it's not the same. what could you do to solve the problem? we could get xfinity? that's actually super adult of you to suggest. i can't wait to squad up. i love it when you talk nerdy to me. guy, guys, guys, we're still in session. and i don't know what the heck you're talking about. >> trevor: well, that's our show for tonight. stay tuned. jordan klepper's brand-new special is coming up next. now here it is. your "moment of zen." ♪ ♪

i'm telling you right now, if the republicans come back losers on election day, there's gonna be a problem. this country's in so much trouble. it can get ugly. january 6 will look like a parade. mass, mass carnage. this country will be a powder keg! [jordan] and we're off! by all accounts, these midterms are going to be messy. almost 60 percent of the country will have a candidate on their ballot who denies the results of the last presidential election, raising the questions, are we ready to scrap the quaint notion of a peaceful transfer of power? and, are we in for even more of this kind of violence? to find out, i'm heading to three hotbed swing states to finger the pulse of the midterms and see if america's still good with this whole democracy thing. [rock music]

[pulse thumping] [jordan] first stop on the electing the election deniers tour, pennsylvania. the gop's nominee for governor is doug mastriano, the most high-profile candidate who was there at the capital on january 6th. so i hit up a mastriano rally to see if that kind of seditious gumption makes him governor material. the fact that mastriano went to the capital, does that disqualify him from being your candidate? no, no, 'cause everybody makes emotional mistakes. that's what happened at, uh, calvary. a whole bunch of people got caught up, including the state, and they killed jesus. let he who has not been a part of an insurrection -cast the first stone. -there ya go. i'd trust that man with my life. -his appearance at january 6th? -[man] uh... qualify or disqualify him? i got no comment on january 6th. a big part of his identity is based on the fact that he is somebody who went to january 6th. he spent his own money to pay for busses to get people to go to january 6th. i tell you, you're crucifying a man for going down there.

the man wanted to support his president. the events had a negative connotation on our country. -i came and supported him here. -[jordan] mm-hmm. i mean, we're gonna crucify me 'cause i came here? how many cops were injured here? were there any deaths? all right, so there's-- there's been injuries everywhere. sure. is that what you're going with? [stutters] [jordan] for some, this wasn't just an event. it was a reunion. -he was there on january 6th. -oh yeah, so was i. -you were there january 6th? -yes. what do you say to people who say he shouldn't have been there on january 6th? it's ridiculous. it was the most beautiful thing i ever saw. thousands, maybe a million people gathered so quiet. it was a peaceful rally. -january 6th? -january 6th! breaking the window! [shouting] [grunts, yells] -january 6th? -january 6th! and when we walked up to the, uh, capitol building... -quiet. -yeah! birds chirping, police officers screaming... -no. -no? no, i saw 'em sitting around, waiting for their donuts. some of them were attacked that day. they were?

did you not see the videos? [laughs] i couldn't watch it. you couldn't watch it? why is that? when we went home, and we were watching on tv what happened, i said, turn that off. that is not what happened today. -you didn't see any violence? -no. but to be clear, when it was on television, violent images, you turned it off? i turned it off 'cause it wasn't true. it wasn't accurate depiction of what was going on that day. what--what was it? was it like a magical cgi george lucas [bleep]? oh, well, yeah, could be. i don't know. did i just give you one? you're like, well, that's an easy one, i'll take it! i don't wanna talk about all this. [jordan] and like that, a theory was born. and after a minimal amount of fanfare, mastriano appeared, and he was frickin' hilarious. going after the pillow guy? are you serious? give me a break. scotty, beam me up. no sign of intelligent life anywhere. [jordan] boom. but even with the coveted trump endrosement, the crowd was tiny. was it small because of mastriano's far-right policies and election denialism? nope! this is facebook suppressing conservative speech.

the reason there aren't people here is because facebook is silencing these people? silencing them, yes. they're saying the numbers are suppressed because facebook suppress... probably suppressed it. well, how did you figure out to come today? i got the information from facebook, actually. oh yeah, okay. so facebook might be suppressing people from coming here. -yeah. -but that's how you found it. -that's how i found it. -that's how i found it. a very maga rally without the heat of trump was almost relaxing. but there is a danger here. it's not that maga supporters are the majority. it's that they refuse to believe they may not be. if doug loses the election, will you believe it? doug's not going to lose the election, so there's nothin' for me to believe. let's say if the news comes out and it says that he did indeed lose, is it possible that it's not fraud? it has something to do with this turnout? no. there's no way a man who had 75 people here supporting him today could lose this election? we already know they're gonna try and steal the election again. it's an important election.

