croak, croak, croak, bullfroggy in love. croak. ribbet! scoop de splash. nice. >> 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 and thank you for coming out! ( cheers and applause ) so good to be here! our first show of the week! i'm trevor noah. our guest tonight is a pulitzer prize-winning novelist whose new book is called "the nickel boys" -- colson whitehead is joining us! ( cheers and applause ) phenomenal author. we're going to have a great conversation with him. also on tonight's show, elizabeth warren is killing private insurance, a bombshell

in the fast fort hood industry, and mexico is unbuilding the wall. so let's catch up on today's headlines. ♪ let's kick it off with mcdonald's, the world's largest fast food chain and place where the ice cream machine always just stopped working. ( laughter ) well, now, the mayer corporation has ordered its c.e.o. to go. >> change at the top of the most well known companies in the world, the board of mcdonald's, announcing they have fired the c.e.o. steve easterbrook, the company saying in a statement he demonstrated poor judgment by having a relationship with an employee. steve easterbrook calling the relationship a mistake. in a letter to all mcdonald staff, easter brooke says the relationship was consensual but says he violated company policy, writing this was a mistake, given the values of the company i agree with the board that it is time for me to move on. >> trevor: that's right, the c.e.o. of mcdonald's has been

fired after having a consensual relationship with an imleevment this is the biggest mcdonald's sex scannedle since we saw mayor mccheese parting with jeffrey epstein in the '90s. ( laughter ) this was awkward for the person dating the mcdonald's c.e.o. what did she tell her friends? he works at mcdonald's, but not like that, not like that. he's the boss. you're dating ronald mcdonald? no, the boss! ( laughter ) also wonder if the mcdonald's c.e.o. is as strict in the bathroom as mcdonald's was about breakfast. if she got home late, she would be, like, i missed you, baby, let's go to bed. he's, like, it's after 12:00, we're not serving the sex anymore. also my ice cream machine just stopped working! ( laughter ) let's move on to another story in the news about fast food. have you ever noticed in the last few years they've added calorie counts to all the menus? you're not alone if not.

>> you've seen the calorie counts added to the menu but do they help you watch your weight? >> a new study in the medical journal b.m.j. shows a measure requiring large restaurant chains display calorie information may not be changing choices as much as you might think. the study analyzed 50 million purchases over three years and found at first people were cutting back an average of 60 calories but, after one year, just a 23-calorie cutback, suggesting even with the facts right in our faces, it's not quite enough to make us think twice. >> trevor: only 23 calories? that's just the smell when you walk in. ( laughter ) but, yeah, turns out that calorie counts aren't helping people make better food choices, which is no surprise. let's be honest, none of us actually knows what those numbers are supposed to mean. how do you cultivate it? you might as well have hieroglyphics up there and people would be, like, wow, i didn't know the fries had raven eyeball dog man calories. i'll get the salad instead!

( laughter ) i get they're trying to help us eat healthier, but be honest, no one wants to see calories at these types of restaurants. you're there to indulge. it would be like having a mandatory black light in a strip club, i know there are fluids there, i don't need proof. ( audience reacts ) if they want the people to order right the cashier should tell you the calories in a judgmental tone. could i get a cheeseburger? that's 700 calories! anything else? yeah, the cheese fries. wow! that's 1,000 calories. anything else? you're like, no, nothing else, thank you. ( laughter ) finally, we're in a time where there's muse trust between police and the people they pull over and here's a new story that's not going to help. >> a "new york times" investigation finds that breathalyzer tests give ton d.u.i. suspects are often unreliable. the study found the devices found virtually in every police

station in america skew the results with alarming frequency. >> judges in massachusetts and new jersey alone have had to throw out more than 30,000 breath tests in just the past year. >> trevor: this is huge. the "new york times" investigation has found that an alarming number of breathalyzer tests in america are inaccurate, which makes a lot of sense, all right, because one time i got pulled over and they told me i had seven beers, which was not true, i just had one beer from a giant boot. it was one, it wasn't seven. ( laughter ) and i will be honest, i think all the way they tes sew sobriee dumb. i can't walk with one foot in front of the other if i'm sober, or say the alphabet backregards, i don't know how to do it! it doesn't make sense!

but still even though i don't agree with some of the testing, i think we can agree we don't want drunk drivers on the road. ( applause ) yeah, we don't. so we just need to find another way to test people's sobriety. they should pull up your ex's face on facebook and ask if you want to send him a message yeah, i miss him so much -- get in the car, you're drink! ( cheers and applause ) let's move on to the stop stories! ( cheers and applause ) donald trump, the 45t 45th president of the united states and the only president to wear a weave. ( laughter ) during his time in office, there have been several issues that he has been intently focused on, things like cutting regulations, pulling out of iran and legalizing flag marriage. ( laughter ) but the one issue he cares about more than anyone else is his big, beautiful border wall.

