Transcript of Midterm Blowout: Dems Batter GOP & Elon Musk Is Out $500 Million | Erica Chenoweth

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From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central, it's America's only source for news. This is The Daily Show with your host, Michael Kosta.

Whoa, we got a big one, baby. Welcome to The Daily Show. I'm Michael Kosta. We have so much to talk about tonight. Oh my god, the midterms! Holy shit! It's so exciting. Let's just get into it. Last night was election night, and ho-oh-oh-oh, holy shit.

Democrats sweep the country, control Congress.

A stunning shift sending shock waves. Once in a generation, realignment.

Massive routs.

This was a shellacking.

Is it a shellacking? Is it a spanking? It's called a country-ass whooping.

A seismic political earthquake.

A blue wave.

Massive blue wave, a blue nomi.

That was a blue tsunami wrapped in a Cat 5 hurricane.

This is a volcanic eruption of blue Crayola.

It's so blue! The Blue Man Group and Bluey snorted the blue meth from Breaking Bad while singing "I'm Blue Doubu Dee Doubu Di." The point is, it was blue! Yes, last night was a blue nomi, a blue bonic plague, a blue clear bomb resulting in blue billy and human blasualties. Look, Democrats didn't just win the midterms yesterday. They made the midterms their bitch. They won the Senate.

And in South Carolina, Democrat Annie Andrews defeating the incumbent Darlene Graham. The state hasn't elected a Democrat since 1998.

Texas has not had a senator who is a Democrat since 1988.

The last time Kansas elected a Democratic senator, that senator was born in the year the light bulb was invented.

Wow. The year of the light bulb? That's huge. And now, with a Democrat in charge, it may be possible to finally bring that technology to Kansas. And just to give you a sense of how crazy this is, up until yesterday, this was the last Democrat elected to the Senate from Kansas. It was so long ago, they still thought a tie should go down to your nipples. But yes, Democrats weren't just cleaning up in blue states. They were winning seats in some of the most conservative places in America.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk. The SpaceX CEO spent $446 million this cycle, the most any non-candidate has ever spent on an election.

$500 million? There is no way Democrats could beat that.

His preferred Republican candidates, Ken Paxton for Senate in Texas, Vivek Ramaswamy for governor in Ohio, swamped by their Democratic opponents.

For Elon, half a billion dollars and absolutely nothing to show for it. I mean, that could have been three whole days of child support for him. Although I'd like to thank him for making the rest of us look great with money, right? Not when my wife is mad that I bought that new Wave runner. I can be like, well, at least I didn't spend $500 million trying to get a sloppy pervert elected in Texas. So look. Yeah, sloppy pervert. So look, this was undoubtedly an incredible night for Democrats.

Continuing with our election coverage, Idaho voters also weighed in on a proposed official state firearm. The ballot gave voters six historic and modern firearms to choose from.

Oh, wow. Well, it's nice to see the right to choose is alive and well in Idaho. In case you're wondering, the Winchester 1873 came in first. The losing gun went into the bathroom and put a smaller version of itself in its mouth. But as excited as Democrats were for last night's blue fast, blue furious, it was just as devastating for Republicans. And so last night was the time for some honest self-reflection from Trump supporters to figure out what went wrong.

In some sense, Mr. Trump was too successful in the first year and didn't sell it enough in the second year.

Of course. He didn't sell it enough. Because if there's one thing we know about Donald Trump, it's that he hates flaunting his own success. Oh, Donald, your great undoing was your humility. Does anyone want to be a little more realistic about why this loss was so monumental?

One of the most frustrating things for me as the White House press secretary was the bias of omission from the mainstream media. The president would sign an amazing executive order in the Oval Office that is helping people, that is uplifting people. The mainstream media wouldn't cover it.

Yes, of course. Hey, of course. If only the people had seen the amazing, uplifting, transformative executive orders that Trump gifted us like these.

We're going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario, effective immediately, to Lake America.

I'm going to sign an executive order to ensure that the second Saturday in December is preserved forever for the Army-Navy game.

This is an executive order relating to the use of paper straws.

Yes. Yes. Thanks to Donald Trump, we can now use plastic straws when siphoning gas out of our neighbor's car because we can't afford it. You guys recognize how bad a loss this was, right? You're not going to pretend that this is normal, are you?

Don't be discouraged because this is normal. This is what happens usually in a midterm.

What you're seeing is, historically, the party in power loses the midterms.

History matters. Midterms are very, very predictable.

