All right, welcome back. I'm here with my panel.
First up,
(applause and cheering)
And
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You can see him in the spring premiere episode
of
on Wednesday, March 30 at 9:00 p.m. on Fox.
Actor Jussie Smollett, everybody.
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And for everyone at home, join our conversation right now
on Twitter @NightlyShow, using the hashtag #Tonightly.
Okay, so, we've been talking about Trump this week.
SMOLLETT: Oh, damn. Oh!
-And we've talked about him every night. -SMOLLETT: Oh!
Well, here's the thing. Here's the thing I wanted to cover.
So, the media's been extremely Trump heavy
in their coverage of this election.
I mean, he's gotten more air time-- this is true--
than the entire Democratic field
and three times more attention than Rubio and Cruz, okay.
So, do we think Trump is the creation of the media?
Is he the creation of media, or is he just exploiting it?
Ooh, I think he's just exploiting it.
-Hell, yeah. -He's good at it, though.
I have to remind you that he had a very mediocre television show
-filled with... -(laughter)
-How dare you, Franchesca! -(laughter)
-Listen, it was full of D-list celebrities. -Yeah.
-And it was ratings gold... -D list?
-Um, Gary Busey. Hello! -Oh, my God.
ALBANESE: Um, hello. National treasure Gary Busey.
SMOLLETT: I think, though, at the same time, though,
what we have to realize is that yes,
he's-he's manipulating the media,
but the media is letting him for ratings.
Do you know what I'm saying? I think that
we can all agree with that. You know what I'm saying?
It's just, and we've come into...
we're in this world right now where we're... we're stuck
-with this reality-TV world, -WILMORE: Yeah.
but this is... reality TV is fun,
but not when we're talking about the presidency
-of the United States of America. -RAMSEY: Whoo!
-(cheering, applause) -That's not what we're talking about.
But it's funny that you said that,
'cause here's a quote from Les Moonves--
he's the head of CBS now.
He says-- he's talking about the coverage of Trump.
He says, "But, you know-- it may not be good for America,
"but it's damn good
for CBS, that's all I got to say."
He's admitting it's a horrible thing!
So... are we... is the media...
SMOLLETT: Yo, at least the brother is admitting it.
-Yes. -'Cause all the other people are like,
"Aw, yeah..." Well, they know that it's the truth.
It's the truth. It's horrible to say, but it's the truth.
But I feel like the media's, like, in an abusive relationship
-with Trump, you know what I'm saying? -RAMSEY: No.
-It's all right, baby, I'm not gonna... -No, because to say
that they're in an abusive relationship with Trump
would be to say that they are being abused
and they are not victims.
The media's not victims and Trump is not a victim.
So for that, they're not in an abusive relationship.
But America is the victim!
We
Or we're going to be if we continue to be like,
Ah-ha-ha-ha, Trump, ha-ha-ha-ha, Trump,"
until we're like, "Holy (bleep), that's Trump,
and he's in the freakin' White House."
WILMORE: Well, we've been saying that, right?
Well, first of all, let me just say this,
'cause I think through some sort of media conglomerate,
Les Moonves is our boss.
I think what you said is great, Les. Uh...
-(laughter) -Good call, Mr. Moonves, uh, good...
Um, but I think... the thing that's odd to me about this
is why we're all so surp... I'm surprised we're so surprised
that this is the guy.
Like, our leaders are a reflection of our society.
This is our society.
We prioritize fame, we prioritize, like, capitalism,
-greed, all the (bleep) Trump stands for, -Mm-hmm. Right.
and now we have him coming to the...
-Like, this is on us, do you know what I'm saying? -Yeah.
I agree, I agree with that, I agree with that,
but there are different types of prioritizing of fame
and wealth and things like that.
Are we also a nation that supposedly prioritizes
racism and bigotry
-and building walls... -RAMSEY: That's what built this country!
So that's really what we're talking about.
-Know what I'm saying? -No, I agree with you,
but I'm saying, are we a nation that supposedly does that? No.
But historically speaking, are we an extremely racist nation?
-Yes. Yes, we are. -That's what we need to be talking about.
'Cause to me, it's not about the money.
Listen, politics is about money.
At the end of the day, that's what their job is to do.
Their job is to raise funds for their campaign,
which is absolute bull(bleep) to begin with anyway.
-(whooping, applause) -But the point is...
the point is, the point is, though,
is that their job is to raise money.
We're talking about more than money.
There's nothing wrong with money.
WILMORE: You're talking about candidates?
Yeah. What's wrong with that is when money is then attached
to... hate.
And to me, Trump is the mogul of hate.
WILMORE: But here-here's the thing, Jussie.
Trump isn't raising money and he's not spending money.
This is what I mean.
The media is his campaign partner in this.
ALBANESE: Like, I agree-- the media is exploiting him.
WILMORE: Well, I wouldn't say they're exploiting him.
No, I... no, I think they are exploiting him,
'cause this... like, we're doing it right now.
Like, this is a money-making industry,
talking about Trump-- we're doing a show
-Very true. Very true. -about it right now, right?
Yeah, but we were doing shows before Trump was here,
-we'll do shows after Trump. -But CNN was doing shows
-before Trump, too. I'm saying right now -Right.
the way the media is run-- and it's broken,
the whole CNN, MSNBC system
is the same on the entertainment rating system.
They just want ratings.
So Trump is the way to get ratings, so it makes sense
that they're gonna be talking about him 24/7.
No, I understand that, but it's not... I mean,
it's not
-Right. -It's not like he's just saying this crazy (bleep)
in his living room, and some cameras showed up--
"You (bleep) got to watch this (bleep).
I mean, he's saying some crazy (bleep)."
But, you know, it's like, "Who is this guy!
"Thank-thank you, CNN!
"I never would've known about this guy.
But I'm gonna vote for him for president."
But I'll give you... like, I'll give you an example.
Like, you know, I was at
-when Bush became president. -Right.
Eight years of Bush at a comedy show--
but people were buying summer houses on that guy.
You know what I mean? So, like, there's a part of it
that's like, "All right, eight years of Trump--
like, I'm getting a jet ski." You know, like, it's, like...
See, we're all... like, you know, there is a feeding frenzy
around the clown, and he is the clown with tiny hands.
-We know that, you know? But... -WILMORE: We do know that.
There's a feeding frenzy.
WILMORE: Do you think the media plays favorites?
-What are we talking about? What, what? -Do-do you think
the media plays favorites outside of getting ratings,
do you think they actually play favorites in their coverage?
Sure, I think they do, and I think that that's the...
that's the terrible thing about the media,
especially in this day and age is that...
I'm sorry, I'm an absolute 1,000% liberal.
But I shouldn't even be looking at any network
and looking at a journalist and seeing
that they're obviously liberal or conservative.
I actually, as a journalist, I should be looking at
journalism and I should be looking at news channels
as only the truth, because there's-there's
always three sides to the story:
there's your side, my side and the truth.
If anything, news organizations are supposed to be
only reporting the truth and the facts
-and
it-it really does feel like a reality show.
-Yeah. -Yeah. -I mean, the GOP
is like an episode of
I... Ben Carson is the black girl that never had a chance.
Good-bye, I have to go. Farewell.
Honestly. And Donald Trump is the unhinged drama queen
who doesn't even like the bachelor
and just wants screen time and her own spinoff.
-Wow. -(cheering, applause) -And that's why
-they're getting so much attention. -So sad.
It's the exact same thing.
It's what we've been reduced to. All right. We'll be right back.