you know, build the wall! build the wall! in many ways the wall is the son trump always wanted -- taller, stronger and somehow smarter. ( laughter ) and now, the president is trying to groom the next generation of border wall lovers. >> a white house halloween party reportedly featured a station where children were encouraged to help build the wall with their own personalized bricks. who knew said the party took place at eisenhower executive office building used by white house staff. >> trevor: people might be pissed off about that but wait till you find the kids were also encouraged to find dirt on the bidens. trump is like i have a kit kat for anyone who brings me hunter biden's password, i call it kit pro quo. ( laughter ) i think we can all agree children on halloween should not be building a border wall. the only way is if it's over rudy giuliani's office tore,

then it works. so that was on halloween. ( applause ) but it seemed like this was a wall-themed weekend for trump because on friday at a rally in mississippi, the president was boasting once again about how impenetrable his border wall is. >> this is a very serious wall. this is is exact -- everything they wanted. i said give me the specification force the wall. they said, well, sir, we'd like steel, but we would also like concrete and we would also like rebar. i said, well, what do you want? which one? so i did all three. ( cheers and applause ) because it's a different form of cutting. you can cut through steel but you can't through the concrete and then you can't through the hardened rebar. we've got it all. and we also need see-through, sir. got to see who's on the other side. that makes sense, right? >> trevor: yeah, that makes sense. you've got to have a see-through wall because if the wall is not see-through, the only way to know what's on the other side is by yelling marco and hope they

yell polo! that's the only way! ( laughter ) ( applause ) but some mexicans aren't named marco. a lot of people don't know that, folks. a lot of people don't know that. ( laughter ) but, yes, on friday night, trump gave his usual unhumble brag about how nothing can get through his wall! and you know how, in a sitcom, when they cut right to the next scene? well, cut right to the next scene. >> according to "the washington post," mexican smuggling gangs have repeatedly sawed through sections of trump's new border wall. smugglers are using a reciprocating saw that pretty much sells at hardware stores for as little as $100 and when fit with specialized blades the tool can slice through steel and concrete barriers in minutes. ( laughter ) >> trevor: just after trump bragged ant his superwall, we learned smugglers have been cutting through the new border wall with basic tools you can buy at any hardware store. i wouldn't be shocked if the

guys at home depot showed the smugglers how to do it because those guys will help you with any project that. they don't judge. hey, buddy, need help? i want to open a safe that's not in my house. aisle seven. wait, a bank safe? yeah, then aisle 5. also zip guards for the tools. aisle 2. my man! ( applause ) you might think that trump would be humiliated by the news, but you don't know trump. >> when asked if he was concerned that people were able to cut through the border wall he has been touting for so long, this was the president's response. >> i haven't heard that. we have a very powerful wall, but no matter how powerful, you can cut through anything, in all fairness. cutting is one thing, but it's easily fixed. one of the reasons we did it the way we did it, it's very easily fixed to put the chunk back in.

but we have a very powerful wall. >> trevor: hold on. he said it would be empen central. but now he's like of course, you can cut through anything. in a span of a few hours the wall went from dwayne the rock johnson to literally any other guy named dwayne. that's what just happened there. what happened? huh? ( cheers and applause ) and, also, if trump is saying he built it on purpose to be something that's easy to open and then close, it isn't a wall. my man, you've built a door. ( laughter ) i feel like that's where this is headed. trump will come out, like, we put a door on the southern bored. so much easier. they can open it but afterwards it can also be closed. and who's gonna close it? mexico! close that door! close that door! we'll be right back! ( cheers and applause ) i've got a surprise for you.

let's go. ♪ last christmas, i gave you my heart ♪ you're the only person that makes me feel like i exist. ♪ this year to save me from tears ♪ why me?

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( cheers and applause ) >> trevor: welcome back to "the daily show." guys, this is crazy, but the

2020 presidential election is in exactly 365 days. ( cheers and applause ) yeah, that's right. at this time next year, you will be watching tv and saying, oh, shit, i was supposed to vote today! ( laughter ) but we still don't know who trump's opponent will be election night. let's catch up with his rivals in the democratic primary race in our ongoing segment world war d. ( cheers and applause ) ♪ >> trevor: over the past few weeks the democratic herd has thinned considerably. you know, due to low polling, due to fundraising problems, and partly because of that lion that keeps picking off the trailing candidates. they need to do something about that. this weekend came came the biggest name to drop out so far, beto o'rourke, former texas congressman and inflatable man outside a dar dealership. his dropout speech was very