you believe that it is a democratic contest between two people, which means one person will win and one person will lose. is that something you accept? that depends. [laughs] it sounds like it's very hard for you to process it or react normally if it did happen. is this the new normal for american democracy? an inherent distrust of any democratic result you dislike? i went to dc to ask the delicate question. is democracy [bleep]? well, i mean, we can be-- we can be screwed tomorrow. we can be [bleep] tomorrow if the wrong thing happens. [jordan] adam kinzinger, a republican congressman from illinois, thinks trump's impact on maga psychology is still being felt today. it used to be a very grownup thing as to admit your weakness, right? to come out and say, i've failed at that, or i was wrong, or i'm sorry. that now is seen as a sign of weakness. donald trump, who is still five years old in his emotional intelligence, truly, he cannot accept that embarassment. and you see that throughout both why he wanted to stay in power

and his active attempts to do that after the election. [jordan] kinzinger voted to impeach trump once and sits on the january 6th committee. and for that, he's been censured by his own party-- a party he wishes would stand up to the big lie. and the problem is the counter to that could be somebody like kevin mccarthy. but he's too much of a sissy to actually take a tough stand. and most of my colleagues are too scared to actually take a tough stand. and truly, that's why i've endorsed democrats this year. [jordan] with just a few weeks left in office, the congressman is focusing on a position most americans don't care about--secretaries of state. in most states, they're the offices that validate the election. but right now, many of the candidates for that position are election deniers. i looked at these races and said, i've gotta put my money where my mouth is. so we're really kind of rifle-shot focused. look at the secretary of state race in nevada, arizona, michigan. so this is how low it's gotten for you, kinzinger? is that you're now endorsing other parties' secretary of states in states that you don't live in? yeah, i just need friends at this point, man.

yikes! you're like a month and a half away from, like, cutting ribbons at a pizza hut in des moines. but, like, the pizza hut that's just reopening after a kitchen fire. yikes! plus, to steal our democracy are bad. but what about plots to steal our actual elected officials? i'm off to michigan. ♪ ♪ ♪i'm so defensive,♪ ♪i got bongos thumping in my chest♪ ♪and something tells me they don't beat me♪ ♪ ♪ ♪he'd better not take the ring from me.♪

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only pay for what you need. ♪liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty.♪ because your lives are forever entwined. ♪♪ love entwined. exclusively at kay. [jordan] with my confidence in america's ability to accept loss shaken, i decided to head to my home state of michigan, home to lions, tigers, and election deniers, oh my. not to mention a governor seeking reelection after avoiding a kidnapping plot. [shepard] the plan? according to prosecutors, abduct the governor from her vacation home. [jordan] but now governor whitmer faces yet another challenge-- this one from republican candidate and election denier tudor dixon. so i headed to warren and introduced myself with the traditional michigan greeting. -about right here. -crawford's right there. -on the thumb. -[jordan] you're on the thumb? on the water. okay, i'm from kalamazoo, originally. yeah, i'm in the thumb. in the center of everything.

right there. well, lansing's in the center of everything. not if you take the up into consideration. thank you very much. real michigander, am i [bleep] right? enough hand stuff. this is a rally for tudor dixon. so what do michiganders like about tudor dixon? she's a republican. that's about all i like. she's republican. so you must be a huge tudor dixon fan. i don't know who that is. you're at a political rally for michigan gop candidates. can you name a michigan gop candidate? -no, but i can name trump. -boom. so dixon was not your first choice? no, no, ryan kelly was. but you're accepting your second choice here in the results of the electoral process up to this point. yes. yeah. to be honest-- i'm not gonna lie-- that's how i feel. that's just how the electoral process works. sometimes the person you want to win doesn't get enough votes, and you accept it and you move on? -yes. -yes. who do you think won the last election? -trump! -yeah. part of what makes michigan so interesting is the variety of creative ways the gop worked around democracy, including fake primary ballot signatures,

fake electors, and plots to hide those electors overnight in the capitol. still, they maintain they're about one thing-- -election integrity. -election integrity. the democrats are so good at rigging elections, why didn't they win against trump? they weren't good enough at it. the second time around, with biden, they perfected it. democrats did crafty stuff like sending in fake electors? -oh yeah. -right? it's all unconstitutional, everything they do. planning to sleep at the capitol overnight -to get those fake electors in? -oh, exactly. those specifically were things that republican gop in michigan did. -yeah? -is that shady? no. if you knew you got fewer votes, you wouldn't concede? no! but if you knew that you got less votes in a democratic process, that somebody else got more votes, would you concede that that person got more votes? -what does conceding mean? -yeah. it means accepting loss. if you lose, would you concede? no. why?

