Last week, when Michael Kosta guest hosted Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, the program blamed everybody except Hamas for the outbreak of war. On Monday, new temp host Desus Nice welcomed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to the program and asked her about seemingly everything going on in politics at the moment except for her incendiary accusations at Israel is committing war crimes by defending itself.
Ocasio-Cortez made the remarks on MSNBC on Sunday, but Nice wanted to talk about the Speaker race instead, “From the outside, I have no idea what's going in. Can you just really quickly explain it?”
Happy to play along, Ocasio-Cortez replied, “So Republicans kicked out their Speaker and now they can't find a new guy to run their group project.”
After some talk about what a potential government shutdown would mean, Ocasi-Cortez added, “So, this is something that is really important for everybody to make sure that we get that pressure on. But also, we need to make sure that we don't have people like Jim Jordan or extremists because whoever takes over the House could potentially put our democracy in danger when it comes to certifying or recertifying an election and so on.”
It’s rather tragic that an elected member of Congress apparently thinks the Speaker has something do with the certification process, especially after all of the commentary about former Vice President’s Mike Pence’s role in the proceedings.
Just as Nice was prepared to ignore her comments about Israel, he was also prepared to ignore those remarks as well, “Got you. Now, you know, people say Congress doesn't get anything done right now because of the shutdown, but what were you guys getting done before? Because I know you have been doing some—”
Ocasio-Cortez responded by accusing Republicans of simply providing “meme content,” while they recalling all the progressive items the House passed before Republicans took over.
After which, Nice would shift topics yet again, “So, you know, shout out to my parents, all the parents, immigrants are the lifeblood of New York City. Our mayor, Eric Adams, he said we can't handle anymore here. You represent one of the most diverse districts in Congress. What can be done at a federal level to help?”
For Ocasio-Cortez, the problem isn’t that there is a never-ending stream of people showing up at the border, but that they aren’t immediately granted legal status, “Well, here's the thing, is that I think, whether, from all parts of the political spectrum, one of the biggest issues that we have when it comes to immigration is the fact that we have an undocumented population. Now you can fix that by trying to build a wall or you can fix that by trying to document people and create a path to citizenship.”
Granting a “path to citizenship” won’t solve the problem, it will only make it worse by incentivizing people to show up at the border, but as Nice quickly established earlier, he wasn’t there to press her in any way.
Here is a transcript for the October 23 show:
Comedy Central The Daily Show
10/23/2023
11:22 PM ET
DESUS NICE: From the outside, I have no idea what's going in. Can you just really quickly explain it?
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: So Republicans kicked out their Speaker and now they can't find a new guy to run their group project.
NICE: Yes.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: And they’re all, like fighting with each other about it.
NICE: Got you.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Yeah.
NICE: Now, for a local in the Bronx, how does this affect them?
OCASIO-CORTEZ: So, in terms of how this affects the Bronx, we’ve got a clock ticking on a government shutdown. And if this gets us to a point of a government shutdown, I mean, that's real, right? That’s when we start seeing TSA and airports get affected.
That’s when people could potentially miss their checks.
NICE: Right.
OCASIO-CORTEZ So, this is something that is really important for everybody to make sure that we get that pressure on. But also, we need to make sure that we don't have people like Jim Jordan or extremists because whoever takes over the House could potentially put our democracy in danger when it comes to certifying or recertifying an election and so on.
NICE: Got you. Now, you know, people say Congress doesn't get anything done right now because of the shutdown, but what were you guys getting done before? Because I know you have been doing some—
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Okay, that’s an excellent question.
NICE: Thank you.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: I will say, from when Republicans took over to now, they provided a lot of meme content.
NICE: Yes.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: But before that, when Democrats were in the majority, we passed the largest climate package in American history.
NICE: Okay.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: We capped insulin at $35 for people. We made sure that, you know, when the pandemic went through, we started the program of child tax credits. Now, we have some folks in the Senate shut that down but when we take back the Senate, we want to make sure that we reestablish and expand those programs back again too.
NICE: Okay.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: We're able to do some things, they’re on the struggle bus a little bit.
NICE: She’s like “put some respect in my name.”
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Yes.
NICE: I feel you. Alright, we just did a piece about the people running for House Speaker. Who are you voting for?
OCASIO-CORTEZ: None of them, I can tell you that. I’ll be casting my vote for Hakeem Jeffries.
NICE: Hey! Shout out to Hakeem. All right. So, you know, shout out to my parents, all the parents, immigrants are the lifeblood of New York City. Our mayor, Eric Adams, he said we can't handle anymore here. You represent one of the most diverse districts in Congress. What can be done at a federal level to help?
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Well, here's the thing, is that I think, whether, from all parts of the political spectrum, one of the biggest issues that we have when it comes to immigration is the fact that we have an undocumented population. Now you can fix that by trying to build a wall or you can fix that by trying to document people and create a path to citizenship.
And we’ll have folks that might say, look at these systems, you know, that our shelter system has weight and things like that, but one of the reasons that our public systems experience weight is because people don't have a documented and reliable path to work and sustain themselves.
Just like all of our ancestors did, and our grandparents and great- grandparents. You know, I always love when people talk about, like, “oh, well, my great-grandfather came and he wrote his name wrong on a book and now he is a citizen.”
NICE: Yes.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Like, can we put two and two together, that our processes today are so difficult, that they make our immigration process difficult. But that doesn't mean that immigrants do not create a positive contribution to our country and our economy and our society. And so the answer should really be, we should make it easier to be legal, documented, and a citizen of the United States of America.
