>> 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"! i'm trevor noah! thank you so much for tuning in! my guest tonight a 17-year-old climate activist xiuhtezcatl martinez is joining us. a really fascinating young man. you will want to stay for that. first, donald trump has a surprise, not talking about tax returns. ( laughter ) before leaving office, barack obama left trump a note in the oval office. trump told us he got the note

but he -- well, you know trump. >> i just went to the oval office and found this beautiful letter from president obama. it was really very nice of him to do that, and we will cherish that and we will keep that, and we won't even tell the press what's in that letter. >> trevor: that was the third day of donald trump's presidency back when he had that new president smell, that was like 18 scandals ago. remember that? ( laughter ) trump said he was going to keep the letter from the press, so the guy is a man of his word so i guess we'll never know. >> president trump has since shown that letter to his white house visitors.

( crying ) i wish that letter was president! it's so much more qualified! (crying) ( laughter ) i don't know even know if trump realizes it, but that letter is just president obama throwing presidential shade the entire time. that's not the note you leave for your sucessor. you leave that note for a first time baby sitter. it's, like, dinner's in the oven -- ( laughter ) -- bedtime's at 7:00, but not for you and, oh, p.s., the baby is the one without the fur. thank you very much. ( laughter ) president obama is reminding trump to keep democracy. the first draft was probably president obama saying, dear donald, don't get up, signed obama. what do you think, michelle, tone it down? just a little? all right. ( laughter ) what's not been reported is the

second part of the letter that didn't leak to the press, page #. and i'm not going to show it to you. ( laughter ) ( applause ) but let's move on to the big news of the day. it has to do with a group of people called dreamers. i'm not talking about people who came back from bernie, man. dreamers refers to a group of nearly 800,000 young people whose immigrant parents illegally brought them to the u.s. while they were children. for the longest time they feared being deported to countries whose candy they don't even recognize. in 2012 president obama decided the children deserved a chance to work legally in the u.s. and contribute to america's economy and society without fear of deportation. today, president trump undecided that. >> close to 1 million people in limbo, president trump ordered the rescinding of daca. >> but left it to attorney general jeff sessions to break the news. >> we are people of compassion and we are people of law, but

there is nothing compassionate about the failure to enforce immigration laws. >> trevor: very smart, president trump. how do you soften the blow when telling the kids the bad news? you get one of santa's elves to do it. nicely played. plus, he can sneak in to the chimney to deport them. i see what you did there. ( laughter ) technically, jeff sessions is correct, the children were brought to the u.s. illegally but it's their parents who brought them here. it's not like it was their choice. i don't know any 8-year-old who's, like, no, momma, you go on without me. i'm going to stay in on diewrs and uphold the law. you go on. i know what jeff sessions wants me to do, momma, i'm staying here. ( laughter ) to be clear, even though these folks are commonly known as dreamers, they're also doers. dreamers serve in the military. dreamers are first responders. dreamers are small business owners in america. so to rip these young people out of a place where they have roots sun deniably cold hearted.

>> it's not cold hearted for the president to uphold the law. we're a nation of law and order. >> we don't rule by emotion, we rule by the law. >> you can't allow emotion to govern. >> trevor: giving these 800,000 dreamers to contribute to american society is not just compassionate, it's a logical thing to do, which is why so many people are speaking out. >> the pressure is mounting. several republican leaders have urged the president to leave daca in place. >> speaker paul ryan had asked president trump not to end the program. >> john mccain calling this the wrong approach to immigration policy. >> democrats call it a shameful and a heartless decision by the president. >> hundreds of business leaders have called on president trump to keep the program. >> apple, amazon, facebook, google, just among the c.e.o.s weighing in so far in favor of keeping daca. >> trevor: even the big tech companies are strongly against sending these kids back to their birth countries. i'm telling you this, if amazon

says you can't return something, then you know you're doing something wrong. ( cheers and applause ) you know you're doing something wrong. amazon is always cool with returns. i've returned half-eaten edible panties, people. ( laughter ) don't judge me. you don't know how much you're going to need. you eat and then you're like, no, i'm tired now. then you fall asleep wearing them and then you send them back. anyway, i sent them back. ( laughter ) of course, because killing daca is so unpopular, trump doesn't want to take the blame himself. it's what trump does which means in classic trump fashion he's handing it off to someone else. >> the president is punting the fate of hundreds of thousands of dreamers to congress. >> i have a great heart for the folks we're talking about, a great love for them and people think in terms of children but they're really young adults. i have a love for these people and hopefully now congress will be able to help them and do it

properly. >> trevor: you know, if you really love someone, putting their fate in the hands of congress is a pretty weird way to show it. i wouldn't even trust congress to water my plants while i'm away. mitch mcconnell would be giving excuses, like, we intended to water the plants with but the plant watering initiative included planned parenthood so we had to let it die. ( laughter ) also, by the way, if we go back to trump, i love how trump is actually, like, actually, they're not really kids, they're young adults. they're not like children. yeah but when 39-year-old don, jr. tries to collude with russia, trump's like, he's a good boy, a good kid, he's my little baby. muah, my baby! ( applause ) like, if this is so important to donald trump, he doesn't have to just kick it to congress and see what happens, he can take action on his own. i know obama didn't include this in the instruction letter but you know the president has the

