Unpacking NOLA and Cybertruck Attacks & An Unusually Civil Jan. 6 | Rep. Jamie Raskin
38:58 Share

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, Sean Stewart. The Daily Show is here!

Very nice. Thank you, thank you. Welcome to The Daily Show. Welcome to the frozen tundra of New York City. My name is John Stewart. What a historic day in Washington, D.C. It is, as many of you know, it is January 6th. And as you can see once again, a blanket of angry white descending on the Capitol. This white, oddly enough, not as disruptive as...

It did snarl traffic, but a lot less bear spray and Confederate flags. Of course, it is January 6th. It is the day that traditionally we now pretend that we knew was a big deal in terms of certifying the elections. Be honest. Before that insurrection, you had no f***ing idea that was going to happen.

You had no idea there was a January 6th ceremony or what it did or why it did. Now you just gotta act like, "Oh, yes, the reading of the election. So important." But let's get to it. It always begins with the traditional children's procession, where they bring in boxes filled with the cremated remains of their dead pets. And then they dump them, all the ashes, on the speaker's desk. And then the speaker blows on the dust.

Until the name of the president-elect is conjured in the mist, America is a wondrous land. But it's good to see them bringing in the boxes there. Nice to know that democracy now has pallbearers. So, so trenchant. Of course, the ultimate indignity of this January 6th is that Donald Trump's opponent, Kamala Harris, because she is the vice president, serves as the master of ceremonies to this... Really, you are a very reactive and sad group. LAUGHTER

The empathy is off the charts with this group. Kamala Harris has to be the master of ceremonies. But it does suck. The votes for president of the United States are as follows. Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida has received 312 votes. Kamala D. Harris... That's got to sting. She's like, I can hear you. God damn. It's like attending your own funeral.

And even the mourners are like, I can't imagine anything that would be more uncomfortable than standing there while the crowd applauds your opponent. Kamala D. Harris of the state of California has received 226 votes. Wait, that sounded louder. There's a lot of joy. I think she gets to win. She just needs to find like 130,000 votes in Georgia. And then, you know, some in Michigan, Pennsylvania, maybe Wisconsin, maybe that's the flip side.

But ultimately, the certification ceremony that we all look forward to every four years, since I was little, went off without a hitch. Because it's amazing how smoothly our democracy can work when you don't act like a little bitch when you lose. Not naming names, just saying. But it was lovely to begin this new political year on a peaceful and calm note, because the actual new year was really quite rougher.

You know, the hopeful dreams of a peaceful new year filled with love and camaraderie of people in Times Square holding in their pee for 12 hours...

Shattered by a terrorist attack at 3.15 a.m. in New Orleans. The attack was sudden and horrific and sent law enforcement scrambling to find the perpetrators and viewers scrambling to find out if the perpetrators once found would validate or invalidate their previously held political viewpoints. We are hearing local reports that the suspect has been named as Shamsud Din Jabbar, which would indicate Middle Eastern descent. Oh, would it?

You don't believe he's of the Mayflower Dingibars? The Connecticut Dingibars? I'm going over to the country club today. We're going to play around with Dingibars. So, .1 MAGA. The FBI confirming that an ISIS flag was located in that Ford F-150 pickup truck when the attack occurred. ISIS flag, that's 2-0 MAGA. It's best of five.

Papa needs a brand new reason to deport everybody. We do know that the vehicle crossed through Eagle Pass, Texas, crossed the border two days ago. A radical Muslim named Din Jabbar illegally crossing the border to commit violence against him. And while normally the right in tragedy would caution us to take a moment for thoughts and prayers for the victims and not politicize it.

That's only when they think they're on the wrong side of this shit. The Biden administration has created an environment that allows things like this to happen. Mr. Trump is blaming the Biden administration's open border policies. We've been saying for over a year now that there's likely to be a terrorist attack on our home soil with an open southern border. No time for thoughts and prayers. Deploy the Continental 48 cloche. That's the... That's... That's called a cloche.

