The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Trump Calls to Annex Canada, Facebook Drops Fact Checkers

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

Desi Lydic discusses Trump's imperialist push ahead of his inauguration, including making Canada the 51st state, renaming the Gulf of Mexico, and possibly invading Greenland. Jordan Klepper is hyped about colonialism's apparent comeback. Companies like Meta, McDonald's, and Amazon are doing everything from ditching facts to bribing Melania with a documentary to get in the president-elect's good graces. Writer and director of the new film “Babygirl,” Halina Reijn discusses the questions she set out to explore through the film about shame, sexuality, and authenticity, subverting the tropes of the erotic thriller genre, and how her background as an actress informs her directing.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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, Desi Lydic. We have so much to talk about tonight. McDonald's takes diversity off the menu. Facebook tries to friend MAGA. And uh-oh, someone bought Donald Trump a globe. So let's get into it with our continuing coverage of Trump 2.0 coming for the White House. I'm gonna come.

When Donald Trump won in November, it was largely on the promise of improving the everyday lives of American people, from fixing inflation after it was already fixed, to fighting the nationwide crime wave that he made up. And today, in a press conference from Mar-a-Lago, Trump announced one of those common sense kitchen table policies that Americans have been waiting for. We're going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Yeah. Let's do that.

Why the hell not? We have been so concerned about all the scary things that Trump's going to do, we forgot he's also going to do some really stupid things. I guess Gulf of America does have a ring to it as in there was another horrific oil spill in the Gulf of America. But okay, fine, let's rename the Gulf, I guess. Now let's focus on the price of eggs.

President-elect Donald Trump urging America's northern neighbor to quote merge with the US, saying many people in Canada love being the 51st state. Canada and the United States that would really be something. You get rid of that artificially drawn line and you take a look at what that looks like. What? That would go all the way from the Arctic down to the Gulf of America. This is insane. Canada can't become part of America. That's the country I pretend to be from when I'm traveling abroad.

Why does Trump want Canada so much? When he hears that Canadians love pouring gravy on their poutine, he knows they're not talking about... ...poutine, right? By the way, this isn't the first time he's mentioned this. He's been tweeting about making Canada the 51st state for months now. Side note, I'm impressed that he currently knows there are 50 states, but surely Canada's not going to just take this. Prime Minister Trudeau. Tell him what's up I intend to resign as party leader as Prime Minister

God damn it. God damn it Well, welcome to the United States Canada Locker rooms are over there. Our Wi-Fi password is Hocktoos69420. And you pay for health care now. But no, Trudeau didn't resign just to make it easier for Trump to take over Canada. The fact is he resigned because he's very unpopular now. And if he ran again, he'd have to face this guy, Pierre Poliev. He's the leader of the conservative party and based on this interview,

he's a pretty intimidating dude. On the topic, I mean, in terms of your sort of strategy, currently you're obviously taking the populist pathway. What does that mean? Well, appealing to people's more emotional levels, I would guess. I mean, certainly you tap, a lot of people would say that you're simply taking a page

out of the Donald Trump book. Which people would say that? Well, I'm sure a great many Canadians, but. Like who? I don't know who, but. Well, you're the one who asked the question, so you must know somebody. Yeah. God damn, so you must know somebody.

God damn, that's a power move. I haven't seen someone dominated like this since I watched Baby Girl. Tell you what, America's not getting Canada from him. Get on your knees. You're our province now. Good girl. But back to Donald Trump, who is now demanding to rename the Gulf of Mexico and take over Canada. Not to mention a couple of weeks ago, Trump expressed interest in taking over the Panama Canal. Because why stop at just controlling birth canals?

But that's it, right? That's it. Now we can get back to the price of eggs. Well, we need Greenland for national security purposes. People really don't even know if Denmark has an illegal right to it. But if they do, they should give it up because we need it for national security. Of course we do. Of course we do. Greenland is vital for our national security. It's the only way to stop Santa Claus from waltzing on down from the North Pole and f***ing

our wives. And if you're wondering, wait, Trump keeps saying America's broke. How is he going to pay for Greenland? Oh, he's not. Donald Trump said he might use military force to take control of the Panama Canal and Greenland. Can you assure the world that as you try to get control of these areas, you're not going to use military or economic coercion? No, I can't assure you on either of those two.

