-The GOP and Fox News are lying
about the state of the economy under Joe Biden
and attempting to purge from their ranks anyone
who dared vote for a bipartisan infrastructure bill.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Cheering and applause ] ♪♪
There is a fundamental asymmetry between the left and the right,
which is that one side is,
for all its many flaws, at least interested
in attempting to govern competently.
The other side, meanwhile, has been captured
by a cult-like movement filled with authoritarian weirdos
and cartoon gangsters who always look like
they've either been chugging white wine spritzers
[ Laughter ] after everyone turns on them at a "Real Housewives" reunion
or they just got hit in the balls
[ Laughter ] with a swinging paint can by Kevin McCallister.
Although, in fairness, Rudy usually looks more like
he's just realized he's been left home alone by his parents.
[ Laughter ]
[ As Giuliani ] Oh, no. How am I going to take care of myself?
I'm only 800 years old.
[ Laughter ]
For example, there's been a global climate summit
in Glasgow, where world leaders have been gathering
to tackle the existential threat posed by climate change.
And one of the major speakers was former President Obama
and, before he got to the serious stuff,
he, once again, started out
with some of his trademark stand-up comedy material.
-I am a private citizen now,
so trips like this feel a little bit different than they used to.
I don't get invited to the big group photo.
Traffic is a thing again.
[ Laughter ]
Music doesn't play when I walk into the room.
[ Laughter ]
On the positive side, I can give a speech like this
without wearing a tie
and not create a scandal back home.
[ Laughter ] -Now that's what you'd think,
but Fox News is going to go wall-to-wall with coverage
of your open collar and a headline like...
[ Laughter ] or...
[ Laughter ] But, more importantly, man,
this guy always has new comedy material.
Now he's doing bits about what it's like being out of office.
I don't know how relatable it is, though.
[ As Obama ] You know that thing where, one day,
you're the most powerful man in the world
and, the next day, your, uh,
wife is counting your Allman's?
[ Laughter ]
"No!"
[ Laughter ]
But, after he was done testing out new stand-up material,
Obama talked about the responsibility of rich nations
and rich people to take the lead in solving the climate crisis,
so that the burden of switching to renewable energy
doesn't fall disproportionately on the poor and working-class.
-A country like the U.S., with a higher
per capita carbon footprint does have to do more
than a country like Mali or Bangladesh.
It's also why we need to make sure
the people most affected by the transition to clean energy
aren't the ones bearing most of the cost.
They don't have any margin for error.
I can afford to give up a lot of my current lifestyle
to benefit the planet
because I'll still have a lot left over.
A lot of folks don't have that cushion.
-He's right on both counts -- most people don't have
that cushion, but Obama does. I mean, look at him.
Remember how he aged like 20 years in office?
[ Laughter ] Well, somehow, he's aged backwards
[ Laughter ] like 20 years, after he left office.
It's like when a friend who was in a miserable marriage
posts pics of herself on a beach in Cozumel after her divorce.
"Damn, Janice!
[ Laughter ]
You look good!"
Obama looks like a hotshot investor on "Succession,"
[ Laughter ] who's threatening to take control of the company.
In next week's episode, he has to convince Cousin Greg
to come over to his side.
[ As Greg ] Um, yeah, I'm, uh, I'm pretty sure
that, uh, Logan told me not
to, uh, consort [ Laughter and applause ]
with any ex-presidents or other high-ranking luminaries,
or I could end up, in his words, uh,
"pretty well [bleep]."
[ Laughter and applause ] Now, again, that's not to say
Democrats are doing enough to tackle climate change
or that Obama couldn't have done more when he was president.
He could've done more then
and Democrats could be doing more now.
They still need to get their massive
social spending bill across the finish line
to invest in clean energy, among many other things,
but, in addition to dealing with obstructionists
in their own caucus, who seem hell-bent
on protecting fossil fuels, they're also up against a GOP
and right-wing media apparatus filled with shameless liars
who have no interest in doing anything at all
about the effects of climate change.
For example, here's the lieutenant governor of Texas,
explaining, in the dumbest way possible,
[ Laughter ] why he thinks wind and solar power don't work.
-You cannot run America
on green energy.
We have to have thermal gas. we have to have coal,
and we have to have nuclear.
We saw it in our freeze last year in Texas.
We needed more thermal gas, not more Green New Deal.
We were an example last year, quite frankly, in the freeze,
that, when we needed to rely on renewables,
they weren't there.
What happens if you go all-green
and destroy the oil and gas industry;
and the coal industry in Wyoming and West Virginia?
You can't rely on the wind to always blow
or the sun to be out.
[ Laughter ] -Well, that's not how it works, you dingus.
[ Laughter ] Did these people learn about renewable energy
from a Hallmark card?
[ Laughter ]
Do these people genuinely not realize that renewable energy,
just like any other form of energy, can be stored?
Have they never heard of batteries?
When your TV remote dies,
do you just jam a lump of coal in there?
[ Laughter ]
Do they also think you can't get electricity,
unless you catch it with a key attached to a kite?
[ Laughter ] "Honey, storm's coming!
I think we'll have enough lightning
to watch an episode of 'House Hunters'!"
[ Laughter ] Also, none of what he said
about the Texas blackouts is true.
