The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Examining the U.S. Constitution and the Future of Reproductive Rights
Episode Date: July 23, 2024Journalist and author, A.J. Jacobs, discusses his latest book “The Year of Living Constitutionally,” with Jon Stewart and breaks down what the U.S. Constitution actually says. Plus, Desi Lydic and... Jordan Klepper welcome New York Times reporters Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer to chat about their new book “The Fall of Roe: The Rise of a New America,” and the impact abortion bans have on other components of reproductive rights. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Hey everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, the weekly show.
It's going to be coming out every Thursday. So exciting. You'll be saying to yourself, TGID.
Thank God it's Thursday. We're going to be talking about all the things that hopefully obsess you in the same way that they obsess me.
The election. Economics. Earnings calls. What are
they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient
to bread ratio on sandwiches. And I know that I listed that fourth, but in importance it's probably second.
I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go,
but how many of them come out on Thursday?
I mean, talk about innovative.
Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart,
wherever you get your podcast.
You're listening to Comedy Central.
Hey there, this is Desi Leidick.
While the Daily Show is off this week, we put together some special highlights just for you.
We'll be back next week, but in tonight, a journalist and an author, his latest book
is called The Year of Living Constitutionally One Man's Humble Quest to follow the Constitution's
original meaning.
Please welcome the program, AJ Jacobs.
Sir.
You won't have to run, young men's together.
Nice to see it, A.J. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.
The year of living constitutionally.
Aja, what, so how did the year of living constitutionally a humble quest to follow the
constitutionally?
How did this come about?
Why would you consider this?
Well, first of all, thank you and good morrow of course.
Is that a constitutional
reading? Yes, absolutely. All right, fair not. And this came about because I wanted to figure
out what is in the Constitution. What does it actually say? And I thought it was a timely question,
because as you know, our current Supreme Court thinks we should follow the original meaning from 1789? Now, I haven't been watching the news. Is anything? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? the the the the the the the the the the th. Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? the the the the th. Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? the the the the the the the the the the.? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? Oh? the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. the th. th. th. the th. th. the the the th. the the the the the the the the the th. the the th. the the th. 1789. Now, I haven't been watching the news. Is anything going on?
I recommend it.
What a terrible thing.
Yeah.
So I thought I'm going to try to figure out
what that was by getting in the mindset of our founding father.
Now, as you go back and you revisit sort of the mindset of the founders, are you struck by how human they were, you know, the, th........... the, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, thi. the to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, th. What. What. What, th. What, th. What, th. What, th. What, th. What, th. What, th. What, th. What, th. th. th. th. th. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. toe. toe. toe. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to deified them to a large extent.
But when you learn about them, do you think, oh, a couple of these guys
might be idiots.
Like, what was the thought?
Well, yes, the Constitution is amazing,
because parts of it are so inspiring, the preamble,
52 of the greatest words ever written about the general welfare and blessings of liberty. But then, there are, it is a flawed, the their sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp. their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their the, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of, of, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the, the, the, the, the, the, and blessings of liberty. But then there are, it is a flawed document.
There are actual misspellings in the Constitution.
The word Pennsylvania is spelled two different ways,
P-E-N and P-N, so it is not perfect.
And I ran the Constitution through Grammarly, and Gramerly found,
it found 600 mistakes,
600 mistakes, so it is not perfect.
Were the, and with the grammarly mistakes,
did you correct it or did you think,
oh that one, no, let's pass that one through it?
How did you, did you dismiss the grammarly questions?
Well, I couldn't go in and change it on the,
the actual document spells Pennsylvania two different ways.
That's right, and it's, and the, and it, and it, and it, and it, and it, and it, and it, and it, and it's, and it, and the, and it's, and the, and the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the different ways. That's right and it's and the ITS as actually
should be an IT apostrophe S so if Ben Franklin had invented social media they
would have gotten a lot of flack for that. Right. But so it is a and they knew
it was flawed. That's what's amazing. The founding fathers knew this is a flawed document.
And they said would they be surprised at how we've deified them. I think so I think many of them would be
Now in their discussions did you as you
Looked back and and and saw the discussions that they were having my understanding is they never really thought That partisan politics would you know be the thing we were fighting over they thought the branches of government would fight each other that the executive? T, that? the? the? I don't think. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th, th, th, th, th, th. th, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the? the? they, they, their? their, their, their, their, their, their, their, they, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their. their, their. their. their. their. their. their. their their their their their their th. their their their th. their th. their their their they. their their their their their they. their their their, that the executive would fight the judicial, would fight the legislative.
