- ♪ hand-in-hand we can live together ♪ ♪ we shouldn't kill each other 'cause we're all the same ♪ ♪ black or white, brown or red ♪ >> from comedy central's world news headquarters in new york, this is "the daily show" with trevor noah. ( cheers and applause ) ♪ >> trevor: welcome to "the daily show," everybody! thank you so much for tuning in! thank you for coming out! you sound amazing. you look amazing! welcome to it! take a seat, everybody! let's make a show. i'm trevor noah. our guest tonight is an artist whose official portrait of president barack obama will soon be going on a nationwide tour kehinde wiley is joining us! ( cheers and applause ) also on tonight's show, senators are walking off the job. the constitution could be getting an upgrade,er and why your next date might end in handcuffs and not in a fun way. so let's catch up on today's headlines. ♪ let's kick it off with some international news. there's a big political scandal involving canadian prime minister justin trudeau, and you may remember trudeau just survived another scandal when he was busted for doing brownface 20 years ago at an alallen party. this time, my friends, trudeau may have gone too far. >> a donut drama for justin trudeau. the controversy started with the prime minister tweeting a photo of himself carrying boxes from a donuto shop to fuel a cabinet meeting. some praised him for support ago local business. others criticized him for buying $200 worth of elitist donuts instead of hitting the local him hortons at about a third of the price. ( laughter ) >> trevor: really, canada? that's your scandal? your prime minister brought the wrong donuts? if this shit pisses you off, you guys wouldn't last a day with donald trump! donuts?! ( laughter ) i can't even believe that's a thing. let me tell you something now, if trump had a donut scandal, he would make it a real scandal. he would be, like, yes, i had sex with that donut but only because it promised me dirt observe joe biden! ( laughter ) i love how some canadians are upset because they say trudeau didn't go to the local donut shop, tim hortons. whey said why did you go to the elitist place? there's nothing local about tim hortons. it's a giant corporation. when people go to mcdonald's, are they, like, anything i can do to help out my neighborhood clown. ( laughter ) trudeau should be careful with the donuts because he could eat a chocolate one, get frosting on his face, wipe it off and then it's everywhere and he's, like,. ♪ i can show you the world ( laughter ) news from the world of tech, tinderrer, the app that helps you find the special someone you could be with the rest of your night. after years of getting people laid, they're trying to get people safe. >> tinder is unveiling new safety features including a photo verification system, panic button and ability to call authorities to their exact location. tinder will use its technology as part of safety features. critics complained tinder has not done enough to scream out scammers and assault suspects. >> trevor: good job. anytime you can make dating more safe is something you should. do i hope it isn't too tinder-y. i hope it's not like, help, send a cop! no, not him. no, not him. no, not him. yeah, i guess he's okay. okay. okay. ( laughter ) and i think it's a good feature but i know some will abuse it. mike pence would be hitting the panic button all the time. help me, my woman date is wearing panels, come soon! ( laughter ) now that tinder and uber have panic buttons, every app should have one. if you're on instagram and you accidentally like your ex's three-month-old photo, you should be able to hit a button and they send a team to help you start a new life. ( laughter ) the world economic forum in dublin, switzerland is wrapping up. one of them was greta thunberg who blasted politicians for continuing to ignore global warming. now one of trump's minions is firing back. >> u.s. treasury secretary steve mnuchin unleashes verbal act on teen climate activist greta thunberg, both at the world economic forum in switzerland. she said in a speech she wants businesses worldwide to stop investing in fossil fuels. mnuchin told reporters considering her an economist is a joke and she needs to come back after she goes to college and gets an economic degree. >> trevor: yeah, steve mnuchin, u.s. treasury secretary says greta should go to school before she comments on the global economy. why don't you go to school, greta, before you comment on the economy? since when does the trump administration listen to anyone with an education? there's no difference. ( laughter ) seriously, this is not a white house that cares about education. the education secretary doesn't care act experience. they put a sleepy doctor in charge of housing. the current head of the e.p.a. was a coal lobbyist. forget an environmental sign degree, he wouldn't know the difference between birds. ( laughter ) ivanka trump san advisor to the president. what is her expertise? huh in what is it? is trump in a meeting, like, ivanka, help us out, we have to decide