What? He just got elected and he's going to invade Greenland? Look, I am no war expert. I'll leave decisions regarding our military to alcoholic Fox News hosts, but I am almost certain invading Greenland is insane. Insane. At the very least, it would be nice to have heard about this during the campaign. I mean, you had time to tell a 10-minute story about Arnold Palmer's shower penis, but not one story about bombing Greenland? That would have been good to know. For more on Trump's efforts to expand America's borders, we go live to Jordan Klepper. Jordan, what's going on? Oh, I'll tell you what's going on.

Colonialism is back, baby! Ha-ha! Whoo! The world is full of distant lands we can plunder and rename after America. We'll get zinc from Greenland or should I say Americaland? We'll get rubber from Cambodia which is probably over here somewhere. Now Camerica and we'll get our sugar from South America or as I like to call it America America.

Jordan, it's 2025. Why would we bring colonialism back? South America, or as I like to call it, America America. Jordan, it's 2025. Why would we bring colonialism back? Come on, Desi, the fancy hats alone are enough reason. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no. I hate to break it to you, but that hat looks stupid. That hat does not look stupid.

You look stupid without a hat. And besides, besides, America was at its finest when it was expanding. Manifest Destiny, the Louisiana Purchase, the Oregon Trail, the California Pizza Kitchen. You know, it was so great for us. Yeah, but it won't be great for the countries we colonize. Why not?

Think about all the gifts America has to offer a place like Canada. Roads, sanitation, syphilis. Canada already has all those things. They don't have my syphilis. What if the Canadians resist? That's it. They're Canadians. Don't make me laugh. The breast it. That's it. They're Canadians.

Don't make me laugh. The breastplate changed my nipples. I don't know, Jordan. Superpowers have a habit of suffering defeats in harsh climates. Name one. Napoleon in Russia. Name two.

Hitler in Russia. Name three. The British in Afghanistan. Name four. The Soviets in Afghanistan. Name five. The Americans in Afghanistan. Name six. The Americans in Vietnam. Name five. The Americans in Afghanistan. Name six.

The Americans in Vietnam. Just stop naming things as they! You're embarrassing me in front of my hat! Jordan Klepper, everyone. We'll be right back. We'll find out what Melania's new side hustle is. I'm getting six IU days. I'm getting six IU days. I'm getting six IU days. I'm getting six IU days. I'm getting six IU days.

I'm getting six IU days. I'm getting six IU days. I'm getting six IU days. I'm getting six IU days. I'm getting six IU days. I'm getting six IU days. I'm getting six IU days. I'm getting six IU days. I'm getting six IU days. Welcome back to the Daily Show. With the second Trump term just weeks away, everyone's preparing in their own way.

For example, I'm getting six IUDs. Bring it, sperm. But knowing how much Trump lies, it's more important than ever for everyone to rededicate themselves to the pursuit of truth. Facebook announced it is getting rid of fact checkers. Or that. Guess you could just live your truth. That's right, Facebook is ending fact checking,

as Mark Zuckerberg announced, apparently, while entering his Gen Z era. The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech. Fact checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the US. Okay.

First of all, is this just what Mark Zuckerberg looks like now? I guess someone got the Kendrick Lamar album for Hanukkah. What is going on here? This is the worst fashion a white guy has tried to pull off since, oh, I guess two days ago. I got to say, though, saying we realized relying on facts was discriminating against our Republican users is kind of a big diss to conservatives.

It's like saying, sorry, our no skid mark policy was singling out Greg. All underwear stains are welcome. But Facebook isn't the only corporation that's trying to get on Trump's good side, even one that you would assume he's already cool with. McDonald's is the latest major company to roll back some of its diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.

The Golden Arches is not abandoning all diversity initiatives, but says it will retire specific goals, ending a supply chain DEI pledge, pausing participation in surveys from external groups, and no longer setting what it calls representation targets. All right. This is disappointing coming from such a diverse company. They have a clown, an ex-con, people with hamburger heads, and of course, the pansexual purple blob.