I don't think they thought parties would try and weaponize each department against the
other parts.
No, they did not see this rigid two-party system coming.
And James Madison, he knew there were going to be factions, but he thought there were going to be lots of factions like they're they their their their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, thion, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thinks, thinks, thinks, thinks, thinks, th six or eight, more like a European Parliament.
And they would have been shocked by so much of what we have now, including the president.
I bring that up because it's kind of timely.
And they, they were very understated in the 1700s.
It is somewhat timely.
Well, they, when the idea of a single presidency came up in the convention, a lot of the delegates
said, are you jesting?
That is a terrible idea.
Wait, they said, are you jesting?
I'm paraphrasing.
I'm paraphrasing.
Are you jesting?
But they said, we just fought a war to get rid of a king.
One of them said, this is the fetus of monarchy, if we do this. We should have three presidents, 12 presidents.
And almost like the court.
The presidency was more like the court.
And the court would be similar.
Not a unitary executive, not a single person.
Right.
And in the end, it was fought for weeks.
In the end, the unitary executive won. But I have to say that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, the fetie, that, the fetie, the fetus, the fetus, the fetus, the fetus, the fetus, the fetus, the the the the th the, the, the, th th th th th th th th the, th th th th th th th th th th th th th th the, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th the threat, and threat, and the threate. the threate threat, and the the the threat, and the the the that threat, and the threat, mean, it's not a fetus anymore. It's like a teenager.
Right.
It is like, we are.
200 and some years later.
Right. It took a while, but it's here.
What do we mistake about them?
You know, now do you watch the arguments that you see about the founders' intent differently? Do you, does it make you a little crazier knowing what the actual arguments
were? Oh absolutely. I mean it was their mindset was so different in so many
ways it was like a foreign country and just to give you one example their idea
of rights were very different. Rights were not Trump cards sorry
about that. But they were they they thought there were responsibilities
with them. They exactly they had they thought, there were responsibilities with them.
Exactly, they had, they should have had a bill of responsibilities
in addition to a bill of rights,
but they just assumed that we were all going to be part of and contribute
to the betterment of our community.
And you saw this all over in the First Amendment,
the Second Amendment,
and they would be shocked by, they would be shocked
by how focused we are on individual rights, which I love, I love them, but we need the
balance.
Right, and that we've in some ways exploited those conversations to just get what we want or do what we want.
Right, exactly. And they talked about virtue. They loved that word, and this was, before
it had sort of a negative change. How many of th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th tho tho tho their tho their their their their tho their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their their, their their, their their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, tho. the, theateateateateateateateate. And, thoooooooooooes. their their, their, their, their, their, their, that word and this is before it had sort of a negative tend. How many of them do you think banged porn stars? How many of them do you
when they talk about virtue? Well I talked to many constitutional scholars
and I never, none of them had ever said that but... What about the level of discourse? Because I'm always struck by, you know even in this situation that we face now with that that that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, the that, the that, the that, the the the that, that, that, their, the, the, the, the, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the the the the the the the the the the thi, thi, their thi, thi, thi, that, that, they they that, they they they they that, they that, they they thin, they thin, thin, thin, thi, thin, that, but... What about the level of discourse?
Because I'm always struck by, you know, even in this situation that we face now with the debate and all that,
the way, the gaslighting that occurs, the lack of trust in Americans' instincts or ability to take complex issues and hear about them honestly.
But I imagine their conversations were
very frank and very direct but also sophisticated. Absolutely. I think it was a
genuine difference. I wrote this book a quil pen. And I'm not saying everyone needs to
go back to a quill pen. You wrote the, you wrote the book with a quill pen? Yeah,
because I was trying to live the Constitution. I had my musket, I carried it around New York. I wrote a quill, the quill pen. Those are the curiosity. Do you consider
yourself a method writer? Is that what this is? That's exactly it. I love that phrase.
Thank you. So you did. So it was a quill pen. And is there something about using the quill that is more deliberate
and allows you to think different?
I really believe that.
There were no dings and chimes from the internet.
I could actually focus and maybe come up with some subtle thoughts.
And I can, if the Constitution were written on an iPhone with emo emogees that would not be
good. Can you imagine with a you know all men are created equal L-O-L like it would
have been a nightmare. They love cold takes not hot takes they were all about let's
take a look at the pros and cons and one of my favorite founding father Ben
Franklin said at the Constitutional Convention, he said,
the older I get, the less certain I am of my own opinions, which I love, I mean, exactly.