Come on. Yes, typically, the president's party loses some ground in the midterms. You guys lost Kansas. You lost Texas. You couldn't even get South Carolina to vote for Lindsey Graham's sister widow. It's one thing to say that lots of couples have messy breakups. It's another thing to say that if you're OJ. Now, that's where we draw the line, Michael. Can anyone give me a sane, coherent explanation of why Trump lost?

I have tried to salvage Trump. I've not been sure. I invested so much. Maybe I was blind to it. I think he's the ultimate Democrat sleeper cell, and he works for them. He is a Democrat. I'll admit it. I was wrong. What about a long game, though? 10 years of this to us at the end?

Oh, yes. That's the good stuff. For more on President Trump's reaction to the midterms, let's go live to the White House with senior White House correspondent Troy Iwata. Troy, Troy, what a devastating night for the Republicans.

Yeah, sure was, Michael. Sure was. Hey, question. Are we still getting that $5,000?

What $5,000?

Yeah, remember when Trump was like, "Everyone gets $5,000 if Republicans win?" And everyone was like, "Oh, yay!" And then a lot of people went and spent that money already?

No, he only promised us the money if Republicans won and they lost.

Yeah, but I assumed it was like when your dad promised you ice cream if you get straight A's, and even when you didn't, he still takes you because you made a face like this. Anyway, in this case, this ice cream is $5,000, and I really need it.

Troy, I don't know what to tell you. The Republicans lost.

OK, well, not all of them. Some won. Yay! That's like $200.

Did you spend $5,000?

No, no, no. I just spent like $65,000.

What? On what?

On some really, really nice jeans.

What? $65,000 on jeans?

Yeah, Costa, walk with me. Do you remember in 2001 at the American Music Awards when Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake showed up together in those matching Canadian tuxedos?

You bought Justin's jeans.

No, no, no. I bought the jeans that he was wearing while he was standing next to Britney. This is so unfair. I can't lose those jeans.

Look, look, look. Forget about the money, Troy. Let's get back to analyzing the results. How is the president going to work with the Democrats?

I mean, well, it's going to be tough. I mean, if he doesn't want to be a lame duck, he'll have to find some common ground with them. You know what? Democrats like health care. So maybe he can work with them on a plan to give me $5,000.

For health care?

Who's talking about health care?

You are.

I'm talking about someone giving me $5,000.

Troy, pay attention to what's happening. This flip could force real change in this country and our relationships around the world. I mean, think about the conflict in Iran.

What's the conflict? Does Iran want $5,000?

No.

Goddamn it! Give it! Wow, today sucks. This is just it's just one of those days where I wish someone would take me for ice cream after the show.

You know what? Sure. I mean, let's get ice cream.

OK, great, great. Just give me $5,000. I'll go get it.

Get the out of here. Troy Iwata, everybody. When we come back, we find out how to heal the divide from last night. Don't go away.

Welcome back to The Daily Show. It's going to take weeks, if not months, for analysts to figure out what message voters were trying to send in yesterday's election. They'll have to dig into exit polling, research demographic trends, and I'm just with you. Everybody knows what happened. This is really one factor above all, and that is Donald Trump.

The midterms were a referendum on President Trump.

A resounding rebuke of President Trump. Both a referendum and rebuke. Stunning rejections of President Trump.

A wipeout repudiation of Donald Trump.

A categorical repudiation.

It was a rebuke, a repudiation, a rejection, a really bad result. I ran out of rewords. But of course, that's just almost everyone's opinion. If there's anyone brave enough to offer a different theory of these midterms.

President Trump saying, "I wasn't on the ballot, and if I was, we would have won in a landslide. Thank you for your attention to this matter."

Wow. That is that is the energy of someone who, completely unasked, loudly announced that he was not the one who clogged the toilet. Thank you for your attention to this matter. But whether or not this was Trump's fault, he remained his usual cheerful self, always looking at the bright side. The president has already celebrated at least one Republican win, and that is in Guam. President Trump says, which has always been considered strongly Democrat, Guam just had an early call for a Republican victory in the top spot, governor.

Today, President Trump, really appearing for the first time since Republicans wiped out last night, the president in an impromptu press gathering, spending the first 25 minutes talking about the final steel beam going into the new White House ballroom.

Just two more years of this, everybody. Yes. Trump is so committed to facing his post-midterm crisis head-on that he's already released a new message to Americans. <spk:31> After last night's historic midterm elections, President Trump wants you to know he's heard you, America.

We ordered the marble for the floor. The marble is a cut. It's a vein that people have been after for 50 years. <spk:31> That's right. President Trump knows there are serious issues affecting working Americans. And that's why the White House ballroom is getting a special vein of marble flooring from a guy who likes him. And the owner of the quarry didn't want to sell it, but he liked me. <spk:31> Voters are asking, "How will I pay for groceries? Can I afford health care? And what floor should the kitchen be on?"