It's, you know, in the diner and you're like, I'll have that pie and they act like someone's going to steal the pie and they put it under that thing. That's that's that's called a cloche. And and and that's the basis of the joke. Of course. What I love most about this job is the ability to educate on the various paraphernalia founded diners. Of course, the judgment that the networks came to was, of course, rushed to.

Now we're hearing from multiple reports that he was an American citizen, he was in the army reserves, that he wasn't some illegal immigrant that came across the border. So it didn't turn out to be the ironclad argument for sealed borders that the right was hoping for, but fear not.

More chaos to come. Breaking news out of Las Vegas, where a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump Towers Hotel. Cybertruck exploded outside a Trump Hotel. So even terrorists are political cartoonists now? A little on the nose, don't you think? I mean, come on.

I think it's pretty clear what's going on here. Have at it, boys. John, I'm going to put out the obvious. He goes to the Trump Resort in Las Vegas. Donald Trump. He's in a Tesla Cybertruck. Elon Musk. This was a statement. They was making a statement about Trump, about Elon. Should the FBI be treating this as another attempt on Trump's life, even though he wasn't at the hotel at the time? Why the f***?

car accident outside his hotel in New York. Let's make that number four or five. Who cares what's really happening? But unfortunately, even for that narrative, the statement by the bomber was actually, I think Trump is awesome. Officials say the man who blew up a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Vegas Trump Hotel expressed support for President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Saying Americans need to, quote, rally behind President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Far be it from me to tell someone how they should express their affection. I've worked for years to become more open. But even I know that blowing up someone's shit in front of more of their shit, it's what we in the therapy business call a mixed message. So neither end of the illegal immigrant anti-American parlay has hit.

but don't let reality ruin a good narrative. The person who committed the attack was indeed an American citizen, but let's not take our eyes off the bigger picture here, which is that over the past four years, millions of people have come into the country. My goodness, what else don't we know if these are a couple of people who are homegrown? What don't we know of all of these people who have come across the border? Yes, yes, clearly we have a problem over here. So what about over there?

It turns out that American-born extremists not only show we have to close the border, they also take the wind out of the left's other favorite policy prescriptions. This also should lay bare the idea that gun control is going to make us safer. You know, we're using... What are we going to do? Start registering people for car... Giving background checks for people to get cars? I saw it! You got halfway through that point and you're like... Oh, my God!

I can almost see it when your brain... Oh, what are we going to have to do now? Register our... Abort! No! Putting on a one-man show over there. What are we going to make people get licenses for their...

What it seems to show is that people have a tremendous ability to fit whatever happens into their predetermined dogmatic worldview. It's not a rush to judgment as much as like a gag reflex, which is why in the immediate aftermath of these terrible events, we all wait to see whose worldview will be validated.

And it makes it doubly frustrating that the FBI feels the need to play into the demand for immediate answers when they couldn't possibly know them yet. I give you the FBI four hours after the attack. This is not a terrorist event. Just say you don't know yet! Because a couple of hours later, when you find out what's really going on... The FBI, we are working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism. Okay.

No harm, no foul. It's not like you played into the fears of co-conspirators out there lining the streets with explosives. We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible. The FBI has recovered video, surveillance video, that appears to show three men and one woman appearing to help put IEDs, what are believed to be IEDs, at locations in the French Quarter.

Holy shit, IEDs in the French Quarter. I guess I have no option but to violently confront anyone in the vicinity that I believe is operating a sleeper cell. Police interviewed those four individuals and now believe that they just were bystanders who happened to look suspicious. But I already killed them. Looked, they happen to look suspicious in New Orleans? Oh, what were they wearing, beads in the winter?

Little sparkle and glitter. What were they, carrying around musical instruments and seemingly too upbeat for a funeral? It turns out those were just patrons on the street that were looking inside the coolers. Yes, nothing more suspicious than people on Bourbon Street at 3 in the morning looking inside coolers. I also arrested some ladies who were lifting up their shirts, clearly signaling to the other jihadists. These attacks are really frightening.

And add to this feeling of societal tenuousness that we've all been ingesting since I'm going to go with the creation of Facebook. Almost more frightening is that we can't place these attackers into the normal, neat boxes of disturbed, bullied loners. Not only do they not fit into neat ideological packages, they almost seem uncomfortably normal. The ISIS supporting Jabbar, this is him from a while back.