[jordan] so their opinion on free and fair elections is a little unclear. but what is clear is how they feel about current michigan governor gretchen whitmer. not a whitmer fan. her numbers are pretty good right now. -whitmer's up 16-- -oh, that's baloney. -i don't believe those polls. -you don't trust polls? if they're done by the republicans, yeah, i trust the polls. they're telling you what you want to hear. -that's correct. -then you trust the poll? -[laughs] -it's important for polls not to reflect reality, but to reflect your reality. exactly. [jordan] are you a tudor dixon fan? -yes. -you're not a whitmer fan. no. [jordan] she's very popular right now. she got a big boost after the kidnapping threat. yeah, but i think they hyped it up more than it was, 'cause those people are still locked up, and for what? what did they do? they didn't do anything. they're just threatening to kidnap the governor. yeah, anybody can say anything. unless they do anything, then-- they staked out her house and had kind of a plan. yeah, but they didn't do anything. right, just because i'm thinking about thwarting democracy, and then meeting friends and talking about thwarting democracy... -right. -and putting plans in action to thwart democracy... i mean, if you're gonna plot to kidnap, i mean, why can't you?

like...just don't do it! just spitballin' here. you got any plots you've been thinking on recently? we've all had those thoughts, like, oh, i should go do this, -but no one actually acts on it. -[laughs] have we? -all of us? -i'm sure all of us have. having those thoughts is fine. what about people who, like, get zip ties, go into a place they're not supposed to go into with the idea of overthrowing and taking hostages? well, i mean, you shouldn't do that, obviously. what do you think about what happened on january 6th? that was set up. that was totally set up. you think that was set up. why did they have zip ties? you don't know that they were gonna use those zip ties for harm. what if he bought the zip ties because something on his truck was getting ready to fall of? -sure. -you never know. i could be dressed up in camo, illegally entering the capital on the day they're certifying the election, with zip ties because... i have a [bleep] truck! so they might not know the intentions of those with zip ties, but they're pretty sure about who pulls the strings. i found out that there is a group above the presidents, and they're called the council of foreign relations.

-who's on the council? -it is, like, the secret-- well, then, who are they? i know. they're, like-- -i don't, though. -i know! -but i don't. -neither does anybody else! those jewish bankers, they're trying to screw us! we're swimming in that antisemitic land, right? you're a slave, you're a slave, you're a slave, you're all slaves! you say republicans on one side and... the devil on the other. are we talking metaphorical devil? like, oh, they do bad stuff? no, literally, you know, vampires drinking blood. i don't wanna nitpick here, but vampires tend to be eternally youthful. and i look at nancy pelosi, and she's a lot of things, but i guess i don't think vampire. somebody in her party definitely drinks blood. [jordan] wow, vampire jewish bankers was a lot to take in. i decided to change track. perhaps instead of politics, i could reach them the way every american reaches their family members at thanksgiving-- through sports. -you're a lions fan. -i am a lions fan. there's a lot of disappointment being a lions fan. especially this year.

still, as a fan of something, you want them to win. absolutely. and then they let you down at the end. how do you deal with that heartbreak? i don't know. i just absorb it. it hurts to lose. don't like it, but i'm right there. you gotta let that game go so you can fight the next game. i mean, it's not my whole life. if you are like, the detroit lions represent who i am, and they lose, you'd hold on to that, and you'd deny that loss because it would be so devastating to yourself. well, then you have to say i'm a loser. exactly. quick check-in here. who do you think won the last presidential election? -president trump. -[exasperated sigh] no doubt. [jordan] i was beginning to think that michigan was a lost cause. but it turns out my home state is a paradise of democracy compared to the final stop on my journey, arizona. it's no surprise that the gop candidates here have embraced the big lie. someone already convinced them that a place this hot can sustain human life. it's the desert, and it's really frickin' hot, so i need a hat. let's go brandon, president trump, president trump, second amendment. -drinking team? -[man] yeah. that's just, i'm an american, i like to drink.