And they even, they baked it into the cake as far as they really thought amendments will
be necessary. This has to be a document that can change with the consent of the governed.
Exactly. They knew it was imperfect. They said, let's figure out ways to change it.
But as you say, they didn't see this rigid two-party system.
Now, the last amendment we had was 1992.
And I mean, you had to get two-thirds of Congress to agree.
You can't get two-thirds of Congress to agree on the color of a green pepper.
You know, you just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just the color of a green pepper. You know, you just can't, it's impossible.
Yeah, because they are reddish.
It's a good point.
Thank you very much for being.
The Year of Living Constitutionally is available now.
AJJJJJUKJ.
Hey, everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast.
The Weekly Show. It's going to be coming out every Thursday.
So exciting, you'll be saying to yourself, TGID, thank God it's Thursday.
We're going to be talking about all the things that hopefully obsess you in the same
way that they obsess me. The election. Economics. Earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls?
We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. And I
know that I listed that fourth, but in importance it's probably second. I know you have
a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday?
I mean, talk about innovative.
Listen to the weekly show with our guests tonight are reporters at the New York Times
and co-authors of the best-selling book, The Fall of Row, The Rise of a New America.
Please welcome Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lair. Thank you so much for being on the show and for all of your incredible work on this.
Oh my goodness, thank you so much for being on the show and for all of your incredible work on this.
We enjoyed your book very much and also were thoroughly horrified by all of your incredible work on this. We enjoyed your book very much, and also
were thoroughly horrified by all of it, obviously.
But so many Americans felt kind of blindsided
when Roe v. Wade was overturned.
And yet, you walk us through every step of the way.
This was not an overnight shocking decision.
This was decades in the making.
Walk us through some of that. You mean the secret plan to overturn
Roe v. Wade? Yes. There was one. For 50 years the anti-abortion movement tried so
hard, right? They made it their life's work, generational commitment to try to overturn
row. This was a moral commitment for them, for them the greatest moral calling of their lives.. And their. And their. And their, and their, and their, and th. And their, and their, and th. And th. And, and th. And, and their, and their,ry to overturn Rowe. This was a moral commitment for them, the greatest moral calling of their lives.
And they were not successful.
Until about 10 years ago, something changed.
And we've taken to calling it the,
this was the last decade, the final decade,
of the Roe era in American life.
They had new tactics, new strategies,
and they really radicalized along with the Republican Party and did what many Americans thought was unimaginable, which was overturning Roe v. Wade.
Now, in telling this story, how much of this did you find was based in sort of a moral argument,
and how much of this felt like it was groups who had political motives who were trying to utilize
Roe as a piece in which to gain more political power? Well, certainly, th th th th th th th th thly thly th certainly th certainly th certainly th certainly th certainly th certainly th certainly thi certainly thi thi thi thi thi thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, and, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th...... th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th, th. th, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. thiiiiiiii. theauuii. thiiii. thi. thi. thi. thi. as a as a piece in which to gain more political power? Well certainly there's a really deep moral and spiritual
element. These are conservative Christians, largely evangelicals and Catholics
and they see this as a story that's rooted in you know biblical kind of
terms. But I think there's also this broader effort and what they
effectively want to do is overturn elements of the sexual revolution and return the family, the American family, th., th., th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th. th. th. th. the the th. the th. the, the, thi, the, the, thi, the, the, thi, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, theyyy.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e. their, their, their, their, their, their, the effectively want to do is overturn elements of the sexual revolution and return the American family to a more traditional time.
I think one of the most interesting things we found in our book
was the role that abortion plays.
Of course, abortion is about the right
to terminate a pregnancy and when a woman can legally do that.
But it also has this great symbolism in American life. It sort of symbolizes for people morality and gender, and gender, and politics and gender roles and all these really big things. And so if you want
to understand where this election might be going and it really if you want to understand where
the country might be going, the story of the fall of Roe is one way to understand that.
I guess you you articulate that that Roe is taken on such a larger,
it's not just one thing anymore th. th. th. th. the th. th. the th. th. th. th. the th. Is was taken on such a larger, it's not just one thing anymore.
Was that always the case or can you pinpoint
when that really started to pick up steam?
Well, look, our book starts in 2013,
which is right when Obama ran one re-election,
and it's also when conservative Christians
became a slight minority in America.
