe Biden last election.

So why does this year feel different? New polling shows 23% support among black voters for former President Trump. That's up 19 points since the 2020 election. Contrary to popular belief, not all black people know each other. So in order to find out how all black people felt about Trump, I got six from the tri-state area to ask, do we f*** with Trump? Okay, so who will you be voting for in 2024? Daryl.

Do I have to say his name? I don't want to, but more than likely, it's gonna be Trump. Yeah. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Who are you gonna be voting for? Biden. And then, Victor? I'm with her. Oh, Biden, okay. Trump. Trump. Biden. Biden. Trump. Okay, we're an even split. Oh. Which, yeah, I didn't see that coming. LAUGHTER

So do you think there's going to be a big shift, any sort of change? I think it's going to be a big shift. Me too. Big shift? Yes. Really? Okay. For me, I've always been a Democrat. And it's like, for the most part with the Democratic Party, they always make a bunch of promises that they can't deliver. You know, they use the issues of the African-American community as a soapbox to stand on. Mm-hmm.

and make promises, you know, just to get us to come out and vote. And then once we vote and everyone's in place, it's like, well, what happened? Would you say it's anything like somebody's in your DM and they're really laying it down, I'm gonna take you over here. Girl, I'll take you to the top. You know what I mean? And then you finally go on the date and it's Burger King. Or you'd be catfished. Or you'd be, yeah, yeah. If the polls are right and Trump is going up with black voters, what changed?

I wish I knew. I am not a huge fan of Trump. He don't respect the black person. And Biden does? Has Biden issued an apology for the things that he's been caught saying? He said, if you don't vote for me, you're not black. You're not black. What is that? They have both said things that were questionable and unsavory. But when you start looking at facts, it's like, Biden, you done dropped the ball, brother.

Okay, so some black voters feel let down by Democrats. But I wasn't sure if they knew about how Trump likened himself to black Americans. So I showed them some footage of Trump at the Black Conservative Federation Gala. I'm being indicted for you, the black population. I wanted to play a little game, all right? Now the game is gonna be either fist or finger, right? If you like what's happening, you're gonna put up your black fist. Now, if you don't like what's happening, there's a finger.

Y'all ready? We're ready. Okay. Good. These lights are so bright in my eyes that I can't see too many people out there. But I can only see the black ones. I can't see any white ones, you see? That's how far I've come. That's how far I've come. I can't. I have dark hair. I have dark hair. Okay. He has dark hair. No. Okay. Okay.

I'll play the next clip for you real quick. Black conservatives understand better than most that some of the greatest evils in our nation's history have come from corrupt systems that try to target and subjugate others. You understand that. I think that's why the black people are so much on my side now, because they see what's happening to me happens to them.

He had me at the first question. I mean, the first thing. He messed up. And then he messed up at the end. So, okay. Can we get our signs up? It's the same again. Okay. Let's go on to the next clip real quick. But I got indicted for...

for nothing, for something that is nothing. And a lot of people said that that's why the black people like me, because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against. And they actually viewed me as I'm being discriminated against. It's been pretty amazing.

All right, so kind of still along the same party lines. Now, do you think Trump is being discriminated against? Not at all. It's not one side. It's the legal system. No matter who you are, if you do these things, you get charged for it. That's it. There are two systems of justice. We cannot get away with the same thing white folks get away with.

But with this different sort of accountability system, does it feel like Trump is bad at being white? - -He was 91? I noticed how, when I was incarcerated, right, how...

The white incarcerated people seem to be more angrier than the black incarcerated people. Trump is like the same thought pattern. This ain't supposed to happen to me. I'm not supposed to be indicted. People are not supposed to tell me I committed a crime because I am privileged.

Damn, I had no idea the appeal process for incarcerated white people was gaslighting. But Trump is fighting close to 100 felony charges. How much of a criminal is too much of a criminal? If more charges get racked up, maybe things that start to become a bit more egregious, is that going to start to weigh on whether or not you're going to change your vote?

- Yeah, you start, you pay attention, you listen to the facts, not the fluff, and then you actually have to start doing some research to make sure that what's being presented to you is actual facts. - Yes. - And it takes some digging. - Okay, so if you dug and you did your research and you found out what Josh just said was true, that's where you're evoked? - Probably not.

I definitely, you know, did not sit down with this panel to change any minds, and I clearly have not. So, yeah, I guess some black folks do f*** with Trump. But was there anything I could get this panel to agree on? Can we keep this so useful in everyday life? I was thinking the same thing. Can we come back? Welcome back to The Daily Show. You

tonight as a former Daily Show correspondent who currently stars in the Paramount Plus series, Evil. Please welcome back Asif Manvi! Boy, oh boy. Welcome home. Really eating it up over there with that entrance. You know, it was the entrance I always wanted when I worked here that I never got.