And the thing is, McDonald's doesn't need to do this. They are literally the one company that Trump will never get mad at. I mean, they could name a dipping sauce in honor of Hunter Biden and Trump would still be nuggets deep in that shit. Nuggets deep. But to everyone out there who cares about diversity and fast food, don't worry. To balance things out, Five Guys is now Five Guys and a queer Latina woman. But maybe no corporation is bending the knee to Trump as hard as Amazon.

They've got a very special plan to win over the incoming president, and it's called Happy Wife, Happy Life. Amazon Prime announced a new documentary on the incoming and former first lady, Melania Trump. Prime Video will be giving a rare and behind the scenes look at one of President-elect Trump's most trusted, but also notoriously guarded advisors. I'm sorry, most trusted advisor? Did CNN also fire their fact checkers?

What is she advising him on exactly? I advise you not to touch me. Now Amazon is apparently paying $40 million just for the rights to this movie. And maybe you're thinking, well this sounds like a way to launder money to the Trumps. Uh-huh. But what director would want to attach their name to a project like this? It will be directed by Brett Ratner, which is the filmmaker's first major project since 2017.

You might recall he was accused of sexual misconduct by numerous women and has denied those allegations. Mm-hmm. Ooh! Accused of sexual misconduct. Does Donald Trump know he wasn't convicted? Because that might be a deal breaker. But I'll tell you, Amazon is really committed to this.

Based on this new ad that we definitely did not make up, this Melania documentary is only the beginning. Coming this spring, Amazon is proud to announce its new unbiased documentary, Melania, the greatest, firstest lady. From legendary and totally innocent director Brett Ratner, Melania will provide an in-depth look at this bewitching role model. But that's not all.

Stay tuned for many more objective documentaries like Don Jr. the genius sex god whose penis is fantastic directed by Jared Fogle, Eric Trump the new Leonardo da Vinci directed by Harvey Weinstein and JD Vance the man whose farts should be sold as cologne executive produced by Jeffrey Epstein's plane and featuring an original song by R Kelly, Diddy, Kevin Spacey, and Pepe Le Pew. We know you'll give these titles a hashtag me too thumbs up. That's why they'll be automatically downloaded to your account and cannot be erased.

Amazon Prime Video, it's not propaganda, it's prime. When we come back, the director of Baby Girl will be joining me on the show, so don't go away. Welcome back to the Daily Show. My guest tonight is a writer and director whose new film is called Baby Girl. Please welcome Helena Rain! Congratulations on the film. It opened Christmas Day. Yes.

It's a wonderful life for horny women everywhere. It's a beautiful film. I got to go see a screening last month, and you were there. You introduced the movie, and you introduced the movie with a question. You said, every good story starts with a question. And this film's question is, can you love even the most shameful parts of yourself?

How did you go? Well, first of all, as someone who's binge-watched 11 seasons of Real Housewives of New York, I can answer that for you. It's yes. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. But how did you go from asking yourself that question to building this beautiful, vulnerable, raw story? Well, I knew also I wanted to make something about my sort of quest. I always want to be normal. That's my whole thing. There's a sentence in the movie, a line,

that Nicole Kidman says to her husband, Antonio Bandera. She goes, I just want to be normal. I want to be the woman you like. I want to be what you like. And so my movie is sort of a letter to myself to kind of encourage myself to become more unapologetically my authentic self without shame. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. God's very important. I also wanted it to be funny.

I really wanted it to be funny because I think humor is what connects all of us. And I just. Yes. Yes. Agreed. Yeah, and I just thought, I wanted to make a big American movie.

You know, I come from Amsterdam, from a very small country. And so I didn't just want to make like a small movie about female desire. I wanted to make a big, fun movie. And I think because of my great actors, we hopefully succeeded. Oh, you did. You absolutely fulfilled that desire to make it. There were laugh out loud moments. It was fascinating, it was exciting, it was tense.

