As America braces for a second Trump administration, we're joined by historian Jon Meacham to place our current moment within the broader sweep of U.S. history. Together, we examine whether Trump's explicit rhetoric about territorial expansion and open billionaire support truly represents something unprecedented, reflect on how the Biden administration might be remembered, and consider what patterns from our past tell us about America's future. Follow The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart on social media for more: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@weeklyshowpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weeklyshowpodcast TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@weeklyshowpodcast X: https://x.com/weeklyshowpod BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/theweeklyshowpodcast.com Host/Executive Producer – Jon Stewart Executive Producer – James Dixon Executive Producer – Chris McShane Executive Producer – Caity Gray Lead Producer – Lauren Walker Producer – Brittany Mehmedovic Video Editor & Engineer – Rob Vitolo Audio Editor & Engineer – Nicole Boyce Researcher & Associate Producer – Gillian Spear Music by Hansdle Hsu — This podcast is brought to you by: ZipRecruiter Try it for free at this exclusive web address: ziprecruiter.com/ZipWeekly Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 4: How does Jon Meacham analyze the peaceful transfer of power?
And then we went to the subcommittee.
Are they ever like, Dad, you know, they make roller coasters. You can get on them?
No, no, no. We don't do that. We're very, very serious here. So, and I came back and I do my TV stuff from my basement. Mm-hmm. And so I was doing, say, commenting at, say, 11 p.m., And it had really been a kind of, again, unsettling moment where you had an incumbent president trying to bully a former vice president. It just wasn't where we wanted to be, in my view.
And it was one of these things where President Trump had kept sort of talking about the mayor of Moscow. He was speaking in this kind of Fox News.
That's right. Russia, Russia, Russia and all that. Yeah.
And different illusions I didn't fully understand. So I was sitting there talking probably to Brian Williams and what do you think? And I said, you know, something to the following effect. You know, Donald Trump basically appeals to the white man's lizard brains. And it's sort of this elemental thing, which is what I meant.
Now, that was a gift wrapped to right wing ecosystem because suddenly it became that I had called Trump supporters lizard brains. Right. And it was fairly, there were threats, you know, there was, you know, all that stuff. Familiar with that. Yeah, absolutely you are. More so. And it was a lesson to me that you can't walk into it.
The basic point I was trying to make was that there is an elemental feel here. Greenland is part of that. Right. It's like, all right, we, as you were just saying, we want to grab it. One of the things that worries me most, and tell me if you're seeing this in your world, I think this exhaustion, the resistance exhaustion is a very real thing.
Oh, no, I think there's, there's no question about that. I think, you know, you, you spoke of, you know, January 6th and 2020 being a demarcation point for you. And I, and I feel the same way, you know, we can talk about degrees of,
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Chapter 5: What role does historical context play in understanding current events?
We have both.
What do they got for us? Hopefully they've had a nice break as well.
Yeah, they gave us some really thoughtful feedback over the break.
Yeah, let me hear it.
Um, John, I grew up watching you and enjoy your program all the time. I wish you knew how crazy you have become. Not as bad as Colbert, but nonetheless, very bad.
Very bad. You know what I love about all those? It's always like, I've been a fan of yours my whole life. I love everything you do, but you've really made a turn. And I'm like, you haven't watched a minute of me.
Oh, I've got more.
Because I'm the same dumb asshole I have been since the start, unfortunately. Yeah, what's the other? Is it all along that sort of- There's a theme. Yeah, the theme is always like, you were great until now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay.
You're smiling. You love this.
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