When we come back, Erica Chenoweth will be joining me. Don't go away.

Welcome back to The Daily Show. My guest tonight is a political scientist and professor at Harvard Kennedy School and also the author of Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know. Please welcome Erica Chenoweth. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. OK, so I'm excited to talk to you. I've wanted to talk to you for a long time. I was at a No Kings rally last year.

Sure. So thanks for having me, Michael.

You're welcome.

The 3.5% rule is basically the idea that no mass movements had failed during the 20th century against dictatorships once they had reached the active participation of about 3.5% of the population.

OK. That in the United States is roughly 11 million, 12 million people?

About 12 million people.

But that doesn't seem like it because this audience is 200 people. 3.5% is seven people. Are you telling me there are seven people up there that have this much power to overthrow me, the dictator of this show? No. No cheering at that. Can that small amount of people make change for real?

So a couple of caveats because you know I'm an academic, so we have those.

Yes, yes.

The first is that it was really particular to a period of history, from 1900 to 2006, and a particular set of campaigns. But the other thing is that a historical observation doesn't necessarily predict the future.

Okay.

So we don't know what would happen if that same number tried to mount a nonviolent uprising here.

Yes.

That said.

Yes.

What we do know is that the folks in the audience might be made up of all kinds of different kind of societal pillars, like faith leaders, labor unions, businesses, and people who have various interests in standing up for democracy.

You are giving this audience way too much respect. OK, but continue. Yes, yes.

The idea is that if that group of seven people coalesced around a shared goal that was compelling to at least some of those people in those different societal sectors and started to impact them and motivate them to organize and take action themselves, that's how you start to see the impacts of even a small minority of people become a popular movement that can really build power.

Does this also include what happened yesterday and voting? Is that a 3.5%? Because clearly, we've had more than 3.5% of people showed up yesterday.

So my colleague Steve Levitsky likes to say that people struggle for democracy in the courts, in the streets, and at the polls.

OK.

We have seen over the past two years all kinds of different civic groups, voting rights groups, and legal groups bringing suit against the Trump administration.

Yep.

We have seen huge numbers of people turn out in the streets in nonviolent protest and for their neighbors and their communities to protect them. And yesterday, the voters had their say.

Yep.

And so all three things are what supports a democracy movement.

Sustained what's the word you use for this for 3.5%? You can't just show up once. That's the part that kind of sucks. It's a sustained, organized nonviolent is that right? Am I saying that correctly?

Yeah. So in all of the different campaigns that my colleague Maria and Stephan and I studied, which is the sort of origins of the data behind that figure.

Yep.

All of them were situated inside longer-term movements that were using not just protests, but also different organizing techniques, different forms of non-cooperation, like strikes and boycotts and such. And they were also doing other things very well, which is what propelled what might have seemed like a small minority into having major impact and influence on all kinds of different elements of society in support of democracy.

One of the stories that really shook me this year was when Jimmy Kimmel was canceled. They said indefinitely at the time. He came back three or four days later. But there was a non-cooperation of many thousands of people canceled their Disney accounts. I believe the stock fell. But is that an example of that? Should we be doing more of this?

So that is a great example of what people call.

Beautiful.

Non-cooperation, which is basically withholding support for the thing that people are expected to do to just go along with an authoritarian power grab, in this case, you know, regulation or, you know, a regulatory moment.

Yeah.

And so that is a great example of where people can withhold funds. They can unsubscribe. They can do consumer boycotts of various kinds. And that can compel, persuade, pressure businesses in this case to do the right thing.

Sometimes it can feel like taking on the president of the United States is too big of a task. But you've spoken before about there are targets that are lower down the rung that can make as much of a difference. Am I saying that correctly?

I think most people who study civil resistance and nonviolent action would argue that it's rarely possible to melt the heart of a dictator.

Right.

But what you can do is constrain his options and begin to withhold the social, political, and economic power and the pillars that they need in order to do what they want.

You've talked about the four factors: momentum, organization, strategic leadership, and sustainability. Let's start with momentum. How are we doing?

So momentum usually just means that a movement is building power.

Okay.

And it's beginning to assert pressure on an opponent. And that's usually some combination of growing in its participation base and the diversity of the participation base.

Yep.

And also, we're beginning to see changes in public opinion. You'd be seeing, you know, electoral results that are surprising.

Yep.

And maybe surpass expectations. That would be a great indicator of momentum.