So here we go. -There you go. You did it beautifully. -Thank you. -We miss you around here. Now, quick question. How many hosts did you have while you were here?

Yeah, we used to, so there used to be this show called The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. And you know that old guy that does it on Mondays now? He used to do it every day. Every day? He was a young guy and he used to do it every day. And he was the only host for a long, a long time. How old was he?

Yeah, and then another guy took over for a long time, a guy named Terry, Trevor, Trevor. That sounds right. And now it's just whoever's free, I guess. Yeah. Yeah.

That's right. Yeah, I think so. I think so. You guys, you guys. That's how we got here. No, I don't even. Well, see, you know, I got to work with you for a little bit. We were here together. And I wanted to go back and watch some old pieces because I really remember so little of your work. Just not memorable in any real sense. I don't remember it either.

And they took down the Daily Show archives online. Yeah. So now nobody-- yeah, exactly. The young kids are now like, have you seen this new show? It's called The Daily Show. They have no idea that it has existed for a long time. You know what it is? They don't say show. They say content. Content. They say there's new content. I don't know. Yes.

I was able to find a little piece from a field piece you did with then-Governor of Florida Rick Scott. Yes. Do we have that piece? You had a simple request for the governor at that point, who I believe was making similar requests to constituents of his own at the time. Can we play that? Yeah. Governor...

You benefit from hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars every year. So would you be willing to pee into this cup to prove to Florida taxpayers that you're not on drugs, you're not using that money for drugs? I've done it plenty of times. You would? I've done it plenty of times. Would you pass the score to the governor?

Now, begging a politician for their urine. High point, low point. How do you know what I loved that moment? Because we were actually at Rick Scott's press conference. And so all of the reporters from the entire state of Florida were in that room. And when I asked him to pee in the cup.

You could see there was just this silence that went over the entire room. And people were like, who is this? What is happening? And nobody knows. And then, you know, you see the piece and he doesn't do it. And I pass the cup down.

And the poor guy in the front row, he's like, he's left holding the cup, and then he just sort of puts it on the floor. But then when we left that room, every reporter from the state of Florida came up to me afterwards and was like, oh, my God, we wish we could do that. They were so jealous that I got to do that. I mean...

Did you like that part of it? It's so funny being where we all come from the correspondent background, which means sometimes you're sitting in poorly lit rooms interviewing people, but sometimes you're out there. Changing in a Burger King bathroom to go and to talk to some senator. And sometimes it is run and gun. You don't have credentials. I actually did a piece once where I went into a bathroom in a bodega in D.C. and came out in a Batman costume.

And so I went in in my suit and then came out like a few minutes later in a Batman. And you could just see people in the book just being like, is that is that real? What is happening? Did that guy just go in? Yeah. So that was what it was. You almost got arrested, too, right? I did almost get arrested. Yeah. In Boise, Idaho.

We walked into the EPA offices. The EPA is something that won't exist soon. I was going to say, yeah. Historically speaking, yes. It's going to go away. But back then, so we walk into the EPA offices. I am dressed in a two-headed fish costume. Oh, I have a picture. Oh, there it is. There it is.

Because of the pollution, the fish in the river were turning up with two heads. So this is the piece that we were doing. And so there we are.

I walk into the EPA office. The poor man who works there comes out from behind. And I've got a crew with me and our producer, Brendan, and we're all standing there. And the guy comes out and he says, I'm sorry, you can't be here. And I said, no, I have a complaint. I have two heads now and I did not start out this way. And he was like, no, you really can't be here. And I kept playing the role of the fish to

To which he finally said to me, sir, you are not a fish. That's the good stuff. You have to leave. And then they called Homeland Security.

Because apparently, like, trespassing in a federal... EPA is a federal office, so Homeland Security. So we walk out, and it's into the parking lot, and it was like... These Homeland Security guys show up, they get out, and they're ready to arrest us. And...

My producer, Brennan, was like, "Listen, you know, we're with 'The Daily Show'." And it was literally good cop, bad cop, because one guy was about to arrest us, and the other guy was like, "I love 'The Daily Show.'" He's like, "You guys are with 'The Daily Show'?" And I was like...

And at that point, at that point, I was like, yeah, and I can get Jon Stewart on the phone and he can explain to you what we're doing. And so while he's like, I'd love. And so I'm pretending because I don't know. I don't have Jon's number. So I'm pretending like I'm going to try and get Jon on the phone. And Brendan is sweet talking the other guy, trying to be like, listen, you know, we can get you tickets to the show. And the angry cops talking to the other fish head at the time, not getting a response. Yeah.