whether or not to bomb iran. you sold shitty jewelry unsuccessfully for ten years. what do you think? ( laughter ) and finally, if you were at the los angeles airport now waiting for your uber, then you definitely have time to watch this next story. >> now to the travel nightmare that is unfolding at airports and has nothing to do with planes. >> lax recently hold out a new pickup system which funnels taxi and ride share passengers from the terminals to an external parking lot. some passengers claim to have waited in line for upwards of three hours trying to catch their ride. the idea was to streamline the process. the result, chaos. >> trevor: okay. ( audience reacts ) no, three hours is way too long to wait for a ride. forget the planes, people are just going to start hijacking airport shuttles. we're all going to my hotel. nobody try anything stupid! what's interesting here is the reason ride sharing apps are causing chaos at the airport was because it took forever for passengers to find their driver. that's why i think the solution should just be that you can just jump into any car and go. yeah. not even any uber, just any car. yeah, i mean, she's not your mom but she's somebody's mom. i drive with your mom, you drive with mine, i drive with your uncle -- but we all do that. this story shows us we've gotten too attached to uber. five years ago, there was no uber picking you up at the airport and people figured out other ways to leave the airport. why don't we do that again? a city bus stops at lax. just hop on that, take it to whatever shit hole it goes to and call uber from there. let's move on to the top story. ( cheers and applause ) impeachment, it's like marriage story for democracy, and while canadians are angry their prime minister bought fancy donuts, america's president is being accused of trying to rig an election. so let's catch up on the latest development in another installment of the magical wonderful road to impeachment. ( cheers and applause ) ♪ ♪ >> this is probably presidential harassment. ( applause ) >> trevor: so today was the third day of the impeachment trial of donnell ja yes ja jami. democrats are trying to lay out the case trump abused power and is trying to cover it up. they showed evidence and even brought out the constitution and tell everyone where trump touched it. no matter what the compelling the evidence might be, i have doubts as to whether it will change everybody's minds. senators haven't been glad to their seats. >> many senators were m.i.a. despite rules that require them to stay put. >> at any point 15 g.o.p. senators were empty and 12 democratic seats were empty. >> cory booker seen with iphone in the cloak room. >> senator lindsey graham was gone for at least an hour or so in the evening. democratic senator dianne feinstein left about an hour and a half early as well. >> trevor: this is not a good look, people. senators leaving the room and doing their own thing in the middle of an impeachment trial? you can't just walk away. this isn't a conversation with ted cruz. because you understand these senators are jurors in a trial against the president. you can't just go home early because you're bored. that's your job! imagine if normal people tried to pull that shit in the middle of jury duty. if someone's just, like, oh, now, i've got to hear from the victim's wife? aaahhh! i'm out of here! text me if something cool happens. ( laughter ) if you didn't want to be bored at work, you shouldn't have become a senator. you should have stuck with race car driving. ( applause ) mitch mcconnell. yeah, but you didn't like what the wind did to your neck flaps. ( laughter ) and while american senators are looking for a way to get out of these proceedings, america's president slobbing for a way to get in. >> the president seemed to relish the idea of crashing the impeachment trial and staring down democrats himself. >> so what do you think, will you show up at your trial any day in any way shape or form. >> wouldn't that be great? >> so why don't you go? is. >> i don't know. i'd sort of love to sit right in the front row and stare in their corrupt faces. >> trevor: you know, trump is like that guy who always tells you what he'd do in a fight -- oh, man, if i saw that guy, i'd hit him with a left, duck, come in with a wham, pow, oooh! so are you going to fight him then? oh, we'll see. i'm busy. i'm really busy. ( laughter ) trump says he wishes he could be at that impeachment trial to look his accusers in the face, and i wish he would go to the impeachment trial, too, because if he's locked up in a room for 12 hours at a time, he wouldn't have time to be doing things like this. >> a new rollback is expected to be announced today that could potentially put more pollution into our waters. the changes would scale back which waterways qualify for protection under the clean water act. president trump says this would benefit farmers who would no longer have to fear farming their federally protected creeks but real estate developers would see the most benefit. >> trevor: hmm, that's a