I'm Shamsuddin Jabbar, property manager with Blue Metal Properties and team lead at the Midas Group at Core Realty. I just want to say hello and let you know a little bit about me. So I'm born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, and now live in Houston. Here's the crazy thing. He's the terrorist. I'd have bought real estate from this guy. He seems totally run of the mill, guy who's been life coached up. He's even got the, if you notice here in the background, the basic bitch motivational discipline posters.

all in, take responsibility, be disciplined. Terrorists generally don't have those posters. I don't remember Bin Laden having to remind himself to hang in there.

By the way, this is true. Just as a side note, that is the original hang in there baby poster. I don't remember. I had one that was like a super cute orange kitty, but this one, it really seems more of a like demanding you hang in there. Like, like, like it's in black. Like, like it doesn't really look like a kitty trying to like give you more. It looks more like De Niro and Cape Fear doing pull-ups in a cell and being like, I will f*** you up.

Like, that is not... That... That cat would... If you died, that cat would eat you and crawl inside and go to sleep. Although, I guess most cats... Look, I don't like these terrorists and killers having such vibrant digital trails. I don't want them to be relatable. The... The cyber truck bomber guy. You see some of the photos on Facebook. He did a lot of traveling. There's one photo of him that was actually taken in Thailand. I nap...

And look at Luigi Mangione. This guy was a hooded professional assassin with a silencer, and now we got to watch him deliver the valedictory speech at his high school? As I conclude my speech, I have to remember that a valedictory, by definition, is a farewell. By the way, where did that kid go to high school? They all look like extras in a consent video. I'm not trying to be a dick, but it looks like everybody in the background looks like they're about to go like, all right, girls, who wants some grain alcohol?

And now we all got to wait around on pins and needles for their motive. Have to know why. What's the road from real estate wannabe to the West is decadent? And they have left manifestos, but their manifestos suck. Luigi Mangione, who was allegedly so obsessed with health care costs that it drove him to murder. Here's what he wrote in his manifesto. Frankly, I do not pretend to be the most qualified person to lay out the full argument. I'm just the muscle. I'm not the idea.

I don't know anything about it. I just know, you know, finally someone willing to stand up for what he isn't really sure he believes in. To be quite honest, I urge the news media, don't even call these manifestos. These are an insult to manifestos. Throwing something down on your notes app is not a manifesto. You know what? Say what you want about Ted Kaczynski. The man put in the work.

No plumbing, 35,000 words, old school typewriter, double spaced bibliography table of contents. I think it had been blurbed by other crazy people. If you have to read one manifesto this year, Charles Manson, these other guys are out there. Hey, chat GPT, write me a concise screen against the healthcare industry as though it were a Drake rap. Like this is the point is,

I don't know what's going on here. Where normal seeming people have a setback in their life, end up online, down some rabbit hole, the algorithm amplifies their anger and fears, and all of a sudden, you're releasing a half-assed manifesto and shooting the place up. It doesn't have to be this way. So a plea to all the would-be terrorists that are out there. Hey, girl. Down on your luck? Girlfriend left you, job's a dead end? Spending a lot of time watching whatever YouTube autoplay is showing you? And now you've got some ideas.

How about you don't kill everybody? Just do what everybody else does in that situation. Get a f***ing podcast. That way, nobody dies. You get a podcast, nobody dies. You can still terrorize people. And no, I do not want to be on it. When we come back, we'll be talking to Congressman Jamie Raskin. Don't go away. Welcome to The Daily Show. My guest tonight...

He represents Maryland's 8th congressional district in the House of Representatives. He was elected ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. And he joins me now from Washington, D.C. Please welcome to the program Congressman Jamie Raskin. Sir, hello. How are you, sir? Thank you. Thank you for joining us. I imagine, sir, a very hectic day. Did they do the traditional chasing of the congresspeople through the bowels of the building? No.

Yeah, well, luckily it was snowing outside, so all the insurrectionists were slipping and falling on the road and everything. But no, we, today was actually a totally uneventful and peaceful and nonviolent day. It's what January 6th should be, and it's what it used to be like, I suppose.