The vast majority of the power failure
during the winter blackout came from fossil fuels.
And, of course, it wasn't the Green New Deal's fault.
Obviously, most of the failures came from coal and gas.
It's Texas. The TV show "Dallas" was
about a family who was rich from oil, not wind.
[ Laughter ] When we finally found out who shot J.R.,
it was his sister-in-law Kristin,
not a windmill with a gun.
[ Laughter ]
Moving on.
I'm sorry, Wally, is there a problem?
-Uh, could've used a spoiler alert
before you ruined "Dallas"!
[ Laughter ]
-You are still going to watch "Dallas,"
a show from 40 years ago?
-I am watching "Dallas."
I just finished Season 3 and you just ruined Season 4!
[ Laughter ] -Oh, my God! Next, you're going to tell me you don't know
Henry Blake's plane was shot down on "M-A-S-H."
-It was?!
[ Laughter ]
-I am so sorry about this bit, everybody,
but the network suggested that,
since Taylor Swift was on the show,
we should reference the kind of television shows
that her fans watch, like "Dallas" and "M-A-S-H."
[ Laughter and applause ]
You understand.
[ Cheering ]
They had heard the audience would be full
of Loretta Switties.
[ Laughter ]
Anyway, the point is, these people are willingly --
So --
Anyway, the point is -- Guys, the point.
Can we please leave that in the past?
[ Laughter ]
The point is these people are willing
to lie so brazenly and shamelessly about anything,
and that includes the current economic situation.
There's no doubt there are serious issues,
between inflation and the supply chain crisis,
but, last night, Fox host Laura Ingraham tried
to compare the economic records of Trump and Biden,
in the most deceptive way possible.
See if you can catch what's misleading about this graphic.
-During Trump's presidency and before the pandemic,
164,579,000 Americans were working,
but, under Biden, a staggering
3,121,000 fewer [ Laughing ] Americans are
in the workforce. -Huh.
I can't get remember. Did anything major happen
[ Laughter ] between those two numbers?
I'm sorry if I'm a little foggy.
I was trapped in an attic for a few months,
[ Laughter ] wiping down doorknobs with Lysol
and hoarding the last scraps of toilet paper
I could buy off the black market,
while slowly descending into a madness
so fully encompassing that, for long stretches of time,
I could only hear my own thoughts
in the voice of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
[ Laughter ] [ As Lindell ] Oh, darn it!
I forgot to buy milk at the grocery store.
I better go back before my wife realizes
all I bought was a six-pack of
da beers.
[ Laughter ] Now, not only are Republicans
and Fox News lying about the economy,
they're also so fundamentally opposed
to addressing those issues,
or even having a functioning government,
that they're now threatening to purge
any Republicans from their ranks
who voted for Biden's infrastructure bill.
Marjorie Taylor Greene called them traitors
and former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said
they should be stripped of their committee assignments.
Trump himself blasted those Republicans in a speech
that he later released himself in highlight reel form.
-I say it with a heavy heart.
No, thank you goes to those in the House and Senate
who voted for the Democrats non-infrastructure bill,
also known as the Democrat presidential reelection bill.
It's only 11% was infrastructure, by the way,
11% of that bill.
Much of it's Green New Deal crap.
Just like throwing money out the window.
But you gave Biden a victory,
as his poll numbers were falling off a cliff.
[ Laughter ] -Sorry, but you did have four years
to pass an infrastructure bill
and you wasted it whining about CNN's ratings
and drawing graffiti on weather maps.
[ Laughter ] That's a joke from our new segment, "Remember That?"
♪♪
[ Laughter ]
When the president defaced a weather map with a Sharpie
because he lied about a hurricane?
[ Laughter ]
The only way it could've been more obvious is
if he tagged it with his initials.
[ Laughter ]
This has been "Remember That?"
♪♪ [ Cheering and laughter ]
[ Applause ] But that's where we're at now --
keeping roads and bridges from falling apart
is considered giving Democrats a win,
instead of doing something good for the country.
If Republicans had their way, the Verrazzano Bridge
would just be an off-ramp into the water
and New Yorkers would have to get to Brooklyn
from Staten Island via kayak.
[ Laughter ] [ Italian accent ] Oh!
What's with this freaking thing?
If it were any smaller, I'd have to leave my balls
in the glove compartment. Oh!
[ Laughter ]
Also, Biden's numbers were falling off a cliff?
Biden's numbers are in the toilet, for sure,
but the only recent president with worse numbers was you.
This is like if you walked into the Jets locker room
and you heard them making fun of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
That's right, everybody, we are still doing Jets jokes
after they failed to win back-to-back games.
And thank God. It's the last
easy New York punch line we have,
now that the Knicks got good, LaGuardia's been renovated,
and de Blasio's leaving office.
Even the Cigarette Smoking Cockroach
is using a nicotine patch now.
[ Laughter and applause ]
[ Raspy smoker's voice ] It's not the same,
but it takes the edge off.
[ Laughter ]
The major divide in our politics right now is
that one movement, for its many flaws,
is actively interested in doing things,
while the other is trying to purge anyone
who participates in making our government function,
and they lie shamelessly about everything.
Whenever they open their mouths, you can expect...
-The wind to always blow.
[ Laughter ] -This has been "A Closer Look."
♪♪
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