weird coincidence. a new rollback observe water protections will benefit real estate developers, and it was passed by a reels developer who hasn't drank water since the '70s. what are the odds? ( laughter ) why do i feel like all of trump's policies are really him trying to help himself? i wouldn't be shocked if we found out the real reason trump killed soleimani because he gave trump's hotel one star on yelp. ( applause ) i wouldn't be shock. this is insane. the world is going to be floolded and trump is like wait, wait, poison the water first. i want to make this the best apocalypse of all time. but, i mean, at the same time, maybe we do need a little more pollution because let's be honest, there has been a little too much clean water. the other day i we want for a swim and my skin barely burned. that the not why i moved here. ( laughter ) senators are playing hooky in impeachment and trump is destroying the environment, butters hey, at least he didn't buy donuts. we'll be right back ( cheers and applause ) (paul) sprint has great news for you and your family. really great news! you can get both an unlimited plan... 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(paul) and, sprint has a 100% total satisfaction guarantee. while i think their network and savings are great, you don't just have to take my word for it. try it out and see the savings for yourself. so, take it to 11, with iphone 11 at sprint! for people with hearing loss, visit sprintrelay.com. >> trevor: welcome back to "the daily show." almost everyone knows one of the hardest things to do in america is pass an amendment to the constitution. it's harder than shooting a porno on the am track choir car because, you see, in order to be added to the constitution, the amendment needs to pass in the house, needs to pass in the senate and be ratified by 38 states. and how can you get 38 states to agree on anything? i mean, think about it, you can't even get states to agree on potato salad. yeah. i mean, if you show up to an atlanta cookout with raisins, the only thing getting barbecued is your ass. ( laughter ) in fact, it's so tough to get through this crazy process that it's been 30 years since the constitution has been amended, but this week, virginia may have gotten america one step closer to a new amendment. >> u.s.a. today reports virginia became the 38th state to pass the equal rights amendment. >> the equal rights amendment was first introduced to congress in 1923. it took 49 sessions to finally get it passed in 1972. >> the era as it's known reads equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of sex. >> trevor: wow! women are now equal in america! ( cheers and applause ) also -- also -- wow -- women are now equal in america? because, i mean, that statement sounds good, but it doesn't make you feel good. it would be like if popeyes came out and said, great news, now our chicken sandwich is 100% real chicken! what was it before? don't ask! shut up! get in the box! ( laughter ) don't get too excited yet because it turns out amendments are like avocados, they only last for so long. >> is it too late for the equal rights amendment to become law? >> the office of legal council says it's too late for the era pointing out the deadline is in 1982. >> five states that ratified the era decades ago have since rescinded those votes. >> we have word there will be court challenges. whether or not it holds it up or not is the question. >> trevor: i'm sorry, they have been trying to pass the equal rights act for women since the 1920s, they finally get enough states, but now it may not count because they missed some arbitrary deadline? who puts a deadline on women's rights? cinderella's fairy godmother? because she was an asshole with her rules, be home at midnight or you will die alone! what the hell, grandma, i'm trying to smash a prince and you're going to turn my carriage into a pumpkin? what if i'm doing 50 on the freeway? you're going to kill me, this is bullshit ( laughter ) it makes no sense, just because the law is a little late doesn't mean the whole thing needs to be scrapped. if you're late for the movie, they don't lock you out of the theater, they let you come in and you have to figure out the plot yourself. why did they look like that? did a human and a cat have sex? what is this about? but still as a woman in america this must be really depressing to wait 100 years to officially have equal rights and watch it all slip away. the best person to ask would be a woman so please give it up for desi lydic, everybody! ( cheers and applause ) what's going on, desi? >> trevor, this is so frustrating! after a century of teasing, they bring us to the point of ratification and then say it's not the right time? i guess women finally know what it's like to have blue balls. >> trevor: yeah, desi, i can totally understand your frustration. what i don't understand is why are you black and white? >> well, i could ask you the same question, trevor, but i won't. i won't because it's racist. ( audience reacts ) >> trevor: no, desi, why are you in