power to introduce and lobby for legislation. it's one of the main things presidents do. so if trump really wants something done, he can be the one to take the lead. because that 800,000 dreamers, it's not just a number. it's 800,000 real people like this. >> the day before harvey hit the coast, paramedic jesus contreras headed to work and hasn't stopped helping neighbors since. he's a texan after all. just look at the tattoo. he's also undocumented. a so-called dreamer brought here by his mom when he was six. >> we're literally on the ground helping people get back up and we're getting our butts handed to us by people upstairs and the white house and the president. >> trevor: now, look, that is a horrible tattoo, yes. ( laughter ) a horrible tattoo. but those are the kind of people who are literally making america great again -- or at least dry again. we'll be right back. ( cheers and applause )

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♪ we are not here to sit idly by. we are here...to leave a mark. experience a shift in the natural order. experience amazing. ( cheers and applause ) >> trevor: welcome back to "the daily show." we were just talking about how the u.s. government can't seem to get neg done, but let's turn now to a government we wish was doing less, north korea. ( laughter ) you know that saying, find something you love and do it as much as possible? well, that's north korea's problem is that what they love doing is testing nuclear

weapons. >> breaking news, north korea has tested an advanced nuclear device. this would make it north korea's sixth nuclear test. >> a missile-sized thermonuclear weapon, that's a hydrogen bomb. >> stronger than the bombs dropped on hiroshima and na nagasaki combined. can reach the united states. >> wthat's my modeling catalog. ( laughter ) the thing the world spent the last 25 years to prevent north korea from getting now it has, both a missile that can reach the united states and a thermonuclear bomb. i mean, a bomb more powerful than hiroshima and nagasaki combined. this thing must look like the very face of death itself. >> state propaganda showed kim jong un proudly inspecting a

peanut-shaped device -- ( laughter ) >> trevor: well, i mean, there is nothing more threatening than the phrase thermonuclear bomb or less threatening than the phrase peanut shaped device. a guy coming at you saying, i'm going to kill you with my peanut-shaped device! man, get the (bleep) out of here, you legume-toting mother (bleep)! you get out of here! pros ( applause ) it's not the same. now, coming after multiple warnings from the white house to cut the (bleep) out, north korea's test was a provocation and the trump team got provocated. >> at the u.n. the u.s. urging tougher diplomacy and charging kim jong un is pushing the world toward conflict. >> his abusive use of missiles and nuclear threats show he is begging for war.

>> we are not looking to the total annihilation of a country namely north korea, but, as i said, we have many options to do so. thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. >> trevor: now i see why they call you mad dog. we don't want to annihilate you but we have many options to do so, thank you very much? that's the most gangster way to say we're not going to war? "i don't want to rearrange your face. i'm just saying your nose could be in a lot of places. thank you very much." ( applause ) but, still, look, there's no need to freak out. that's just the united nations person and the pentagon guy. the real team to panic is when you hear saber rattling from the commander-in-chief. so i guess what i'm saying is panic. >> mr. president, will you attack north korea?

>> we'll see. >> trevor: we'll see? ( laughter ) dude, you don't ryan secrest nuclear war. what are you doing? will the planet be consumed in radioactive hellfire or fantasia take home this season's crown? we'll see. ( applause ) ( laughter ) that's my problem. that's such a significant move from donald trump, when he doesn't know an answer, he tries to play it like he's in total control and keeping us in suspense, we'll see in trump talk is i have no idea. ( laughter ) i wish i knew of this technique when i was in school. mr. noah, what is the care root of 64? we'll see -- ( laughter ) i don't know. to be fair, we can't blame trump for not knowing what to do about north korea. because the truth is nobody knows what to do. president obama even warned donald trump. he said that this would be the hardest challenge of his presidency. now, granted, that was before we learned that trump doesn't know how to spell, but still obama

knew. it would be hard for anyone. it would be hard for anyone, not least because we have no idea of what kim jong un actually wants. from all of this, we don't know. so it's impossible to know what a solution would be. but even then -- but even then, the president's approach took people by surprise. >> president trump hitting not just north korea but also u.s. ally south korea for not being tough enough. their talk of appeasement with north korea will not work, he tweeted.% they only understand one thing. >> president trump reportedly preparing to withdraw the united states from its free trade deal with south korea. >> president trump says he's considering stopping all trade with any country doing business with north korea, but that would include china, which happens to be our biggest trading partner, too. >> trevor: man, donald trump is a genius, people. yeah, yeah, because anyone can threaten an enemy. but threatening this t two countries he needs most to have on his side is genius. trump is the guy in prison who

proves he shouldn't be messed with by shanking his own friends. you want to go, north korea? check this out, china, mexico! that's right, i stabbed china and mexico and south korea, too! i'm loco, baby! you can't mess with me, man! ( applause ) it's genius. it's genius. by attacking america's allies, trump will terrify north korea into backing down -- or he's a total idiot and he's going to get us all killed. which one is it? we'll see. we'll be right back. we'll be right back. ( cheers and applause ) ♪

