The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Trump's Botched Tariff Rollout & Market Meltdown | Rahm Emanuel
Tue, 08 Apr 2025
Jon Stewart on the fallout from Trump's tariffs, a stock market in a near-recession free fall, and the GOP's spin of the economic turmoil as "no biggie." Rahm Emanuel, former ambassador to Japan under Biden and a current advisor at investment-banking firm Centerview Partners, joins Jon Stewart to talk about the United States’ international trade predicament in the wake of Trump’s tariffs. They discuss why it’s one of the most “reckless” things done by a president, why he thinks these policies gave China a “get-out-of-jail-free” card, his experience under the Obama administration, and why he believes a Democratic governor could be the one to turn the party around.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Chapter 1: What is the introduction to this episode?
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, Jon Stewart.
Nice to see you. Say, say, say. We got a good one for you tonight. I'm sorry.
Chapter 2: How did Trump's tariffs affect the economy?
I was just... I was just... I was just... No, stop. Say, say, say. We got time. Can I tell you something? And I mean this sincerely. Ever since we started spraying the audience with cocaine before the show... Welcome to The Daily Show. My name is Jon Stewart. Great show for you tonight. Rahm Emanuel will be joining me later to remind me. He'll be out here.
Reminding me just which one of the three brothers he is again. I don't know. Is he the one that owns UFC? Does it matter at this point? But that is later. First, as you know, our economy... Our economy is in the midst of a beautiful metamorphosis. Turning from a simple caterpillar into a dead caterpillar. So let's get into it with another exciting installment of Trade Wars.
My favorite word. My favorite word.
Terrence!
Terrence! Now, you might remember when Donald Trump was reelected, Wall Street was thrilled, excited about deregulation, tax cuts, and the fact that you could once again call people sugar tits.
One top banker told the paper that he feels liberated because now he can use offensive slurs like the R-word and the P-word without fear of getting canceled at work. Mm.
The R-word and the P-word? Well, I can tell you today that that top banker is definitely using both of those words. Perhaps even adding motherfucker.
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Chapter 3: What was the market reaction to the tariffs?
Right now. The market meltdown for the third straight day. Global markets are sinking. Markets across Asia, Europe, and Australia plunging. At one point this morning, the Dow sinking almost 1,600 points. The market's lost more than $6.5 trillion in value.
This is an economic Armageddon.
Where's a Hawaiian shirt to an economic armageddon? What are we doing here? But they pull you in from the pool? Either Financial Channel's Rodney Dangerfield or something? I told my wife about the stock plunge. She said, oh, I thought you guys would never go down there. No, no, no. Haven't done that one in a while.
This turmoil could have lasting effects on the global economy, on everyday Americans, and most worryingly, the stock portfolios of members of Congress. Mr. President, now is the time to soothe a worried nation.
Donald Trump put this out on social media. Don't be weak, don't be stupid, don't be a panikin, which he has termed a new party based on weak and stupid people.
The genius who gave us classics like Sleepy Joe and Crooked Hillary just shit out, you're a panic cat? How about hysterocrats? Rapussicans? How about cryontologists? Did the overseas factory you had been sourcing your nicknames from get shut down during the tariff war? So we're going to try this again, Mr. President. Can you ease the fears of this nation like a true leader?
President Trump holding firm, posting on Truth Social, only the weak will fail.
Your economic policy has the same tagline as season three of Squid Game? That's supposed to make us feel better? Only the weak shall die in my economy. By the way, in case you didn't get the point that he doesn't give a f***. He spent the weekend showing, not telling. He played not a round of golf this weekend, a tournament of golf, a three-day tournament.
812 holes of golf with his live golf Saudi benefactors. And in case you're wondering about the venerated journalists who are now allowed to be in the press pool, this was literally the first question he was asked on Air Force One in the middle of a financial meltdown.
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Chapter 4: How does Jon Stewart critique Trump's economic strategies?
Don't panic. Calm down. Everything's going to be okay. I would not worry at all.
The Dow's actually in the same place it was in August. Do me a favor. Don't look at your stock portfolio.
You know what? I don't really care about my 401k.
Live, laugh, love. That's what I always say. You know what I say to all you? It's 401k somewhere. And when did the right become so chill? Aren't you the Bud Lights turning my kids trans, folks? But economic meltdown and you're getting all philosophical? Losing money costs you nothing.
This is just the reality of life. Like, were you young and dumb? How much money did you lose? Everyone loses money. Everyone loses money. It costs you nothing.