Nicole Kidman stars in this movie. The legendary Nicole Kidman. I love the way that you played with humor. You say that this film was, that it was marketed as a psychological erotic thriller, but that you call it a comedy of manners. Yes, I do. I mean, I also think we play with the thriller tropes and I love the sexual thrillers of

the nineties, Fatal Attraction, Unfaithful, Basic Instinct, you name it. I love all of them. Nine and a half weeks. They just all tended to sort of punish the lead who would be the cheater or the woman, the femme fatale, and I don't like to punish my characters. I just really loved to be human about them and really show that we all are angels and devils. We all have a dark side and if we accept the dark side and if we dare to look at it we can actually sort of like befriend it but if we suppress it and in that sense my

movie is a little bit of caution cautionary tale, if you will, of what happens when you suppress that side of yourself. And so that's really what I set out to do. So the thriller aspect is definitely there, but then in the second half of it, we kind of take it more into a human level so that hopefully people can relate to it. I love the way that you played with that trope, because I loved those movies from the 90s too, but no one's ever done it from the female perspective. And so you were really subverting expectations,

which you do often, your movie, Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, also plays with the genre of the horror films, but you subvert expectations in that. Is something that, is that what you look to seek out to do? With all of your work? Yeah, I just think I wanna create my own genre, so I don't really look at like, oh, I should entrap myself in one.

I just feel like I can mix it up. And I really looking again, and I'm talking to myself because it's really hard to do, but I'm looking for my own uniqueness in that. And I think that is how I can connect to others. So the more I can be my authentic self within what I do, within what I make, I feel that I can connect to others more. And so my style is to go from a horror like bodies, bodies, bodies, and

then make it in the end. There is no killer in bodies. You know, everybody dies, but they just start... Spoiler in case you haven't seen it. Sorry. Sorry, age 24. Oh God, now they're angry. Still worth the watch. Still worth the watch. Still worth a watch. You were an internationally celebrated actress before you became a director. Well, internationally celebrated, yes, OK.

Mainly in the Netherlands. Go with it. That is your authentic self. Yes, that is my authentic self. Don't suppress the beast. You were, and I'm curious how you use your experience as an actress to direct your actors. Yes, no, I think having been an actress,

my full priority is always to make actors feel safe. And of course, physically with the intimacy scenes and all of that, but also emotionally. I think for actors, it's very hard sometimes to play these emotional, embarrassing scenes. And because I know how vulnerable this profession is, I think I can really be at their level instead of like sitting on a high chair with a North Face jacket, eating pizza and saying, because I know how vulnerable this profession is. I think I can really be at their level

instead of sitting on a high chair with a North Face jacket, eating pizza, and saying, crawl around, cry, undress. That's how I often experience when I was doing movies. Yes, that's how our director works here. He does. Oh my gosh. He does.

Where is he? That's a lie, that's not true. David Paul Meyer, who is nominated for two DGA awards today. So give us a hand. Working with him. But also, and also I was mainly a stage actress, so I played Shakespeare in Ibsen and Chekhov, and because we used to play those plays

not just a week or a couple of weeks, but our runs were like for years, so I lived inside these plays, and these characters lived inside of me, and I think that's what taught me writing. And so everything that I do really comes from that. And my collaborative nature also, I was raised by radical hippies in the Netherlands. So I...

So I love to collaborate with my actors. Instead of, you know, doing this kind of pyramid hierarchy, for me it's all doing it together and making everybody, also the crew, very, very important, make everybody feel involved. When we spoke at your screening, you said you would get down on the floor and sit with them and show them that this is safe to do. Like you would kind of do some of the physicality so that they felt comfortable.

Yes. And Nicole also developed this habit and she's very open about it of asking me, she would be like, you do it first. Good for her, yeah. So we would act together a little bit, you know? I love rehearsing individually, so rehearsing in a group can be incredibly embarrassing, as you know, you're an actress as well. And so...