Organization. I mean, I was introduced to your work through No Kings. Based on participation numbers, it feels like that is growing. Is that an example of an organization that has the right momentum and moving towards the right goal?

I think the emphasis on organization is basically just the ability of a movement to be resilient and to be able to have a strategic way of understanding the conflict and be able to stick to its own plan, even as misinformation happens, even as escalation of violence might happen against a movement. And so movements that are engaged in organizing and also build organizations through which people can plug into a broader societal effort are likely more likely to succeed than those that try to, you know, just sort of protest and hope for the best.

It feels like protesting feels good and does send a message, but there's other shit we can do, right? And that's this word I love, mass non-cooperation, economic protest and boycotts. What are other examples of that?

Yeah. So during the South African anti-apartheid movement, non-cooperation played a really important role in shifting the willingness of the business community there to basically support reformist politicians that were willing to do business with the ANC and begin to transition the country toward a democratic transition. And those included things like Black townships refusing to buy for, you know, weeks or months on end and engaging in strikes, limited strikes, in order to really impact the economic situation there.

Do you think my six and three-year-old are engaged in mass non-cooperation against me to give me the most financial impact against our family's financial future?

My experience with young children of that age is that they understand non-cooperation very well.

Very well, yes.

Yeah.

Why nonviolence? I mean, I know look, you're thinking it, too. Violence creates an immediate reaction, a big reaction. Are you sure that nonviolence is more successful than violence?

So I think the way to think about it is it can be helpful to think about how Gandhi thought about it, which was linking.

Usually what I do with my problems.

Linking the ends to the means. So if what one is struggling for is a more democratic future, then using the means that can build toward a democratic future, build new constituencies and coalitions that can work together and resolve conflicts peacefully, which is effectively what democracy is, then using nonviolent action to get democracy is one of the most robust findings in the social science literature, actually, which is if countries want to be democratic, small-d democratic, nonviolent resistance is an important pathway to get there.

Yeah, please. Is part of what's challenging maybe about this in the United States is that it feels like our foundation, the Revolutionary War against the Brits, was a violent moment. And am I accurate in connecting it through in a violent way?

There's a very interesting correspondence that was pointed out to me through the writings of Walter Concert, who's a historian, where John Adams actually wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson about a historian of their time who was going to be writing a history of the American Revolution. And what he said to Jefferson was, I really hope that when he talks about the revolution, he understands what the real revolution was. It had nothing to do with the war. He said the war was an effect and a consequence of the revolution which preceded it.

Wow.

And so.

That's some powerful shit.

Yeah.

You know, to think of it that way is so powerful, to think that our forefathers were also doing momentum, organization, strategic leadership, and sustainability. By the way, you guys know you can listen to the Declaration of Independence on Spotify, and it's like three minutes. And it's powerful. Did I interrupt your thought? OK. Big win for the Dems last night. Where do we go from here? Is thinking of it as wins and losses a futile exercise?

You know, I think the most important thing for Americans to think about today is that part of what happened over the past few years is we've seen a huge amount of engagement of the American public into the future of the country. And they should keep that going, not just because of who wins or loses, but because the whole point of the American experiment was for each of us to play our part. And so if people had newly voted yesterday or in the weeks before during early voting, I hope that they become lifelong voters.

Yeah.

If people joined their first protest in the last couple of years because they felt like things were just wrong and it was time for them to stand up, I hope they join an organization and a group where they live, and they continue to express their conscience and start to think about ways.

Yeah.

Start to think about ways that they can continue to influence and impact their own environments and the future of the country. The most important thing I think that comes out of the sort of social science research on this is that we can do together what we can't do alone. So people should just stick together.

I yeah. Yeah. It brings great comfort for me to talk with you and to read your work because there's a, hey, you can do it, and also, it's hard to do it. But we need that. And I just thank you for coming and talking with us. I so appreciate it. Check out "Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know," Professor Erica Chenoweth. We'll take a quick break. Be right back after this.

But before we go, let's check in with your host tomorrow, Jordan Klepper. Jordan. Jordan, what are you going to have for us?

Well, Michael, tomorrow we'll be taking time to remember some of the Patriots we lost in the blue wave. Like Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton, we send our condolences to his family and his secret family. To Ohio Senate loser John Huston, we hate to see you go, but Donald Trump loves to watch your sweet ass leave. And of course, Maine Senator Susan Collins, who will now be taking her deep concerns to the private sector. And finally, goodbye to Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

I have something that you guys don't have here at the White House. We have, over my shoulder, welding over at the Ballroom Project. The construction does not stop even on an election night. And those guys, it just stopped right there, I guess.