black and white? you look like you're in the 1920s. >> because, trevor, i feel like i'm in the 1920s. women don't have quality, i've even had a case of the measles. maybe it's because i'm on an anti-vaxer dating site, but i like the bad boys. ( laughter ) >> trevor: desi, come on, i know men and women are still not only a level playing field but you don't have to be in the 1920s. >> no, it's fine, trevor. i'm actually over the moon about living in the 1920s style -- the glitz, the glam, all that jazz! i'm even learning the charleston. hey! do the charleston, all right?! >> trevor: desi, that's not the charleston. >> i think it is. >> trevor: i don't think it is. and america's moving slowly toward equality, but i don't think that's any reason to give up, desi. >> look, i don't care anymore, trevor, it's too depressing. even female amendments get ignored after they turn 35. i don't care if it is a prohibition. this gal needs a drink. >> trevor: don't drink out of a shoe what what are you doing? >> relax, it's not my shoe. ( laughter ) excuse me, a man named gads by moved in down the block and something tells me he's legit! >> trevor: desi lydic, everyone. we're off to a good start from left bead. but right bead is cutting him off now, left bead is making a bit of contact ohh we've got a double bead! going for the inside line! the left bead! into first place! wow! aaaahhhh. beautiful. the famous meat lover's pizza from pizza hut. over a pound of meat and cheese for just 10 bucks. it's more pepperoni for your penny, more beef for your buck, more... you get the idea. get yours delivered now at pizza hut.com. no one out pizzas the hut ll been here before. the conference room. the speaker phone. the missing files. not in the room? then you're not in the know. well, this has been nice, but can we not? how about we invite everyone you work with, to work together? be seen, be heard, be there when you're not. share your files, and your opinion. and maybe even a happy little fruit guy. when you're ready to unleash the power of your team, open teams. we all use our cellphones very differently. (vo) why the french family chose verizon. so, she's always on social media. he's always watching sports. someone's video chatting her friends. hi, gianna! my parents are getting older so knowing that i can get in touch with them at any time is really comforting. grandma, you're on tv! (grandma) wow! what channel? (vo) the network more people rely on, gives you more. like plans your family can mix and match starting at just $35. and a year of disney+ on us. plus, up to $700 toward our best phones when you switch. that's verizon. of 11 herbs and spices. and now you can get two pieces of my world famous chicken as a $5 fill-up. a secret you can eat for just 5 bucks. kfc! it's finger lickin' good! ( cheers and applause ) >> trevor: welcome back to "the daily show." my guest tonight is a world-renowned visual artist best known for his portrait of president barack obama. please welcome kehinde wiley! ( cheers and applause ) ♪ >> trevor: welcome to "the daily show"! >> thank you. good to be here. >> trevor: and congratulations on what i can only assume must feel like a whirlwind ride. >> it has been quite the ride indeed. >> trevor: you have been an artist for a very long time, but you can't deny getting to create the official portrait for the first black president of the united states, was one of the highlights of your life, i'm assuming. >> i'm assuming it's probably going to be on my tombstone. ( laughter ) i have to say that being the first african-american artist to paint the portrait of the first african-american president is quite the honor as well. >> trevor: i can imagine. ( applause ) >> and then the question is how do you make that something that is vibrant? how do you make painting alive in the 21st century? those are big challenges. >> trevor: there must be a lot of pressure that comes with painting those portraits as well because it's not just a portrait for obama, that's a portrait that's supposed to live throughout time. >> that's right. in fact, what you have is a situation where it's like no pressure or anything, but this is history. and what we wanted was something that played into all the rules around dignity around respect of power, but also a portrait that communicated who obama is. he really wanted a portrait that didn't have all the that sort of pomp and circumstance. if you look at the portrait closely, he's leaning in towards the viewer. he's dressed rather casually for a presidential portrait, and there's a bunch of flowers and leaves behind him. >> trevor: right, there are a bunch, yes. ( laughter ) which people had never seen before in a portrait. a lot of people came out making jokes, we've never seen this many leaves. i felt like it was less about the subject and more about the subject about the world they were in than before. >> certainly. what few people don't realize is those flowers are telling a story about his life. so there are flowers from kenya, independence nation, the state flower of hawaii, so