With the election eight days away, Comedy Central decided to contribute to the Democratic campaign on Monday with a special episode of The Daily Show called Rally Together, where they sent Jordan Klepper to a series of Donald Trump rallies for the purpose of making his supporters look as dumb as possible.
Klepper is The Daily Show’s resident man on the street interviewer, but this time he decided to bring some friends. First, Klepper stopped in Detroit with actor and playwright Jeremy O. Harris and, before entering the rally, asked him what he expected, “A week ago, Trump dogged Detroit. He said if Kamala gets in office, every city’s going to look like Detroit, pejoratively. How do you think that’ll resonate here?”
Harris replied that Trump supporters get some sort of sexual satisfaction out of being humiliated, “I think they’ll love it. I think it’s like when Matt Rife makes fun of your wife. You know what I mean? It’s like [laughs], I mean, not for me, but for that audience, right. Someone who wants, like, you know to be negged.”
Klepper agreed, “It’s like a cuck audience.”
It was a sentiment Harris was keen to echo, “Yeah, it’s a cuck audience. It’s a real cuck audience,” to which Klepper piled on, “I haven’t thought of it that way, but that makes a lot of fucking sense.”
When it came time to interview the rally attendees, Harris complained to a black woman, “Trump just said today that all of the stuff about America being built on the back of slaves, this being stolen land, if that’s in a textbook, he’s taking it out. I wrote a play called Slave Play, I can’t teach my own play in parts of Virginia and in parts of Florida because of, like, Republican lies around how our country was founded.”
Teaching about slavery is not banned anywhere, so Harris is either woefully misinformed—which is ironic because the entire point was to show how uniformed Trump fans are—or his play is politicized history pretending to be factual.
As Harris was reflecting on his time at the rally, he declared, “I actually feel worried for America.”
Klepper used that to transfer to his second rally and fearmonger, “And there’s plenty to be worried about. In the wake of the Dobbs decision and JD Vance’s crusade against childless cat ladies, critics fear a second Trump term would be a Handmaid’s Tale dystopia, although Trump says he’ll be great ladies.”
He then introduced his new guests who are not ones for subtlety, “So, next up, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and I figured I’d bring some friends who don’t buy the whole protector narrative, Corinne Fisher and Krystyna Hutchinson, host of the sex-positive, anti-slut shaming podcast, Guys We Fucked.”
At the rally, Hutchinson asked, “What do you think about women’s rights, like a woman's right to choose what to do with her body?”
A series of women Trump supporters affirmed that they are pro-life, with one claiming, “It should not be a form of birth control.”
Hutchinson claimed, “I’ve never met a woman that uses abortion as birth control.”
Then what is the point of phrases like “reproductive freedom” or telling stories about women getting abortions because they do not believe they financially support a child?
Additionally, the main problem with Klepper’s interviews is viewers have no way of knowing how many people he talked to versus how many The Daily Show puts on screen. The woman Harris was questioning would later go on to say the moon landing was probably faked, and later in the show, another Trump supporter would claim the government can control the weather. Those are not representative of the tens of millions of people who will vote for him, but showing them allows The Daily Show’s liberal audience to feel better about themselves.
Here is a transcript for the October 28 show:
Comedy Central The Daily Show – Jordan Klepper Fingers The Pulse: Rally Together
10/28/2024
JORDAN KLEPPER: A week ago, Trump dogged Detroit. He said if Kamala gets in office, every city’s going to look like Detroit, pejoratively.
JEREMY O. HARRIS: Yeah.
KLEPPER: How do you think that’ll resonate here?
HARRIS: I think they’ll love it. I think it’s like when Matt Rife makes fun of your wife. You know what I mean? It’s like [laughs], I mean, not for me, but for that audience, right. Someone who wants, like, you know to be negged.
KLEPPER: It’s like a cuck audience.
HARRIS: Yeah, it’s a cuck audience. It’s a real cuck audience.
KLEPPER: I haven’t thought of it that way, but that makes a lot of fucking sense.
…
HARRIS: Trump just said today that all of the stuff about America being built on the back of slaves, this being stolen land, if that’s in a textbook, he’s taking it out.
FEMALE TRUMP SUPPORTER: Okay.
HARRIS: I wrote a play called Slave Play, I can’t teach my own play in parts of Virginia and in parts of Florida because of, like, Republican lies around how our country was founded.
…
HARRIS: I actually feel worried for America.
KLEPPER: And there’s plenty to be worried about. In the wake of the Dobbs decision and JD Vance’s crusade against childless cat ladies, critics fear a second Trump term would be a Handmaid’s Tale dystopia, although Trump says he’ll be great ladies.
DONALD TRUMP: As president, I have to be your protector… you’ll no longer be abandoned, lonely, or scared… you will now longer be thinking about abortion.
KLEPPER: So, next up, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and I figured I’d bring some friends who don’t buy the whole protector narrative, Corinne Fisher and Krystyna Hutchinson, host of the sex-positive, anti-slut shaming podcast, Guys We Fucked.
…
KLEPPER: But, there’s another issue, MAGA refuses to rethink.
KRYSTYNA HUTCHINSON: What do you think about women’s rights, like a woman's right to choose what to do with her body?
FEMALE TRUMP SUPPORTER 2: The abortion issue, that’s a sticky issue for people. I am pro-life.
FEMALE TRUMP SUPPORTER 3: Pro-life, pro-life, pro-life, pro-life.
FEMALE TRUMP SUPPORTER 4: It should not be a form of birth control.
HUTCHINSON: I’ve never met a woman that uses abortion as birth control.
FEMALE TRUMP SUPPORTER 4: I’ve seen a lot on TV, I’ve seen a lot in the streets when I’m downtown working.
HUTCHINSON: Abortions?
CORINNE FISHER: Abortions on the streets?
FEMALE TRUMP SUPPORTER 2: I don’t think babies need to be killed in the womb and I certainly don’t think they should be killed after they’re born.
HUTCHINSON: But that’s not happening because that’s murder.
