 So Fareed Zakaria of CNN spoke with John Stewart and any time I see an interview with John Stewart I really am inclined to watch because I just appreciate everything that he has to say, you know for someone who's been Involved in politics for so long. It feels like he really hasn't lost his way or grown out of touch I mean, I'm sure that there's things that I disagree with him on or areas that I would emphasize where he doesn't emphasize with regard to certain issues, but either way, I mean, I think that he genuinely is a really solid voice of reason who Has a lot of good Political instincts and so yeah, let's let's listen to this interview. There's two clips here And we're gonna listen to this one first in many ways you at least for me you Decreated or defined American political satire How has that changed? I mean feels to me like this the the stuff you did You know the the showing the video and then commenting it's become It's everybody does it and it's not even it's not even comics I mean, that's what Tucker Carlson does when he wants to make his boy. He's he's boring from your yes playbook Yes, no, it's it's a real delight knowing It's always good to arm the most cynical and worst people in media But do you look at it and say now this whole thing is commoditized you well it was listen It was commoditized, you know, I wasn't doing it Out of gracious altruism. I mean we were selling Budweiser It's always been commoditized. It was I think it's You know, there's a lot of talk of so exposing absurdity or exposing hypocrisy. What's the point? The point is is that this is a relentless fight They always talk about you know the the arc of the moral universe is long But it bends towards justice, but it doesn't bend towards justice by gravity like you have to bend it and there's a bunch of people trying to bend it back and You use every tool in your arsenal and none of them will be You know the one thing there is no panacea. It takes, you know All those different things doing in Washington over these past few years gave me a great understanding of how things actually get done incrementally and and sometimes in one fell swoop, but our country is held together by hundreds of really talented legislative aides their bosses many times Are wind-up dolls who really don't know I mean half of it if you go down there especially the Senate is like an assisted living facility like That's so true yet, what he says about how the The moral arc bends towards justice, but it doesn't do that by gravity. So the fight is relentless Or at least the other side is relentless. I think that that makes so much sense because there's always this question of like does What we're fighting for matter because it seems like in this country we're always taking, you know a Step forward two steps back. Sometimes it's two steps forward one step back, but there's always You know backwards movement after we make progress and that's really demoralizing to a lot of folks particularly younger people Just getting involved in politics So, you know when we call it the hypocrisy of Republican lawmakers who don't even seem to care about how brazenly hypocritical they are Does that matter in the grand scheme of things? And I say yes, it might matter a little bit. Perhaps the impact that we're having on The country is infantesimal, but we're still having an impact nonetheless and when you Take the small minute impacts that all of us have Collectively it does help to kind of propel us forward even if it is in a very Incremental a frustratingly incremental manner, right? So, you know, even though these Republicans don't seem to give a shit about how hypocritical they look I think that normal people do care normal people have this visceral response to shameless hypocrisy I do you do and as accustomed as we all are to instances of hypocrisy on the on the right and even on the left with you know With people in the Democratic Party, whatever it still is a huge turnoff So to the extent that we can show the inconsistencies and hypocrisy In the argument of Republicans who are trying to take us backwards and harm people. I think that we should try to do that Earl sports at the Senate So, you know It's held together by these legislative aides that are relentlessly trying To do the right thing and by the thousands of grassroots activists that are trying to get access and They're blocked by a moat of lobbyists and moneyed interest that prevent The people in that building from doing the work that best benefits all the people outside of that building And and that's the process So you have to use every tool you have to permeate that force field But presumably the people there who are Republicans who are conservative Republicans those aides think they're doing the right thing And they're trying to get across there But they're doing it. They're honest. Look if you can find honest brokers down there, you can work with them What I'm saying is that force field around it is made up of not honest brokers. It's moneyed interest It's lobbyists. It's people who are weaponizing misinformation and disinformation and all of those form This it's the most cloistered So you've found it you found you could deal with very conservative Republicans Of course, but because there was some way to find common ground people of good faith now There were huge disagreements about certain things. I mean, I don't like this framing, but let me just finish the clip It's just about done When you found someone of good faith You could always get something done Yeah, so I don't like What Farid Zakaria is saying here because it's not about finding common ground like that's not What moves us towards, you know, a positive direction. Let's recall just last year what John Stuart did and how he did it He got healthcare for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits By shaming the fuck out of Republicans and being relentless for days going on every single news outlet he can to Expose how disgusting they are how they abandoned these veterans how they're hypocritical and they don't actually care That's how he did and he didn't do it by like reaching across the aisle and saying hey You seem like a reasonable Republican. Maybe we can work together. He did it by Shaming them and there's a lesson in this. This is what Democratic politicians have to do because normal activists They can't do what John Stuart does like they don't have the power like if you wanted to shame Republicans Well, I mean, it's like fucking farting in the wind. They don't give a shit But if you are a lawmaker you actually can at least to an extent use your influence in large political platform To shame them and that's really what we need to do I think that this whole notion of like, oh, well when they go low we go high that really is just One it's stupid because Democrats don't apply that same philosophy to progressives during primaries But it's just not a way that you achieve progress like in this political climate You can't work with these vicious feral Republicans who want to rip off your neck or rip off your head and shit down your neck Right like you have to shame them and be relentless be as relentless as they are And so I don't like that framing by Freed Zechariah, and that wasn't even what John Stuart was implying But like Freed Zechariah has this lib instinct to just automatically Cower in fear to Republicans and like liberals really need to stop and they