not everything's about trump. this is just about drinking and the usa. [man] exactly. you know what? that has my vote. in the blazing sun, patriotism was on the march-- or at least, on the hover board. and there was another thing they were gently leaning forward and rolling away from--reality. -is he still alive, jfk, jr? -you bet. -nineteenth president. -he's the 19th president. yes. my assumption was joe biden was the 46th president. let's face it. joe got his shot. listen to trump's words. what does that mean, joe got his shot? well, in guantanamo bay, they shoot people that are treasonous mother[bleep], and he's a treasonous mother[bleep]. -who is? -joe biden. -got killed in guantanamo bay? -no doubt. james woods is playing him now. the actor james woods is portraying -joe biden as president. -you bet. is james woods that hard up for work? james woods is putting on a mask and a voice modulator, and that's who joe biden is. [jordan] those are some shocking updates to james woods' imdb page. but these patriots were here to support candidates like kari lake, who is running for governor on the platform of election denial and personally vacuuming trump's rug.

and also, secretary of state candidate mark finchem, an oath keeper who said he wouldn't have certified biden's win in the 2020 election. how important is it to win the secretary of state position? -everything. -why? what they say is not who votes. it's how many people are counting the votes. we need to get the right people counting the votes, 'cause that's why donald trump got screwed out of the last deal. then the democrats can't even win if you get the right people counting the vote. -right. -and is that the goal? yes. if you control the people who count the vote, then you control who is in office. you gotta control who counts the vote. [jordan] the one reassuring thing is that a lot of people in attendance were official poll workers. so if anyone knew there was election fraud, it'd be these guys. i'm a poll inspector, and i work every election to make sure everything's done correctly. and i did not see any problems. -you did not see fraud? -i did not see fraud. you're a poll watcher? i am an observer, yeah. your experience in 2020, did you see any fraud?

i can't say that i did. did you believe the results of the 2020 election? umm...i don't know. [laughs] -seeing isn't exactly believing. -yeah, right, right, right. why don't you believe it? you saw with your own eyes no examples of fraud. yeah. but, you know, i watched 2000 mules , of course, uh-huh. [jordan] that's right, 2000 mules, the documentary fact checkers rave is "false," "debunked," and "indefensible." 2000 mules . it's unbelievable. the 2000 mules movie. fox and newsmax won't show 2000 mules -because they'll get sued. -they're afraid. right, of getting sued because it's not valid. they don't wanna touch it because they still have guys over the top of them that can still crush them. you think there's a unified person above all of this that is telling all of the networks, including fox, what to do. i think it's a wink and a nod stuff. what does that mean? it's like...they know on which side their bread is buttered. but you've said that the majority of americans

are trump supporters. it feels like if the bread is buttered on the trump side, why aren't they supporting the trump side, then? right now, you're trying to thread a needle and trying to get some sorta, like, little tagline. less a tagline. more an understanding. baking in the hot desert sun all day, i too was beginning to see things. but i was about to see there were some in arizona willing to turn up the heat around the election even further. every year, millions of people find a health plan at healthcare.gov during open enrollment. ♪♪ so they can enjoy more visits. ♪♪ have more meet and greets. and have less to worry about. with the new law, 4 out of 5 customers can find a plan for $10 a month or less with financial help. feel like a million and find your plan during open enrollment. healthcare.gov is here for millions. like you.

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it's the perfect blend of flavor and heat [jordan] all over arizona, people are concerned about the election being stolen. but i wanna meet the people who have deputized themselves to do something about it. we need to get back to one-day voting. show up in person to do it. we can't trust the machines. we can't trust the mail-in ballots. and we can't trust the drop boxes. [jordan] these are members of the yavapai county oath keepers. the national oath keeper organization has been labeled a militaristic far-right antigovernment group by the southern poverty law center. but these nice people have decided to let me in on their operations to monitor legal ballot drop boxes. the concern is that drop boxes can be used for fraud. and so we've asked for a number of volunteers to sit and watch the drop box. we wanna have coverage around the clock. most importantly is that window between midnight and 6:00 am. who pulls the short straw to get the 4:00 am shift? you'd be surprised. we get a lot of old folks. they volunteered for those. they're up at that time in the morning anyways. so they said, sure, i'm up.