Except money. Losing money costs you money. It's the definition of losing money. And I know you go, well, it's going to be worth it to get the character of the country that we want back again. But we have no f***ing idea if that's actually what's going to happen. You're all acting like the tariff regime is a tried and true remedy. Oh, of course. This is the medicine that's always prescribed.
Except the last time it was tried 100 years ago, we had a Great Depression.
So how does this work? It's just a big game of economic operation as he's sticking things in, trying to take out tariffs. It's like, you know, when you're my age, you got to get a colonoscopy. You need a full colonic, like, to feel better. You know what I mean? A rat poison can kill somebody in the wrong dosages, but in the right dosages, that can be very healthy for the patient.
So everyone relax. This is merely a routine rat poison colonoscopy. By the way, what's the right dosage of rat poison? Oh, if you get enough of it, hey, your headache will be gone. And by the way, I mean, this is slightly off topic, but the colonoscopy guy? His name is John Tobacco? That's a witness protection thing, isn't it? So here's how it's going to go. Your new name is John Tobacco.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of Trump's trade policies?
Don't panic, okay? You've got a president who understands business.
I am grateful for a commander-in-chief that has the business acumen. Luckily, we have a businessman in the White House right now.
The president did write the book, The Art of the Deal. Trump is a master negotiator and he does know the art of the deal.
We're supposed to trust this guy because he wrote The Art of the Deal. You ever say, I got the book. I got the book, Art of the Deal. Yeah, that's why we're supposed to trust him. You ever look at Chapter 9 in Art of the Deal? It's about how smart Trump is about his casino in Atlantic City. Oh, oh, yeah, Chapter 9. I built a casino in Atlantic City. I'm a business genius.
Whatever happened to the casino, Donald? Trust me. Look, you make a big announcement, but your reciprocal tariff formula was just the trade deficit divided by imports equation. And when you got busted on that, you threw out this ridiculous calculus problem that's just shapes that it boils down to the trade deficit divided by imports.
which is the formula that got the rich country of Lesotho hit with 50% tariffs. Lesotho. Yo, your free ride's over, you denim-making fat cats. But we continue to blame everybody else in the world that we designed and policed after World War II. We're the richest country in the world ever. We're not the world's victims. If we have inequalities in this country, that's on us.
It's not a supply problem. It's not unfair trade for the most part. It's an investment and distribution problem. It's our f***ing fault. And I'm not saying we can't make adjustments and renegotiate things, but it didn't have to be this reckless. You killed the hostage and then went, so, ransom?
Some of the biggest stock market declines since the Great Depression. The worst three consecutive sessions since 1987.
Even worse than it was during the 2008 financial crisis. Their worst day since June 2020 during the COVID pandemic.
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Chapter 6: Who is Rahm Emanuel and what insights does he provide?
What is this, the 40s? Yeah, yeah. I'll give you an Excedrin and a Paul Maul, and you'll be fine. Oh, you're lucky I didn't... For God's sake. I can give you something McKinley used. Here we go. Oh, don't do that. So I had a dog, and the dog would go outside, and he would eat whatever he could find outside, and generally things that a dog shouldn't eat. I'm worried where this is going.
He comes back into the house. Everything's fine. And you would go out. In the middle of the night, he would wake up, and he would vomit on the bed. I would turn the light on, and I would look to try and go get stuff to clean it. Then he would eat the vomit... And then look at me and go, I did good, right? Do you see what I'm saying? Isn't that what this is?
Trump, I guarantee you, here's what's going to happen. Trump is going to announce he's going to eat the vomit and look at the country and go, huh?
He's giving China a get out of jail card. They were in the doghouse with everybody. They were isolating. They were destroying steel plants in Chile. They were destroying steel plants in South Africa.
But they had Belt and Road. They were making tons of relationships with people.
But they were also exporting all their economic problems domestic all over the world. Yes. And they had a lot.
Party manufacturing in Malaysia. All over the world.
Yes, yes, yes. And they were isolated. And they were becoming a problem for everybody. We are going to be the safe haven. We've now become the problem. We've given them a get out of jail card. This is, listen, the way I look at it, March Madness used to be about basketball. Right. Now, it's about the Trump administration. You used to do brackets. Now you do 401ks. And you used to do portfolios.
I've never seen anything... I like my dog vomit metaphor much better than yours. I feel like mine was very direct. Yours... Now I'm thinking about seeding and everything else.
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