moving. it is with a very heavy heart i announced my campaign is (~bleep ) finished, bro. ( laughter ) on the opposite spectrum is elizabeth warren who has been surging in the polls, right behind biden nationally, leading in iowa and polling at 100% among registered cardigans. ( laughter ) but the one big criticism of warren is that she hasn't explained how she would pay for her medicare for all healthcare plan without taxing the middle class specifically. this weekend she showed us the money. >> elizabeth warren is putting a price tag on medicare for all, $20.5 trillion in new spending over ten years paid for by taxing billionaires and big business. >> i have a plan that shows how we can have medicare for all without raising taxes one cent on middle class families. >> warren would eliminate all private employer based insurance. employers would pay the government almost $9 trillion over ten years, similar to what

they now spend on employees' healthcare. she would boost billionaires tax, higher taxes on investment gains for the top 1% and cut military spending. >> we, to pay for her plan, warren plans to raise taxes on the ultra wealthy and cut military spending, which if you think about it actually doubles the healthcare benefits because all americans would get healthcare and people in afghanistan won't get droned. i feel so much healthier now that i haven't been blown up, yay! and if you're a billionaire you're probably not happy to pay more taxes. warren should try to sweeten the deal and let super rich get naming rights over the healthcare they helped pay for. jeff bezos presents a heart! ( laughter ) that's warren's plan. the democratic opponents responded the way sean spires

does to a beat. hearing none of it. >> elizabeth warren defending her plan for medicare for all under attack. pete buttigieg is -- >> it's controversial. >> benders says i think the approach i have will be more progressive. >> former vice president joe biden calls warren marines unrealistic. >> i promise you you couldn't even get a penny. >> trevor: even when joe biden isn't giving you a massage he looks like his eyes are giving you a massage. warren's democratic rivals have issues with her plan. biden says it goes too far. sanders said it does gotten too much. it might be hard to know whether warren's plan is achievable or not unless you're an economist. what's easy is to understand the effect on the industry. 385,000 people estimated could

lose their job under her plan. warren says they'll land on their feet. >> some of the people currently working in health insurance will work in other parts of insurance and life insurance and auto insurance and car insurance. some will work for medicaid. >> trevor: da damn, warren doesn't mess around. she's just going to move people around to another job? i don't think it's going to be that easy. someone who works in health insurance now is the next day going to be dealing with cars? confusing. hi, i'm calling to let you know you're fully covered for yore recent prostate exam. my oil change? hey, it's your body, whatever you want to call it, that's your decision. ( laughter ) now, i feel bad for anyone in private insurance who's scared of losing their job, but, on the other hand, screw private insurance! i'm sorry, insurance companies are assholes, man, not the people who work for them but the company. they ask you what's wrong with you so they can charge you more then they won't even cover your appendix surgery then you say

why did i get my appendics enlarged in the first place, makes me feel nor confident but is it worth it? i don't know. what makes me feel more confident is elizabeth warren's plan has been dissected from every angle. everyone is dissecting the thing, which is good, but what's funny is that trump ran for president, and he got in to office and his healthcare plan was a lot less specific. >> we have to come up with and we can come up with many different plans, in fact plans that you don't even know about will be devised. i am going to take care of everybody. you will have the best healthcare you've ever ever had. we're going to bring down the price of healthcare, bring it down big league, big, big league. it's a complicated process but actually it's very simple. it's called good healthcare. >> trevor: yep, you can't argue with those numbers. we'll be right back. ( cheers and applause ) i support what y'all doing.

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why are we doing this? why are we doing what? using my old spice moisturize with shea butter body wash... all i wanted was to use your body wash and all i wanted was to have a body wash. ( cheers and applause ) >> trevor: welcome back to "the daily show." my guest tonight is the author of the pulitzer prize and national book award-winning novel, "the underground railroad." his latest book is called "the nickel boys." please welcome colson whitehead.

( cheers and applause ) ♪ >> trevor: welcome to the show. >> thanks for having me. >> trevor: you have written yet another book, and this book many are saying, once again, the one of the most painful examinations of a true story illustrated and told in in a fictitious way. "the nickel boys" is based on what some call a rehabilitation school and some call dozier school. why did you tell the story this way? >> it was based ton dozier school, a reform school in florida operated for 110 ten years. instead of locking up kids with grown offenders, they would be given at teaching one day and work the next and will woman com out and be rehabilitated. but three years into its being

opened, there were kids as young as six being shackled, but in solitary confinement. every 15 years, it would be exposé and talk of reform and nothing happened till it finally closed in 2011. i was shocked when it hit the national media. they found unmarked graves, 65 unmarked graves, and they try to reconstruct what happened. and it had been covered a lot in florida but not so much national media, and i felt that, if there's one place like this, how many other stories are we not hearing about. >> trevor: you write the book from an interesting perspective because it's based on this school, but you're telling it through a very personal lens. there are two characters in the book who we're following the story through, and both of them are at the school but both of them see the school through very different lenses. one sees the school as like, oh, this is not going well but it's not the world or it's not america as it's supposed to be, and the other goes no, this is exactly what america is all about. why did you choose to tell the

