As Democrats struggle to define the future they want to create, we're joined by Ezra Klein, host of The New York Times podcast "The Ezra Klein Show" and co-author of "Abundance," to examine why turning progressive visions into reality has become so difficult. We explore how good intentions have created obstacles, how empowering officials can streamline government, and what could be achieved without bureaucratic constraints. 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the focus of Jon Stewart's introduction?
hey everybody welcome to the weekly show podcast my name is john stewart we are taping this on wednesday march 26th probably you probably get it thursday march 27th who knows what will be revealed in the secretive group chats of our nation's most powerful people between now and then perhaps lunch orders an egg salad with a Onions and celery on a nice pumpernickel.
Perhaps that's the order that went around. I've got to stand up on this situation for just one moment. A, this is why I don't do group chats. They're so fucking annoying. Not even when you're obviously planning on bombing another country.
But just in the sense, I think their group chat must have had what Pete Hegseth and the Department of Defense and the National Security Advisor Walts and generals and a journalist from the Atlantic. There must have been 16 or 18 people. The notifications alone would make me want to launch missiles.
Every fucking thumbs up emoji or bicep arm and fist pump and fire and every little, you got that right. I agree. And your phone, ding, ba-bing, ba-bing, ding. I would have thrown my phone out the window. It's maddening. There's got to be four people on a chat room or whatever they call them, text chain, all that other shit.
And Donald Trump, this is when he is at his best, when he gets that quick onset dementia. Anytime he gets caught in a situation that would require some accountability, he immediately goes into the, I don't even have a...
text i don't i've never heard about it this is the first i've heard about it you know they confronted him on there's classified information going on text change and there are it's it's not secure they're on fucking snapchat or wherever they're on and they've got a journalist on there and he's like i don't know what you're talking
hey man that's not me i do everything goodfellas style i go outside i go to the phone booth i talk to one person on the phone or we pass notes i don't do any of that kind of that kind of stuff he did the same with i think the deportation orders you know these deportation orders that The Justice Department says that they were illegal.
Well, whoever did them is in a lot of trouble, and I'll make sure to talk to them about it if I ever figure it out. I didn't sign it. I don't even know what a pen is. I don't have a pen. I don't use writing. I don't have hands. How could I have done it? It really is just a remarkable game of, hey, man, it wasn't me.
And the one thing nobody's actually really talked about is the crazy arrogance in this text chain and confidence. This whole like, fuck Europe, fuck these freeloaders, like all these countries. What did they ever do for us other than sign up to go fight in a war that we started over an event that didn't happen to them? Fuck them. I mean, it's just... The most myopic, selfish, arrogant.
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Chapter 2: How does bureaucracy affect government efficiency?
So I'm a huge fan of this book by Jen Polka called Recoding America, which it absolutely shows how the bodies are buried and how frustrating this is. But OK, so what I'm reading off of here is testimony that was offered by Sarah Morris, who was part of the Commerce Department. to Congress on March 4th, 2025. So everything I am telling you is valid post-Biden administration, right? March 4th, 2025.
So, okay. So we have to issue the notice of funding opportunity within 180 days. That's step one. Step two, which all 56 applicants completed, is states who want to participate must submit a letter of intent. After they do that, they can submit a request for up to $5 million in planning grants.
Then the NTIA, step four, has to review and approve and award, again, planning grants, not broadband grants, planning grants. And it's still at the NTIA.
It's still at the first step. Yes. Just out of curiosity, what is the half a year? What's going on in the 180 days between when this is passed as legislation and when they're going to notify people it's been passed and it's an opportunity?
So the NOFO is being – the Notice of Funding Opportunity is being written. And in the book, I actually spent a lot of time on the Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Chips and Science Act because that's not a small thing. And I don't have the NOFO for this in front of me. But the Notice of Funding Opportunity – NOFO.
For the grants that will go to semiconductor manufacturers to locate semiconductor fabs, as they're called in America. That NOFO was long. I read it. And it is just full of stuff. Sure. Look, I call this everything bagel liberalism, the tendency like an everything bagel, you put a little bit of stuff on the bagel and it's great. Delicious. And you put too much.
And if you saw the movie Everything Everywhere All at Once, it becomes a black hole from which nothing can escape. So notice of funding opportunities can make a project very complicated. When Chips and Science passed, I, a naive and idealistic policy reporter, thought, oh, good, we're going to give a bunch of semiconductor companies money to locate their plants here.
Oh.
Which is like a totally fine goal, but does the Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation know a lot about that? Or like, how are you gonna diversify your subcontractor chains? And there's a seven step process. And like one idea is maybe you can break deliveries into smaller subcategories. Like it's all this stuff. This is for your application. Yeah, this is for your application.
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