Congressman, is it hard on a day like today, seeing the way that it went, not to be passive aggressive in to the Republican colleagues to not be like, oh, hey, look at this. Done by one. Oh, my God. We can go out to Fridays and and eat apps because there was no rioting.

Yeah, I mean, the whole thing took like maybe 25 minutes. It should have taken 15 minutes, but some of our Republican colleagues confused it with the Republican National Convention and they were cheering and applauding and yelling. We were just there to count the votes.

And we were not there to, you know, continue the campaign. But, yeah, I mean, I talked to my friend Lauren Boebert and I asked her how she enjoyed it. And she said it was great because no Democrats had made any objections. And I said it was terrific because nobody tried to assassinate the vice president. And so...

You know, we were all happy with how it went. That's a good point. Now, at any point with Lauren Boebert, when you say something like that, and I'm assuming that this doesn't happen, but does she ever say, touche? Lauren's actually very funny. You know, like, it's sort of like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. You're either a Marjorie Taylor Greene person or you're a Lauren Boebert person. And I'm a Lauren Boebert person myself. Although they call her Lauren Gropert, which really isn't fair. So...

So there's a lot of passive aggression down there. There is indeed. What is now, things aren't going to change much in the House because Johnson was the speaker before the Republicans controlled the House. So generally, other than some changing of committee chairmen ships and you're being elevated to ranking, what's going to be different for Democrats in the House in this new session?

They've got a much narrower margin now. So I think we're down to 219 to 215 because Matt Gaetz left and then Elise Stefanik's on her way out and Mike Walls.

Oh, I appreciate that cheer. And so it'll be 217 to 215, which means they cannot afford to lose a single vote. And they've already suffered the defection of Congresswoman Sparks from Indiana, who got so mad about the fact that she wasn't put on the committee she wanted, that she has left the Republican conference.

and is an independent now, and we haven't even started deliberations yet. So I think we're gonna be in good shape to exploit some of the conflicts and contradictions going on within the Republican conference. I think you probably saw, John, that the enraged, nativist, racist mega base is upset

with Elon Musk and the brologarcs who want to bring in tens of thousands more cheap foreign laborers. And so that's something that's already starting to explode in terms of the Republican politics. But there's a bunch of issues like that, including abortion, where there's still some libertarians who don't want to go near it. But the theocratic majority within MAGA, led by Mike Johnson, say that life begins at conception.

And so they've been trying to ban it nationally. And we expect that to come back. And hopefully we'll be able to pull over some of the lingering pro-choice Republicans. Right. Is that more a question of, you know, in terms of because when you don't control in the House, especially the House, especially is kind of a zero sum game. The Senate rules are sort of so antiquated and bizarre.

and you need 60 for this and cloture for this and three quarters for this. The House really is, even if you have one other member, you control all of who gets called before Congress. You get to control the witnesses. You get to control the legislation. Does that make it harder for Democrats, even on a purely logistical, mechanical way?

Yeah, it does, because over on the Senate side, they've got the filibuster. So each senator theoretically can throw a monkey wrench into the whole thing. Whereas, you know, we've got our rules committee and we adopt the rule and the rules, usually whatever the majority wants. In fact, they wrote the first article.

partisan discrimination into House rules and history, saying that they're going from one person to move to vacate to seven members moving to vacate, but they've got to be from the majority party. So it would be like saying, you know, only Republicans can move to adjourn or move to reconsider a vote. But they

voted for that. And one of my new colleagues actually from Rhode Island said, this is outrageous. This violates equal production. Let's go to the Supreme Court. And I was like, yeah, we've been there. We've done that. The Roberts Court is not exactly all over these unconstitutional. You got to tell the new kids like, oh, I've got some bad news for you about that Supreme Court.

They're going to do that. Are there things, though, like can the can the Republicans do that with like the debt ceiling? Like I know there are a lot of Democrats who thought that the debt ceiling fights were ridiculous and really limited their ability to get anything done. Are there any sort of can the Republicans say we're going to remove the debt ceiling, but only for four years and basically force for whatever they want to do and spend on they can do? And if Democrats regain control, that all goes away again.