need to resist that urge that they have even though It's like embedded in their DNA stop being cucks liberals Okay, be aggressive when you're dealing with conservatives shame them be ruthless Humiliate them because that is literally the only way you're going to get anything done If you're able to get anything accomplished at all. Here's the next clip that I want to watch though We are joined by John Stuart himself But who else would it be? It's nice to see it Okay, we're watching these backwards. I guess this is the this is the first clip We watched the second clip first, but you know, it's okay. I love your Aquarium. Thank you. Thank you exactly So I gotta ask you it's a big thing in the news Donald Trump indictment there are people what no no just stay with me for a minute There are people watching the live cameras at the courthouse. It's imminent breathless speculation So there are people who say Yes, you have to indict him because he he has in fact broken the laws and there are other people who say This is going to turn him into a martyr. This is his path through redemption. Sure. How do you think about I mean, okay? I Think that I probably know how John Stuart is going to answer this question but There's not like two equal sides to this either you believe in the rule of law and equal justice for all Which means we hold elites accountable as we do the peasants or you don't and so if you think that we should have an Equitable justice system then there's no question regardless of the political consequences Regardless of how this affects Trump either positively or negatively You have to do it if he broke the law because that's what equal justice requires So I I hate this line of thinking and I know that Farid is just playing devil's advocate here But it drives me nuts. It drives me nuts. Okay, stop stop Pretending as if there's some sort of like an equal-sides debate the folks who don't want Trump indicted. They're just sick of fans Okay, you can see edge cases of people saying well, yeah Well, you know, he's gonna become a martyr and this might make him more popular It doesn't matter the reason why elite CEOs politicians get away with so much is because they're they know that there's not gonna be any Accountability change that even if we start with Donald Trump change that hold them accountable if they break the law But let's listen to John Stuart's response. Oh, I the law should always take into account someone's popularity I think that's that's oh, I mean what what's happened to our country will said for it's as though you can't even commit financial fraud anymore You can't you can't inflate the value of your properties when you need a loan and okay his response is way better than mine because You shouldn't even seriously entertain this notion that you you can't indict Trump because of who he is So this is the better approach. Okay, forget everything I said just dismiss it by mocking it It with taxes, I mean the next thing you know They're gonna send you to jail instead of your lawyer and your accountant and your campaign manager and everyone else Around you. It's no to the idea that someone may face accountability Who's that rich and powerful is outrageous and this country shouldn't stand for but but what if it What if it turns out to be his his get out of jail free pass? It's his path to people will see him as a martyr. He gets he Okay, I Is that I don't come president again He could become president anyway for read It's either have the rule of law or we have no rule of law The rule of law does not take into account if that might make you a martyr to somebody I'd much rather have the conversation be what is the law? What exactly are we saying that that he did his lawyer went to jail for this same situation for a couple of years So what is the crime? Is it a crime? The reason people who say it's selective prosecution that this would not everything is selective prosecution the reason why Donald Trump became popular in the first place and the reason why these populist movements is that the citizenry Have become fed up with the lack of accountability For those in power. We have no accountability in our financial systems. We have no accountability for the bankers I mean our Congress trade stocks with information they get making laws and they do it to great success and They won't stop it because they're the ones in charge of making the law about it and instead of Bringing accountability to the rampant corruption that is Surrounds our our government and our financial systems The Supreme Court just changed the definition of corruption Rather than prosecuting it rather than holding people accountable. They just went How about this have okay? Why don't we just say this it's even better than that was that they said you politicians You think that's corruption because you're engaging into what we actually don't think it's going and we're gonna Don't worry about it You can influence pedal as long as you don't explicitly say this by the way this money is so that I may influence this law specifically and you have to lay out like That is what has the lack of confidence that people have in the system is and you even see it throughout the media even that Conversation should we should we not it's a oh, but he's popular And then it might make him more popular, but not less popular. Did he do something wrong? What was it? Explain that to us. What is the law that he's supposedly? Violated what are the ramifications of it? I don't see him ever Actually going to jail. I personally don't even care. I just want a system that somehow Finds a consistent accountability So in many ways you at least for me you Decreated or defined American political satire How has that changed? I mean feels to me like this the the stuff you did You know the the showing the video and then commenting it's become It's everybody does it and it's not even it's not even comics I mean that's what Tucker Carlson does when he wants to make his boy sure he's barring from your yes playbook Yes, no, it's it's a real delight knowing. Okay. I guess that they are going to Go into the video that we just watched but you know either way. I think that John Stewart's point is absolutely spot-on here all of these Questions like these questions we ask about well, what if it emboldens now Trump? What if it becomes a martyr like in none of these questions are germane? They're completely irrelevant as to whether or not he should be indicted that They're the answer to that question is very easy. Did he break the law if he did then yes, you indict him We don't have to sit here and like pretend as if You know Donald Trump isn't already going to be popular regardless of what happens like he's gonna Spin this and weaponize it just like none of this shit matters. You know if if a poor person Did what Trump did they would already be in jail? They'd be in prison But like because it's Donald Trump we give him a pass. No, like I don't believe that we should have this two-tier justice system where peasants go to prison and Elites can do whatever the fuck they want like it's insane like we have we already have a system as John Stewart was pointing out of Legalized bribery in this country And so if you still can't even follow the lax laws that we have then you've really gone to foreign one direction So, I mean, yeah, you should you should like anyone be held accountable By clicking the bell no way it's very sad