So they eventually let us go, but it was touch and go for a minute. And Brendan is like, I can't be in jail because his wife was pregnant, I remember at the time, and he was like, I've got to get home. She's going to kill me if I end up in jail tonight. So it all worked out, but there was a moment there where we actually really thought we were going to go to jail. Terrifying. You have gone from battling demons in D.C. to now battling demons on Paramount Plus with your show Evil. Yes.

It's such a good show. Oh, thanks. It's so fascinating. It's a horror dramedy. Yeah. But the Kings, who created the show, brilliant writers, are known for really exploring political and societal issues. Is that what interested you in working with them?

Well, I mean, many reasons. You know, A, they're incredible writers and incredible creators. They created The Good Wife and The Good Fight. The Good Fight was one of my favorite shows before I even, you know, just their take on societal issues and politics and the absurdity and the satire that they use in their shows. And so when I got this script, it was just a great script and a great premise, and it's turned out to be such an amazing experience. And we've gotten to...

tell such great stories and have so much fun. And, you know, where's the show that you get to go and, like, actually interact with demons, you know? Well... You've never been to a manga out there. Right, right. I was about to say. Yeah.

There's very fine people on both sides. But, you know, it's great. There's amazing writers and the actors are great that I get to work with. So it's just been a treat. And it's just, you know, I can't say enough about it. It's just been like one of those shows where you get...

of like sort of great writing, great acting, great storytelling, all of that stuff. It happens rarely. And I feel like we kind of hit the jackpot with this show. And if you get a chance to watch it, it's a lot of fun. It's so good. And you're phenomenal. And I feel like you get to explore so many different layers with your character. It's a comedy. It's a drama. It's a horror.

That's the great thing, that intersection of comedy and horror, which is so delicate. And, you know, there's one... Our show has these demons, like I said. And then there's one episode in season three, I remember, and this sort of tells you the sort of DNA of the show, where I'm in bed with a demon. You should watch it. Anyway, but... Story of my life. You know, like... As we are, you know, there you go. And...

And she's about to, like, bite me, and...

But she pulls out her retainer before she... And I remember just thinking, like, oh, that's the show. This is the show. Like, our demons have retainers, you know, that they have to take out before they can actually be demonic. So that's kind of got... It just tells you right there that's the sort of absurd horror comedy sort of, you know, fence that we ride. You talked about playing your character, Ben. You had a quote that I thought was really interesting. You said that in an interview...

When you're playing Ben, you like playing him because playing Ben is especially rewarding because he gets to be intelligent, funny, and more importantly for me, he gets to be physical and sexual. Yes, that's right. I thought, like, as a married man with a child, is that what you get out of this shit? Is that what's happening? Isn't that why we're doing it? No, you know, it's so... Look, as a brown actor in Hollywood, right? This is right here. Uh...

We often historically have not got to play, like, super sexy characters. There's a lot of doctors on my resume. There's a lot of cab drivers. A lot of, you know, the occasional terrorist. You know what I mean? Like, but...

But not like a guy who gets to fix things and be sexy and sort of wear, drive a pickup truck and all that. So there was a sense of like, oh, this is a character that I've never gotten to be on television before, you know? So it was kind of fun to sort of play that MacGyver guy. You know, my wife, for example, is in love with Ben. She thinks he's super sexy because he can fix things, you know? Do you ever go home?

- You're going to be home and role play as Ben? - Yeah, I have--

I took a lot of the clothes from the show just so that I could wear them, you know, in the bedroom. Well done. I remember, it's interesting, I remember we did a piece on the show called The Stack. We have a picture of it here where we were all sitting in a chair behind the desk. There's you at the front. That's me at the back, if you recall. Yeah, there I am. There I am.

Were you exercising your sexuality on this one? Did you get your demons out there? Yeah, that was... I have no memory of that, by the way. That was before we had HR. Right, exactly.

- Yeah, that was, was that on, like when John was leaving, we were doing that? - It was, I think the bit we were lampooning the setup on CNN where they had so many people around a round table. So we said, " it, what if we just put everybody into one chair and built it all up?" - The budget was very low back then.

Yeah, we used to have good times. Good times! Well, I'd love to say you should come back anytime, but I've talked to people around here and that isn't the sentiment. No.

But this has been fun, right? This has been really fun. So this will be the last time we ever see each other. Yeah. So thank you. Let's not spoil it. Let's just keep it here. You know, and that's it. That's it. Lovely to see you. Have a great life. Yeah, you as well. The final season of Evil is streaming now. That's our show for tonight. Now here it is.

I don't care if he's pooped his pants. I have poopy days all the time. All the time. I step in so much poo, you can't even imagine. 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.