old folks with guns and low light? many states are already doing this. the only reason it's a question here is because yavapai county is one of the most gun-toting counties in the country. and everybody at this table is carrying a gun. except for you. you really think in this room we need one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight guns? so you're assuming that we all only have one gun, let's start there. [laughter] let's start there. let's start there. this is, like, the overcompensating capital of america right here. everybody has multiple guns, a huge flag, and a giant jesus. it was time to see the nefarious fraud-inviting drop boxes and to see what it takes to protect democracy. i can see you're packing. what are you packing today? -we always carry. -yeah. it's arizona. what's the goal of the oath keepers to be here outside a drop box? [jim] what it is we're looking for, it's seeing, you know, the same people coming up with a backpack, stuffing things, and obviously they're not putting their own ballot in there.

we're just active citizens monitoring the boxes. it's not a fear and intimidation thing. it's not voter suppression. there was a little old lady, called the sheriff and said, i'm afraid to go because the oath keepers are gonna be watching the box. well, what are you afraid of? it sounds like she was afraid oath keepers were watching the box. [jim] yeah, and i don't know why. it's not an oath keepers operation. it does look a bit like an oath keepers operation. we're not here acting as oath keepers. you're not here representing the oath keepers? no, not at all. you're just a regular citizen wearing oath keeper gear who has a gun? well, no, because you won't even see them with a gun. they're gonna see people in their vehicle. nobody's gonna be standing, leaning on the box, you know, with a rifle slung on their-- like we're being accused of. you're gonna be armed and waiting in a vehicle? exactly. -it's not intimidation. -no, not at all. [jordan] and this not at all intimidating behavior has caught on. around the state, there are reports of other armed drop box watchers, wearing masks, hiding their license plates, and leaving intimidating notes on people's windshields, which has me contemplating worst case scenarios.

now, recent polls said 43 percent of americans think it's very likely there's a civil war in the next decade. um, okay, i'm gonna be perfectly straight up and honest. it's gonna happen much sooner than that. you're hearing this from the house of representatives. you're hearing it from the senate. bill gates himself just said recently, if there is a problem with this election, this country will go to civil war. the civil war's coming soon. how soon? because i have an airbnb rented in the outer banks. when we see things starting to move a direction, the storm clouds are moving in, we start to get ready. and that's what-- that's what it's all about. our civil war almost destroyed our nation when it happened the first time. heaven forbid that happens again. what's the point of having--of saying, i have these rights, i have these freedoms, if i'm not willing to fight for them? some countries go to civil war. like in central america, it last 30 years. americans dealing with a 30-year civil war? we don't have the attention span. we barely got through squid game . preparing for civil war is not new for the oath keepers.

but what about actual members of congress? all these play war people that like to take pictures with their guns and uniforms on facebook have never served a day in their life, that think a civil war will be hanging out with the boys and having a good time? you know, they're gonna be the first to die because walgreens is gonna run out of their heart medicine and they're on seven of them. how close are we to another civil war? i think we're closer than we'd like to think. and i-i used to be afraid to talk about it. now i think it's important for us to talk about it. [jordan] and kinzinger thinks it would look different than the ken burns film they make you watch in eighth grade. you either have a cold divorce, where it's like, yeah, we're technically together, but florida's boycotting california, california's boycotting florida, all this stuff going on. -or, northern ireland. -1980s northern ireland. that's the new civil war, right? i do think it could get violent easily. we could have a northern ireland situation here in america? i don't think it's gonna be tomorrow. but we have to, like, look at this and recognize that as a possibility. yeah. i know this is serious, but the world doesn't need two u2's. [laughs] there's only room for one bono in this world.

thankfully, avoiding a bloody conflict and another zooropa tour might still be possible. self-governance is really hard. if we just walk away and be like, screw democracy, yeah, we will lose. and we may lose anyway. but it's a good fight. [jordan] he's right. just walking around this place will stir your faith in the strength of america's institutions to withstand attacks both ideological and physical. this does mean something. and i want, in 100 years, people to think of, when were the two times the capitol was breached? the frickin' british, right? and then overweight guys in dewey beach sweatshirts. [laughs] yeah, that's right, yeah. i've been across this country. i've talked to so many americans. it's emotional when i come to a place like this. immediately i think... you should get a shovel and start digging a moat, because it could happen again. i know. guys, preplanning. for god's sake, have we learned nothing? like, do you have any shovels out here? we can start digging a moat today!

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