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( cheers and applause ) ( cheers and applause ) >> trevor: welcome back to "the daily show." my guest tonight is a climate activist, hip-hop artist and author whose new book is called "we rise: the earth guardians guide to building a movement that restores the planet." please welcome xiuhtezcatl martinez. ( cheers and applause ) ♪ ♪ >> trevor: welcome to the show, sir. >> pleasure to be here, man. >> trevor: you are a young man doing amazing things and you have been working hard at this for a very long time. if you ask most people when they got into working to help with climate change, they would be, like, they haven't started. ( laughter ) you started when you were six? >> yeah, i could probably barely see over this table. >> trevor: like, how does that start? i know you talk about it in the book and your mom was really someone who was passionate about fighting for the environment. but what are you doing at 6 that you go, like, yeah this is what i'm going to do?

legos enough for me, man. >> really, i play with legos so much. ( laughter ) really, i took myself really seriously when i was little. i saw a documentary about the destruction of the planet. i was, like, this is my destiny. i was really terrified by the thought that my future was going to be tainted because people all over the world weren't taking adequate action to protect us from climate disaster and that inspired me to do something about it. i told mom, i need to talk to people. help me. she became any publicist, manager, agent at age six, so i was pretty dope, and i got involved. ( laughter ) it's been more opportunities for me to use my voice to help the world. it's quite the journey. >> trevor: you're not just speaking abit. you're an activist. you went on to take over from your sister fighting against threats to global warming and climate change in colorado at age 9. explain how you take over any

operation that doesn't involve cookies at age nine. ( laughter ) >> we got involved in earth guardians in hawaii, my sister was running it, passed it to me when i was nine. me and my friends went to our county local commissioners and banned use of pesticides and fracking -- >> trevor: you just said you're nine and you went into offices and got them to ban using pesticides. >> yeah, yeah. >> trevor: how do you even begin this as a 9-year-old? >> there was a whole squad of us, man. we mobbed them. ( laughter ) >> trevor: a squad of 9-year-olds? >> yeah, maybe ten of us spoke at a press conference and we went in and gave our testments, our speeches as to why we didn't think that was a good, healthy option for our community. >> trevor: and you're writing speeches about this at the age of 9. >> yes. >> trevor: where do you find the other 9-year-olds? ( laughter ) >> i think young people all over this country more than we give

them credit for are interested in being engaged but don't have a platform. we reached out to the youth that didn't care and all of a sund we were all ever. >> trevor: you talk about it in the book as well which i appreciate because in many ways this is an activist guide. you talk about mobilizing, getting out, spreading the message, you talk about doing, which is important. you're optimistic but you're a doer as well. a quote in the book stuck with me and that was speaking about how we may be in a really horrible time right now, but this generation has the opportunity to rewrite history. what do you mean by that? >> i think now more than ever we have an opportunity to reproach an issue like climate change. traditionally it's been seen as politicians and activists care about the issue but it's bigger than that if you see the thousands of lives lost across south asia, the southeast due to floods, hurricane erma that's brewing, hurricane harvey that hit texas, it's about people's lives, homes, community and an

issue we're facing. i believe we have the opportunity to face this crisis and change the way we are acting. i'm in lawsuit against the federal government suing the trump administration for violating our constitutional rights for failing to act on climate change. we are changing the way we are taking action and getting artistic and moving into the streessments we're reshaping the way we address an issue as big as climate change. we're not going to allow this era to be defined by donald trump is that wow. ( cheers and applause ) >> yeah. >> trevor: so just so we're on the same page, you just said you're going to sue donald trump, you're suing him right now. >> yeah. >> trevor: which that's pretty asshole-ish of you. ( laughter ) no, but suing is his thing. that's like going up against denarius with her dragons. do you actually hope he'll see his day in court? >> myself and 20 other young people are in a lawsuit that's

been in place against the obama administration and transferred to president trump since he was elected. it was more satisfying to say we're suing president trump than president obama. ( laughter ) we believe our federal government is violating our rights by colluding with the fossil fuels industries that create climate change. february 5 we have our date in trial. there are motions to dismiss from powerful companies to try to get it thrown out. after two reviews the judges said we have the right to take it to trial. february 5 is our date. we're hoping the courts will force the federal government to enforce massive climate recovery plans to reduce our greenhouse gases back down to a safe level for our generation. >> trevor: you just made me feel like the biggest underachiever ever, man.

( laughter ) thank you so much for being on the show. thank you again. "we rise" is available now. an amazing young man, fantastic book. xiuhtezcatl martinez, everybody. we'll be right back. ( cheers and applause ) at coors, cold counts. that's why we lager, filter and package cold. for a cleaner, crisper taste. because our mountain is brewing the world's most refreshing beer.

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>> trevor: that's our show for tonight. thank you so much for tuning in. join us tomorrow night at 11:00. now here it is... your moment of zen. >> my hands are too big. >> from comedy central's world news headquarters in new york, this is "the daily show" with trevor noah. >> trevor: welcome to the daily show, thank you so much for tuning inment i appreciate t i'm trevor noah our guest tonight joining us to talk about the future of art