it charts his life globally as a means of saying this man is at once very american but engaging in a global conversation is that that's beautiful. >> yeah. >> trevor: since then, you have been on a journey that has really been beautiful to watch because, you know, people have noticed your art and your art is art that i feel needs to be noticed because you do something that's really interesting. you know, you create art that we're familiar with in an unfamiliar way. one of the more interesting pieces that you created was rumors of war. i hope some people saw it when it was in new york city and it's a beautiful, i mean, statue that's -- i mean, it's a confederate statue in it's style, yet you come up close and you see this young black man wearing jordans and he's got jeans and a hoodie on and he's riding the horse in a way we associate with confederate statues. what is the symbolism and why did you create that piece? >> confederate sculptures have been haunting and terrorizing americans for 50, 60 years. s this things don't go back to slavery, they go back to as late as the '30s and '50s. these sculptures were designed to remained african-americans of their place in society and they're still in major parts of the south. i went to richmond on a trip and saw one of these sculptures and i said this language is one that's powerful and i want to use it to inhabit it and haunt it. so i found several african-american men, merged all of their features, created this kind of every man on a horse and re-created those monuments for the 21st century to create sort of a new way of saying yes to people who happen to look like me. >> trevor: you have a piece that is now going to be on display and this is really interesting, it's called napoleon leading the army over the alps, and that piece is likely gorgeous because it was designed to mimic the original napoleon piece, but, again, you've changed it to be something different and it's going to be hanging up right next to the napoleon piece in brooklyn. >> it is a bizarre situation. what i wanted to do was so be able to have the original historical object and my object in the same room, and the brooklyn museum said yes. so, now, we have an opportunity for the first time to have this temporal shift, this rift, this ability to look at not just some guy who's playing with history but the object from the past in the same room. it's a great honor. >> trevor: one thing you have been commended for, and it really is special to see, is how you portray women in your art as well. you have beautiful portraits of women, black women who have natural hair but they also -- they're in regal positions that we associate with, you know, like the british empire, monarchies wearing armor. you have women who, you know, it's pictures that we associate with masters, as opposed to those that have been enslaved, and these women are grand in a very different way than we're used to seeing. why do you choose to do that? what is the purpose behind that? >> artists paint what they're familiar with. i paint what i've known, and what i've known are powerful black women who have given me a sense of self-worth, a sense of dignity, and that is what you see mirrored in my work. and, sure, there's a little bit of play that goes on. there's a play with, like, how silly the clothing looked back in, you know, 500 years ago. >> trevor: right. >> the same thing's going to happen now. >> trevor: it's just going to become a blend in time, i feel like. >> well, we all decay, we all leave this earth, but these paintings will be here for centuries, and what i want to be able to do is to say yes to people who look like eme, yes to moments of grace and small things that we oftentimes ignore, and to make us all feel as though we were there for something that mattered. ( cheers and applause ) >> trevor: i think you're doing an amazing job of that. thank you so much for being on the show. his exhibit at the brooklyn museum opens january 24th and his show in london opens february 21st. kehinde wiley. we'll be right back ( cheers and applause ) ♪ huh, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know pinocchio was a bad motivational speaker? i look around this room and i see nothing but untapped potential. you have potential. you have-oh boy. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. gatorade zero. all tzero sugar.ytes. ♪ ready for more? bring it on! gatorade zero. get more out of zero. [ musi[ applause ] ( cheers and applause ) >> trevor: all right, that's our show for tonight. thanks s so much for tuning in. now, here it is... your moment of zen. >> he was totally unhinged. he looked like a lunatic who's lost his mind, babbling, repeating over and over and over and over again incoherently. major and exclusive developments in the iranian one scandal. breaking news tonight on the iranian one scandal. as we have been saying uranium one will be one of the biggest scandals this country's ever seen. the uranium one scandal is now beginning to cascade down as we get closer to the truth. ( cheers and applause ) ♪