Yeah, I mean, fortunately, they're more divided than they are even hateful of us. So they can't get together to get anything done. If you look at the last Congress, the only way that we kept the government together

afloat and going was Democrats coming in to bail out Mike Johnson. And I think it's going to be the same thing. I do think there could be some issues where we get together. For example, Donald Trump is very proud of the fact that he beat Kamala by 3 million votes. And we are proud of the fact that Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by 7 million votes in 2020. But if they're proud of the popular vote, why don't we get rid of the Electoral College and start electing the president in

the way we elect everybody else, like representatives and senators and mayors and governors. Why don't we actually come together and step forward? I mean, the Electoral College can get you killed these days, as we saw in 2020. And it's given us five popular vote losers in our history twice in this century, Donald Trump and George W. Bush. So let's move forward on that. Why don't we get together on that?

Is that before or after they add the conservative provinces of Canada to the popular vote total? Like, I just get the sense that they're always one step ahead. They're like, sure, let's do that. Oh, welcome, Alberta. Like, they'll do something that just screws it. And is there something in here, too, Congressman, I want to ask you, isn't there a certain something freeing for the Democrats right now, having nothing to do with the Republicans and their infighting and all that? I...

I follow this relatively closely. Enough to look like this now. I'm 27. I follow it relatively closely. I don't know who's in charge of the Democratic Party. I don't know the direction you're going. Isn't there something...

enlivening about the opportunity before Democrats right now to rethink, to have that opportunity, almost a rumspringa, if you will. You don't control the judicial, the Congress, the executive. You have the opportunity to recreate what this party will be going forward. Is there a process for that? Is there a desire for that?

Yes, and being in the minority definitely is a lot more fun. And it invites a lot of creativity. And it's, you know, it's a riot in the pre-January 6th sense of the word. That is not a slogan that's going to fly with most minorities. I think most minorities would be like, ooh, ooh.

But look, we now have the opportunity to organize for massive Democratic victory in 2026. And that's exactly what we're doing because we think that everywhere they're headed is so extreme.

that the vast majority of the American people are going to reject it. Most Americans do not want to ban abortion across the country. Most Americans do not want to deport 12 million people. Most Americans don't want to turn the Department of Justice into an instrument of revenge and retaliation. And we're going to be standing up every single day, John, for the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the freedoms and rights of the people.

Do you think... It's going to be a lot of work, but I look forward to seeing how it goes. Do you think, you know, with this election being sort of a repudiation, boy, there's nothing worse in politics than having to govern, it seems. Like, it's just when everybody gets mad at the status quo. Do you think the leadership from the Democratic Party, the future of it, is going to come from Washington, which is so... The brand is so...

diluted at this point for the American people? Or do you think it's going to be more from the state houses and the governors? Where do you think that energy is going to come from in your mind?

I mean, look, I think it's going to come from all over the country. I think it's going to come from Democracy Summer, the project we've got for young people all over America to learn about the history of social change in the country and to get involved in digital organizing and canvassing and organizing. And, you know, it might come from our two new states. And I'm not talking about Panama and Greenland. I'm talking about Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.

which we are fighting to admit as new states. But you don't control anything. You can't get these things done. By the way, Congressman, let me just say this. Democracy summer sounds like really the worst camp anybody's ever been to. That is that does not sound like you. Well, I invite you to come and appear. I think you'll find something very different. I mean, these young people. Oh, Congressman, would you invite if you guys listen to me?

If you have a retreat, oh, would I love to come down there and... All right, you will be our guest comedic speaker at Democracy Summit. I'm taking over this bitch. I'm coming down there. Raskin.

All right. Well, look, I got to tell you what we've got. I should have brought it with me, but we've got the most beautiful poster in the world that Shepard Fairey made for us. He's the guy who did the Obama hope poster. He made a democracy summer poster for us. The future really is with the young people and we need them. And there's a major battle going on for young America right now. And we need young people in the Democratic Party. Was that the hardest thing for you guys to lose? What was the hardest part? So many...

constituencies move to the right was the what was the one that stung the most? What was it? Latino voters made a big move, men and women. But young people, surprisingly, were the ones that really made a move. And until you sort of get together and decide what that core value is of the party, isn't it hard to have a plan to gain those demographics back?