story in another way? >> i would have set it in '85 and 1924. i picked 1963 because it's the height of the civil rights movement. elwood, our optimistic character has seen advances in social order and just, but it's also the height of segregation, jim crow laws that restricted black life and movement in america, so we have the two warring ideas of progressism entrenched in justice. so i think they represent parts of me. i have an optimistic and a pessimistic side and they're often at war with each other and i think it's a fundamental philosophical agreement we all have. >> trevor: if someone is reading this book, i mean, i won't lie, like, when i was reading parts of it, you want to put it down, but you don't want to put it down. you want to put it down because of how it makes you feel, but you want to keep reading it because the story sen gauging and gripping and you don't want to look away. it feels like you're not afraid to write stories like this, you know. some would say you're exposing

the under ugly belly of america. are you doing it for that reason or are you just telling stories to get people to think about the world they live? >> i'm trying to do a project that's appropriate for me this year. i've written a lot of books with jokes and those with no jokes. if you're going to tell the story, you have to be all in. it's brutal. slavery is brutal. not like when i'm writing gone with the win where a rich lady is saying, oh, they're trying to burn my house down. they should bun your house dane you're a (~bleep ) slaver. ( applause ) "the nickel boys" is based on a strew story. if i can get 10% of what actually happened to the kids there, i've done my job, and, so, we're all in. >> trevor: you do a lot of research for the books but you've chosen not the do to the school to do your research. why? >> in the case of this book, i meant to go to florida and visit the school, and i kept putting

it off and i was halfway through the book. i figured next month or next month. i realize when i went down there i get this sick feeling, this heavy feeling. >> trevor: right. >> i was so invested in elwood and turner story and the story of the kids who have been to school that i realized at some point i would want to go down there with a bull dozer and stick of dynamite to destroy it as a police of evil. a year and a half ago, hurricane michael actually destroyed a lot of buildings and if you see it now all those structures are crumbling and that sort of inner rot is now written on its outer face. >> trevor: wow. >> and, so, mother nature took over for justice. >> trevor: if smu someone lookst this book and goes colson, i love your writing, but i don't know if i want to read a book about a story so pain. why would you say reading this book would be different than reading the story of what happened in real life.

>> it's not non-fiction. i took stories and put my own characters in there. it's a brutal story but also a journey into selfhood. two thirds of the book takes place in the school and the third followed elwood as he comes to new york and is overcoming trauma, a a catastrophic event and an important part of the story his journey to making a coherent self and coming back from this special incident. if you want to read it, buy a book about a magical puppy who gets lost and that stuff, finds his way home. ( laughter ) you know. ( applause ) >> trevor: or you can read both. you can read the puppy one and then this. but i would recommend highly everyone read this one because you won't learn much about the puppies. thank you so much for being on the show. >> thank you. >> trevor: likely appreciate it. "the nickel boys" is available now. a powerful story by colson whitehead, everybody. we'll be right back! holy mother of thin.

look what we did! we made it thin. how is this possible, you ask? it's not. but we gone done it anyway. reese's thins. not sorry. reese's thins. (mom vo) it's easy to shrink into your own little world. especially these days.

(dad) i think it's here. (mom vo) especially at this age. (big sis) where are we going? (mom vo) it's a big, beautiful world out there. (little sis) whoa... (big sis) wow. see that? (mom vo) sometimes you just need a little help seeing it. (vo) the three-row subaru ascent. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. i'm getting very very hungry buffalo zesty honey bbq tangy nashville hot spicy am i dreamin' nope, not dreamin'! that's a bunch of new kentucky fried wings get'em at kfc or delivered free

>> trevor: that's our show for tonight. before we go, on friday, president trump announced he is moving to florida, right, which makes sense because he's always been a florida man. so for the past few days, we have been working on a browser extension that takes trump's name in the headlines and replaces it with "florida man" so now a florida man suggested nuking hurricanes and a florida man wants to date his daughterrer to explore the browser extension go to make trump florida man.com. now here it is your moment of zen. >> i love alabama, it's a great place. where is al baghdadi? winning, winning, winning. she's spending all her time on this crap. oh, that poor bastard.

poor pathetic guy. remember the arms are flailing. i noticed he was flailing with his arms. he was flailing his arms and going crazy. made in the u.s.a.! ( cheers and applause ) ♪ . >> spade: mcdison don fired their c.e.o. after a relationship with an employee. unfortunately the employee said the c.e.o.'s diq worked about as well as the ease cream machine, and if you have been to mcdonald's, that is not a lot. captioning sponsored by comedy central >> and now david spade! (cheers and applause). >> spade: hey! all right.