So this is a group that felt they were losing their holds on American life, losing their sort of traditional power in American life
and I think abortion rights were one way that they thought they could sort of
return the country to where it was before. So it is this larger fight and
we're seeing that play out now in sort of efforts around IVF, around some
forms of contraception. This is of course about abortion. the the the abortion. the the the the th ab ab ab ab th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thi thiou- thi thi thiou- thiou-in th is thiou, thiou, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th is th is th is th is th is th is thi-in, thi-in, thi-in thi-s thi-s thi-s, thi thirt, thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi so much more than just abortion. One of the things that I really appreciated about this book
is you go through the back stories of all of these characters. You don't paint
them as heroes and villains. You talk about Leonard Leo from the Federalist
Society and talk about how he personally was affected, what formed his fate.
Leonard Leo devout Catholic, obviously legal mastermind, but the story that motivated him the
most is the death of his daughter when she was 14.
Their first-born daughter had a very difficult prenatal diagnosis.
They decided to give birth and raise her.
And, you know, when we talked with him, he talked a lot about suffering and his views
motivated by Catholic theology about suffering and salvation in the human experience. And so for him,
that really shaped not only how he wanted to run his own family, but how he sees how the entire country
and world should be structured. You know, for a lot of these anti-bortion activists, those two worlds are intertwined.
This isn't a story that you can understand just through politics or just through religion.
These are intertwined stories. And I think that's part of what we really tried to get out at the book
was tell those intertwined stories in a way that reflected sort of the intimate, this is such an intimate issue, you know, that reflected that intimacy and how personal it is for these people. Look, it's something that everyone understands.
If you've had a baby, if you were with someone who had a baby, if you were a baby at some
level, you inherently understand like how this works and what this is about.
And I think it's not the kind of issue that even for disconnected or rooted just in politics. I mean, this book talks about the successes of the activists.
A lot of them are the grassroots activists on the right.
Like what were the failings of the left in this fight?
Well, you know, look, I think it was, there was this profound sense of denial across
the left. In some ways, that's reasonable, right? It's really hard to believe that the right, the right, the right, the right, the right, the right, thiiii th. thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, the, the, the, the, the, thean, the, the, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, they... they. thean, thean, thr-a. thra. toooo. toea. toea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea, the that this right that people had for generations could suddenly just vanish. And because of that, Democrats, you know, they would always
go out, Democratic candidates and warn about threats to Roe or Rowe could fall.
And people just didn't believe them. Like we have in the book tons of polling
and focus groups where the issue just didn't resonate with people because they didn't believe it would happen. And so it's hard to see and prevent a to to to to the the the. the the. the the. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. to be. to be. to be to be to be to be to be to be the. thr. the the, to be. to be. toe. toe. to to to be to be toe. toe. toe. to to the the the the, the the, the the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th.. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. to be to be toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. to see and prevent something that you don't think is happening, right?
And then, of course, they got very, very unlucky.
Trump won, and he got three appointments to Supreme Court, unheard of since Ronald Reagan.
And there becomes a point, a turning point where the march to end row effectively becomes unstoppable for Democrats and the abortion rights activists.
There's the, you know, part of the civil rights activists were rooted's the you know part of the civil rights activists
were rooted in the Christian community. What where's the disconnect? Why have
liberals not been able to connect with the Christian community since then?
Well conservative Christians figured out that this wasn't really about
cultural opinion a majority of Americans supported abortion rights for, you know, for decades.
But for them, this was about finding ways to pull the levers of power, right?
You can kind of do all the moral conversation, education that you want on either side of
this, but if you don't have power, you can't do anything.
So they figured out exactly what levers,
where in the country, at what levels of government,
from the smallest state house lobbyists
all the way up to the presidency, the Supreme Court,
and they identified them, they pulled them,
and then they're able to change the culture that way, right, instead of having culture change the law. Yeah, look, I think we think of politics as working one way, right?
People protest, public opinion changes, politicians respond, the culture changes.
This is a really different kind of story.
This is, you know, a majority of America supported row for decades.
But these activists, on the right, these conservative Christian activists were able
to seize controls of these levers of power and change the culture effectively through force.
Now take a step back into what's happening now.
We see the Republican platform seems to be softening on abortion, at least not articulating
that they want a federal ban.
We see what happened with Mifapristone at the Supreme Court.
Do you see a recalculation happening? Two different things are happening, right thiii. Right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, thi. thi. Now, thi. Now, thi. Now, thi. Now, thi. Now, thi. Now, thi. Now, thi. Now. Now, thi. Now. Now, thi. Now, thi. Now, thi. Now, thi. Now, thi. Now, thi. Now, thi. Now, thi. Now, thi. Now, thi. Now, thi. Now, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. ta. ta. We. ta. Wea. ta. ta. Wea. Now, ta. Now, ta. Now, ta, ta, ta, ta Fristone at the Supreme Court. Do you see a recalculation
happening?