Well, there's no doubt that the right-wing social media outlets and the talk shows and the podcasts have been targeting young men especially. And so that's why – look, I'm a 62-year-old grandfather now, which means I'm in the younger part of the party in Congress. But my kids –

My kids are in their 20s, okay? And I know what's going on with young people in their 20s, and they're being targeted, and we need to organize. And as the GOP turns itself into a cult,

with authoritarian habits of submission and obedience to authority, we have got to be a lot more like an open school for America to come in and to get educated about what's really going on and to feed people not lies and conspiracy theories, but facts and the truth. So I invite you very much, Jon Stewart, to come out. You'll be our kickoff speaker for Democracy Summer 2025.

In your heart, do you feel like Democrats are being honest with themselves about what happened? Or I'm hearing a lot of, quite frankly, excuses that feel like, oh, we just didn't message well. Or if I had only knocked on that door four times. Are they being honest enough with with what their actual concerns?

ideas are in terms of popularity within the American people and all those things? Or do you feel like it's still about, well, geez, if we just had better podcasting, we'd have won? Well, you know, it's a process for trying to figure it out. It's not like the election's over on November 5th and November 6th, you know exactly what happened. I mean,

I mean, it's a complicated situation. But, you know, I'll tell you that everybody is very serious about trying to figure out both substantively what went wrong, but also what went wrong in terms of not connecting with different communications audiences out there. And as you know, it's not like

the mainstream media is the mainstream media anymore. Everybody's getting their news and their ideas in different places. And we do have to be a lot better about getting in front of the different audiences that have grown up in this new system. Well, sir, we really appreciate it. There's very few people I like to listen to more than you, and especially on that Judiciary Committee. Boy, your work in those committees is really, sometimes I feel like I'm watching like Matlock

Like, the way you walk up there and you just slowly disassemble the logic and all those different things, it's really something to watch, man. And I think we all look forward to seeing those hearings soon. And we really appreciate you taking the time with us this evening. And is January 7th another milestone for democracy? None of us actually know civics, so...

I'll tell you one funny story about January 7th, because my kids always say that I get really depressing when I talk about the 6th. And I've got one really funny story, which is the next day I was down in Nancy Pelosi's office and I was waiting in the little receptionist area and the receptionist picks up the phone and people are calling in saying, oh,

you know, I was in your office yesterday. Do you guys have a lost and found? Because I think I forgot my phone there. I think I forgot my purse there. And so she didn't know what to do. And I said, yeah, let's get in touch with the Capitol Police. So they came over and they started writing everything down. Yeah, just give us your name, your social security number, your address, and we'll get to your property back. Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland. Fantastic. Thank you for joining us. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back after this.

That's our show for tonight. Before we go, we're going to check in with your host for the rest of the week, Desi Lydic. Desi, what are you covering? Desi? Desi? Desi! Oh, what? What do you got this week? Oh, sorry, John. I'm just following my New Year's resolution to make sure I get more screen time.

You say more don't people usually try and get less screen time. Oh, no. No, that's a big mistake See if you set goals that you can't reach you're just gonna get depressed when you fail So my resolution is to do all the stuff I'm gonna do anyway, so I complete my resolutions and become a better person Doesn't more screen time make you a worse and less attentive person that does he like everybody does he like? I

There is no reason for us to do that. We understand that these individuals need to be put in place. We're going to have a hearing. Let's move forward. And I apologize about all the news, but I'm at a wrestling tournament with my daughter, and I'm actually trying to coach. So I'm going back and forth here.

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.

This is Shirley Strawberry from the Steve Harvey Morning Show. Toyota has been building a legacy of excellence for years, from developing hybrid technology to upping the standards of safety and efficiency. Toyota is always innovating, always making progress. And with a superior lineup of in-stock SUVs, including the adventure-ready RAV4 and capable, affordable Corolla Cross, you can experience the legacy of Toyota for yourself. Visit

buyatoyota.com, the official website for deals to find out more. Toyota, let's go places.