Chelsea Handler kicked off her week as temp host of The Daily Show by declaring “This is where I get to spend a week talking shit about all the whack jobs and hot messes out there.” Clearly not “all,” because later during an interview with Sen. Raphael Warnock, she wondered “how damaging” it is that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has banned Critical Race Theory.
Thirty minutes after bragging about how she will spend the whole week “talking shit,” Handler lamented to Warnock “the state of politics and the divisiveness of, you know, where we are right now in this country.”
She then asked, “I mean, are you hopeful about voting rights? I know that is something you are working hard for, and that you’re also with police brutality, that you guys had a caucus with the president. How do you see these things playing out in this time?”
Warnock, who was on to promote his children’s book, replied by declaring, “I was disappointed that we didn't get voting rights done last Congress. But I’m not about to stop fighting. The last time we passed voting rights in this country, it passed under a Republican president, it passed the Senate, I think, 96-0.”
Of course, the bill Democrats wanted to pass was something completely different, but Handler was not there to fact-check. Instead she transitioned to a new topic, “And speaking on the subject of books, we have a, you know, a governor in Florida, who is trying to ban books and trying to ban Critical Race Theory, and let's just talk for a second about how damaging that is for little children growing up in this country.”
For his part, Warnock continued the bad faith effort of insisting that DeSantis has banned real history, “Oh, I think it is quite unfortunate. And we have to reject the idea that our children will be so traumatized by the truth of our complicated American story that they can't bear it. And all of us have to push back against this idea that education is the enemy. All of us, red, yellow, brown, black, and white. Black history is the American story.”
Warnock would go on to say that the story of America includes the fact that his father was forced to give up his seat on a bus even as he wore his Army uniform because of his skin color, but also that he himself has a seat in the Senate.
That is a version of history that DeSantis or any Republican would not object to, what they would object to is portraying the Senate as an irredeemably racist institution that was created to perpetuate racism and slavery, but admitting that would lessen the demand for Warnock’s book.
This segment was sponsored by Applebee’s.
Here is a transcript of the February 6 show:
Comedy Central The Daily Show
2/7/2023
11:00 PM ET
CHELSEA HANDLER: Oh, hello, everybody. Welcome to The Daily Show, I'm Chelsea Handler! This is where I get to spend a week talking shit about all the whack jobs and hot messes out there, but I do it sitting behind a desk, because I'm a professional.
…
11:30
HANDLER: And considering the state of politics and the divisiveness of, you know, where we are right now in this country, I mean, are you hopeful about voting rights? I know that is something you are working hard for, and that you’re also with police brutality, that you guys had a caucus with the president. How do you see these things playing out in this time?
RAPHAEL WARNOCK: Look, change is slow. It's difficult. It comes in fits and starts, but we have to keep working at it. So I'm not about to lose hope. I mean, if the preacher loses hope, then, you know, we are in a dangerous place. So I'm not about to lose hope. And I was disappointed that we didn't get voting rights done last Congress. But I’m not about to stop fighting. The last time we passed voting rights in this country, it passed under a Republican president, it passed the Senate, I think, 96-0.
Some of those folks are still in the Congress, and democracy for me is not just one issue alongside other issues. It’s the framework in which we get to fight for everything we care about. Climate change. The issues around police brutality. Giving people access, affordable health care. All of these things are fought for within the framework of our democracy and so I'm going to keep fighting until we get voting rights done.
HANDLER: And speaking on the subject of books, we have a, you know, a governor in Florida, who is trying to ban books and trying to ban Critical Race Theory, and let's just talk for a second about how damaging that is for little children growing up in this country.
WARNOCK: Oh, I think it is quite unfortunate. And we have to reject the idea that our children will be so traumatized by the truth of our complicated American story that they can't bear it. And all of us have to push back against this idea that education is the enemy. All of us, red, yellow, brown, black, and white. Black history is the American story. And that is why I wrote this book.
I deal with the issue of race in this book, so I don't know if my book will be banned or not. But I'll tell you, as a dad, I was trying to figure out how to talk to my kids about what I know they will encounter. And I think I deal with it in a way that honors the legacy of my dad, who, as I talk about in the book, was a-- he served in the Army during the World War II-era. All stateside. And one day, he was asked to give up his seat on a public bus while wearing his soldier's uniform. For some, the skin he was wearing was more important than the uniform he was wearing, and so he had to give up his seat. That is a part of the American story. But here's the other part of the American story. My dad had to give up his bus seat. Now I have a seat in the United States Senate.