Two different things are happening at once here, right? Like obviously Trump and a lot of
Republican leaders see that this is now a losing issue for them. I mean, Roe was a foundation
for so long. Republicans were able to use it in a certain way to motivate key parts of their base and that's obviously really changed. But you know now things we
think of as maybe losses for the anti-abortion movement they're able to
reframe and see them as wins right I mean even at the platform can be doing
whatever it's doing right in their minds but they're on the ground
thinking in these generational long-terms of how they can change the groundwork similarly to how they overturned row right they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're their.... they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're their their they're their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their. their. their. their. their their their their their their their their their their the.e.e. I are thentooendendearned are thearned are.earned are their their their their their their their their their their of how they can change the groundwork
similarly to how they overturned row, right? They're thinking long-term about
what does this mean for how we can restrict IVF, right? What does this mean for
access to some forms of birth control? That is such a different long game
than Democrats are playing. So in a way it is definitely a power
struggle right now. The two movements, the anti-abortion activists and the Republican Party needed each other to
gain power and to accomplish their mutual goals.
So we're seeing that as attention, but this is a movement that cannot be undercounted.
They accomplished one of the biggest political resurgence this country has ever seen. And under the noses of people,
many of whom just weren't paying attention.
Where do you feel, where do we go from here?
I mean, are women going to have to just run for president
and have presidential immunity in order to legally have an abortion
where it's where we are?
Well, I mean, it is worth pointing out that many of the most prominent figures in the
anti-abortion movement are women, that there was a strategy to put women at the front of
that movement.
I think, you know, I've asked a lot of abortion rights activists, like that very question.
What happens now? It took 50 years for a row to fall?
How many years does it take for it to return? And nobody knows
it's an unanswerable question, but nobody's saying one year, nobody's saying
five years, this is 10 years, this is 20 years. There's no magic wand. You know
President Biden talks about restoring row. There's no way to do that without a
margin in the Senate that feels almost impossible unless they overturned the filibuster and then all agree on what that th is th is th is th is th is th is th is the th is the the th is the the th is the the the the th is the the the the th is th is the the the the th is the the th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. T is thi. T, thi thi thi. T, thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th is th is th is th is thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi is thi is thi is thi is thi is thi is thi to theeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii thi thi thi that looks like, which as we know about the Senate, that's an extremely high barred. So there's no easy
answer here. There's not some like thing that can just snap back in place and
row returns. I think the country is in for many more decades of wrangling over
this issue. For the disheartened folks who see this story. What what can they take away? What positive change can they thi thii? thii? thi? thi? thi? thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thoom. thoomomomomomomorrow, thoom. thi. thoomorrow, thoomom-s, thoomomomom. thoom. thoom, thoes, thoes, thoes, thoes, thoes, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. tho. tho. tho. tho. the is the is thoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooe. So, the. So, th away? What positive change can they make?
Look, I think one of the things that has been, that was most powerful for the anti-abortion was this sense of denial.
They did something because nobody believed they could do it. And that's been really shattered now.
So I think there's a lot more awareness of what's going on. I think people are paying a lot more attention to what's happening. Not only with abortion rights, but with thoe thoe thoe tho thiiiii th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th th th th th thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi th th th th th th th th. I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I thi thi the the the the theeeean thean thean thean. thean thin. theean. I thi thi thi to what's happening, not only with abortion rights, but with things like IVF in some forms of
contraception. So like all political issues, I think this is one of engagement
and awareness, and I do wonder if we're, I do think we're seeing more of that now.
And there's this question of, can Democrats respond with any kind of
generational plan in the way that Republicans had. I mean it was just a- No.
I mean, yeah, do you need to do you need an answer?
Tell me.
Oh, yeah.
Okay.
Now we know.
We've answered that.
I mean, this is asymmetrical.
It has been for a very long time.
And there's a real question.
And there's a real question, I mean, even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even people the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the that the Democrats just don't have the same kind of infrastructure on their side.
So there's an open question as to, you know, are they thinking just in election cycles or
are they thinking about one generation, two generations from now?
Well we so appreciate all of the work that you're doing and you being on here tonight.
We're still hopeful that there will be your next book, the Rrise of Ro, putting out a...
All the Good Prayer to Get the sequel going.
Thank you so much for being here.
The Fall of the Row is available now, Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerrer.
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Hey, everybody, John Stewart here.
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