It's all embarrassing. It's all embarrassing, it's all very, life is embarrassing, but... Embr embrace it. No, we love to do these individual rehearsals. And then I would act out all the different parts with them. And they really love that it's playful. And you kind of playfully get into it instead of immediately

having this pressure on you and feeling the directors over there and you're over here and you're struggling. So I just like to be with them in it. Yeah, I wish more directors worked like you. Really, like, Hollywood needs more directors like you, and, sorry, less like Brett Ratner. Um... CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I really enjoyed that these two characters... It wasn't just Romy who had her own journey, who had her own path. She was looking to accept these sort of shameful parts of herself while the character of Samuel was also trying to navigate something in his world. How to be a man in today's society. What does masculinity look like? What does consent look like?

Were these all things that you were plotting out in the story or did they develop later as you started rehearsing? No, absolutely. I wanted to make a comedy of manners again about power and consent, sexuality and femininity of course is my priority. You know, I am a woman so I write from the female gaze, I do anything from the female gaze, but the movie is just as much about masculinity. So what you're saying is we're not showing a classical story about a sob and a dumb at all. They are both vulnerable. They are both interested in what is power, what is surrender, what is giving up control, what is taking control. And they're both really in a crisis. She's in a full on midlife crisis, you know, where she sees, okay, the horizon is over there. What am I doing? Where am I going? And she thinks she can be this perfect creature

if she does enough ice baths and botox and therapy, she can become a perfect woman and she has to accept through meeting Samuel that she has to connect to her inner beast. But him as well, he's in a crisis in the sense that he's taking his first steps into the world as a man. And he doesn't know how to behave, he doesn't know how to be around power

or how to be around an older woman. And I wanted to show that vulnerability. And I think sexuality to me, it can sometimes be very hot, of course, but it can also be very vulnerable and weird and clunky and uncomfortable. And I wanted to show all of that because I think when you see that,

you kind of relate to it. And then in the end, when it does work, then it becomes way more sexy than if you just show this perfect Hollywood fairy tale. I didn't want to do that. Yes. Speaking of sexuality, one of the sexier scenes in the movie involved a full glass of milk. Now, Nicole Kidman was brave enough

to bear it all in this movie, but I think that the bravest thing that she did was guzzle a glass of milk on camera. She drinks the whole thing. This was inspired from something that actually happened to you. Yeah, so I was playing Hedda Gabler one night in Antwerp and after that show, because it's a huge role

and I had so much adrenaline, I didn't want to go to bed and all my colleagues were boring and they went to the hotel. And so I went alone to this cafe, as we say in the Netherlands, to this bar and I sat there and I ordered't want to go to bed, and all my colleagues were boring and they went to the hotel. And so I went alone to this cafe, as we say in the Netherlands, to this bar, and I sat there and I ordered diet coke or something, a non-alcoholic drink. Wait, bars are called cafes?

Cafe, yeah. We say you go to a cafe. I'm gonna start using that. Oh honey, no, I'm just gonna go to the cafe. I'm gonna leave work and go to the cafe. I'll be right back. So I was sitting in this cafe, ordering my diet coke, and you know, just couldn't sleep, so. And then. So I was sitting in this cafe ordering my diet coke and you know just couldn't sleep.

And then this young man was sitting on the other end of the bar. He was a young actor that I knew of but I had never spoken to. And suddenly the waiter put a glass of milk, full milk in front of me and I was like, what? And then he pointed at this young man. And I thought it was so incredibly courageous. I thought it was so bolsy to do that. And so I just as a reward I drank the whole thing it did make me nauseated. It felt nauseous. Yeah as it would in the movie of course Harris then walks out of the bar Harris Dickinson who plays Samuel he

walks out of the bar and then he says in her ear, good girl. Yes, I remember quite well. Unfortunately, this young Belgium actor did not do that. He just walks out. Well, if he's watching now, maybe we can change that. We'll rewrite history. One more question. I just have to ask you for some advice.

We have a new group of interns starting today. Do you have any advice for them? No. No, no, no, no. I'm not going to go there with you. No advice. Not with HR watching. No.

Oh my gosh. Congratulations. Congratulations on the book. Thank you. I'm so happy for you. Thank you for being happy for you. Thank you for being here. Baby Girl is in theaters nationwide.

Alina Ray! We're going to take a quick break, and we'll be right back after this. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 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 Plus.