After Wednesday’s installment of The Daily Show on Comedy Central, host Trevor Noah should wonder if he has good job security because an appearance by Stacey Abrams was more hilarious than anything Noah has ever done. Abrams unintentional joke: that she and her “voting rights” movement are comparable to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and ordinary Ukrainians fighting for their freedom.
Noah set the table with his own joke of an interpretation of Georgia’s voting laws:
You are running for a seat that, in a state that has become -- I mean, one of the lightning rods of American politics, Georgia. What's interesting about this race is the fact that Governor Kemp has put into place multiple restrictions on how people can vote, when people can vote. He's reduced the availability of voting for people.
He wondered how Abrams could make her case that she supports making voting easier, not just for her supporters, but for everyone. After waxing poetic about how voting should be nonpartisan, Abrams, like Al Sharpton and Yamiche Alcindor on Wednesday, went full hyper-partisan with her Ukraine analogy:
We are a stronger nation when we allow people to participate. And if we ever doubted that, the war that Putin is waging against Ukraine, President Zelenskyy said it -- I'm going to paraphrase him probably poorly -- he said this isn't a war on Ukraine. This is a war on democracy in Ukraine. When we allow democracy to be overtaken by those who want to choose who can be heard, and those choices are not based on anything but animus or inconvenience, then that is wrong. My mission is to make certain that everyone can cast a ballot, even people who don't like me -- especially those folks. They should be able to go and cast their ballots. My job is to make sure more people who like me show up, but that's campaigning.
Although he’s a comedy host and not a journalist, Noah still should’ve called Abrams out for that analogy because fighting against voter ID laws does not make you the same type of politician as one who has Russian hits squads coming after him because Moscow falsely labels him a Nazi.
Instead, Noah shifted to Abrams’s mask controversy and worried how she would respond: “...going forward, do you think you'll be able to maintain that, without at the same time, letting your enemies use that as your-- you know, like, 'Don't vote for Stacey Abrams. She messes up'?”
In reply, Abrams claimed that it is important for leaders to admit to mistakes and apologize. If that is true, we should expect an apology for that Zelenskyy comparison very soon.
This segment was sponsored by AT&T.
Here is a transcript of the March 2 show:
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
3/2/2022
11:34 PM ET:
TREVOR NOAH: Let's talk about politics—
STACEY ABRAMS: Yes
NOAH: -- which is everything in America all the time. You are running for a seat that, in a state that has become-- I mean, one of the lightning rods of American politics, Georgia. What's interesting about this race is the fact that Governor Kemp has put into place multiple restrictions on how people can vote, when people can vote. He's reduced the availability of voting for people. Republicans will argue the same thing. They will say, "No, all we're trying to do is shore up the vote,” even though we agree there has been no widespread voter fraud. How do you begin tackling an issue like this where, A: you are running, so you want to make it better for yourself/fair for everybody. But how do you—how do you—how do you-- find that balance of saying to people, "Listen, I'm trying to do this for everybody and I know that I hope I will benefit." But, you get what I'm saying?
ABRAMS: Absolutely.
NOAH: There’s that—there’s that paradox of—of-- the messaging that you're trying to get out.
ABRAMS: I reject the paradox. Voting-- the process of voting is nonpartisan. Everyone should have access to the ability to vote. It should be easy to vote. It should be accessible. There should be a freedom to vote. Any impediment to that is wrong. That's full stop. I don't care who you vote for. When I'm focusing on the voting system, my focus should never be on you who cast your ballot for. Voting itself, the process is nonpartisan. Now, when you get in there, I'm going to do everything in my power to convince you I'm the person to pick.
NOAH: Right
ABRAMS: But the fight for the right to vote is something that should cut across every demographic, every ideology, every community. We are a stronger nation when we allow people to participate. And if we ever doubted that, the war that Putin is waging against Ukraine, President Zelenskyy said it-- I'm going to paraphrase him probably poorly-- he said this isn't a war on Ukraine. This is a war on democracy in Ukraine. When we allow democracy to be overtaken by those who want to choose who can be heard, and those choices are not based on anything but animus or inconvenience, then that is wrong. My mission is to make certain that everyone can cast a ballot, even people who don't like me-- especially those folks. They should be able to go and cast their ballots. My job is to make sure more people who like me show up, but that's campaigning. That's not voting rights.
NOAH: Yeah. Before I let you go, I have to talk to you about the mask.
ABRAMS: Yes.
NOAH: Because I mean, I was—I was-- on social media, and then I see the picture of your mask and the picture gets deleted. This is what I found interesting and maybe you'll correct me if I'm wrong. It feels like with politicians you have a team around you. Everyone is trying to figure out how to solve a crisis or fix a problem. People say ridiculous things, like Garcetti’s like "I hold my breath when I take the picture." I-- and it—it-- creates this weird-- it creates a situation where people feel like leaders aren't following the rules, or people, you know, are punished differently from leaders, et cetera, et cetera. Why did you say, "Yeah, I messed up, and that's that."? And going forward, do you think you'll be able to maintain that, without at the same time, letting your enemies use that as your-- you know, like, "Don't vote for Stacey Abrams. She messes up"?
ABRAMS: My responsibility, in that instance, if I created any appearance that I did not take children's lives seriously, that's a mistake. But your job fundamentally is to acknowledge when you make a mistake and try to make it right. We have this -- this -- narrative that we have invincible leaders. That's just not true. What we have are humans who want to do a job, and we have to hold them accountable for the job they do but we have grace when they make mistakes and trust that their intentions were right. But you can't trust someone's intentions if they never tell you what they were. Saying I'm sorry, saying I made a mistake, is about being honest about your intention. I intended to do something. I did not quite do it. So, let me tell you about the gap and let me tell you how I'm going to make it better the next time.
