[theme music]
ANNOUNCER: Coming to you from New
York City, the only city in America, it's The Daily Show.
Tonight, Herschel Walker does show and tell,
the history of reggaeton, and Chelsea Manning.
This is The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
[cheering]
What's going on, everybody?
Welcome to The Daily Show.
I'm Trevor Noah.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
Thank you for coming out in person.
Thank you so much for being here.
Thank you for being here.
We've got a great show for you tonight.
Take a seat, everybody.
Take a seat.
Elon Musk is putting Ukraine on his family plan.
Dulcé Sloan is going full on reggaeton.
And Herschel Walker joins the Paw Patrol.
Plus, Iraqi war whistleblower Chelsea
Manning is our guest tonight.
So let's do this, people.
Let's jump straight into today's headlines.
[cheering]
All right, everybody.
Before we get into the big stories,
let's catch up on a few other things going on in the world,
starting with some health news.
The FDA has announced that there is a nationwide shortage
of Adderall.
[laughter]
So if you don't have a genuine need for it, please,
save it for anyone who has a legitimate prescription.
And if you do have a prescription, now
is the time to sell it at school, kids.
Cash in, and make that money.
In international news, the superstar K-pop band BTS
has announced that its members will soon
begin reporting for mandatory service
in the South Korean military.
Yeah, which is great news for South Korea.
Because their army is basically unstoppable now.
There's no army in the world that is going
to take a shot at these guys.
Are you kidding me?
Who's going to be stupid enough to take a shot?
Everyone's a fan.
Enemy soldiers are going to be like,
oh, I just got stabbed by Jin.
This is the last best day of my life.
[laughter]
Oh, in tech news, Kanye West announced today
that he is going to buy the right-wing social media
platform Parler because, quote, he
wants to make sure we have the right
to freely express ourselves.
And thank God because I've been waiting to hear Kanye's
unfiltered thoughts on things.
You just never get to hear that.
You guys ever hear of anything he has to say?
So shy.
All right, let's move on to some of the bigger stories
of the day, starting, as we so often do, with Donald Trump.
And I know.
I know.
I know when Trump is in the news,
it's usually because he was caught doing more crimes.
But this time, it's also because of that.
The man loves to crime.
What can I say?
So let's find out about his latest
one in our ongoing segment, America's
Most Tremendously Wanted.
[music playing]
[cheering]
You may remember that after he left the White House,
Trump created his own social media app called Truth
Social, which is basically just Twitter,
but for white supremacists.
And before you say, wait, aren't the white supremacists
already on Twitter?
Yes, but on Truth Social, they're verified.
Now, believe it or not--
believe it or not, there might also be
a dark side to Truth Social.
A whistleblower is now accusing former President
Trump's social media company of violating
federal securities laws.
Will Wilkerson is a former executive at Trump Media
and Technology Group, which launched
the Truth Social platform.
He tells The Washington Post that Trump's company tried
to raise capital by making fraudulent misrepresentations
about its finances.
The SEC is now investigating.
REPORTER: The cofounder told The Washington Post,
the former President asked one executive to relinquish
his shares in the company to former First Lady Melania
Trump, and had him removed from the board
of directors when he refused.
What?
Donald Trump's social media platform
was reportedly engaged in shady financial gimmicks?
[gasps] How?
It's called Truth Social.
I don't know what to believe anymore.
Oh!
You know, one of the most interesting allegations
is that he tried to bully one of his board members
into giving his shares to Melania,
which is just so romantic.
[laughter]
Yeah, ladies, find you a man who will commit
securities fraud for you.
Are you kidding?
You have to admit, though, shares in Truth Social
are a weird gift, you know?
It almost sounds like Trump didn't remember
until the last minute.
He was just like, (IMITATING TRUMP) of course,
I remembered your birthday, Melania.
I got you-- I--
I got Truth Social shares.
Surprise.
[cheering]
Totally love it.
And also the tie I'm wearing.
The funny thing is Truth Social is such a failure of a company
that she probably doesn't even want the shares.
It's almost like when your kids give you that gift,
but it's just, like, a piece of macaroni art
for your birthday.
You know, she was probably just like, (IMITATING MELANIA) oh,
so cute.
You think this is worth something.
Thank you, Donald.
[laughter]
Now, just to be clear--
just to be clear, though, I am totally
on Trump's side in the story.
Yeah, yeah.
It's the year 2022.
If you go into business with Donald Trump,
and you are surprised that you got scammed, that's on you.
What were you thinking?
Well, I know the last guy that Trump worked with almost
got hanged by an angry mob.
But I think I'm going to turn out fine.
I don't know what could go wrong.
[applause]
But let's move on from Donald Trump
to this year's hot new mini Trump, Herschel Walker,
Georgia Senate candidate and closed captioning's
worst nightmare.
There are a lot of controversies swirling
around Walker-- his attack on absentee parents
despite being one, his opposition to abortion
despite allegedly paying for one, his attempt
to become a Senator despite not knowing
how many states America has.
And in his first debate over the weekend,
Walker tried to clear up one controversy
with a little prop comedy.
REPORTER: At a debate Friday night,
Herschel Walker responded to accusations
that he has pretended to be a police
officer by flashing what appeared to be a fake badge.
MODERATOR: Gentlemen--
I have to respond to that.
And you know what's so funny?
I am-- work with many police officers.
REPORTER: In a new interview, the former football
star says the badge is real.
He says he got it from the Sheriff
of Johnson County, Georgia.
Walker clarified, It's an honorary badge.
The National Sheriffs Association
said, an honorary badge, quote, "is for the trophy case."
Why make the decision to flash it at the debate?
That is totally not true.
You know, I don't know what's crazier in this story,
the fact that this man lied about being in law
enforcement or the fact that he pulled out
a fake badge during a debate--
during a debate.
Or the fact that after, the Sheriffs
Association said that his badge is just an honorary one.
He said, no, they're wrong.
They're totally wrong.
It's like-- it almost makes me wonder, how many people
has Herschel Walker arrested?
Huh?
Is there someone locked up in his basement
right now who's just like, is this a real prison?
There's a foosball table in here!
He's like, it's an honorary prison.
[laughter]
Does he treat every symbolic object like this?
Like, people say I'm an absentee father,
but if that were true, why would I have this world's best
dad mug, huh?
Not OK dad, not a good dad, world's best dad.
That's official.
In fact, I have seven of these mugs to prove it,
and some I haven't even received yet.
You know the saddest part of the story
is that there are people who are going to believe
that Herschel Walker was in law enforcement
because he pulled out this badge.
This is something I've learned in America.
People see it-- they believe it.
It's the same way there were people who believed that Trump
actually did step away from his company
just because he posed next to a stack of empty folders.
Yeah, and you're like, he's lying.
People are like, why would he be lying?
He's standing next to empty folders.
Would he stand next to them if it wasn't true?
Are you next to empty folders?
No, you're not.
But it's honorary.
Like, Taylor Swift, for instance,
got an honorary doctorate from NYU this year.
But you don't see her in the operating room like, well,
killed another one, huh?
All right, let's get lunch and try again later.
Guess maybe I'll try brains next time instead of hearts.
[laughs]
[applause]
I will say, the one upside of this whole story,
though, is there is some good news.
Because this means that Georgia voters don't even
need to elect Herschel Walker Senator.
They can just give him a certificate that says,
honorary Senator.
He won't know the difference.
[cheering]
He won't know.
Let's move on to some criminal justice news.
Right now a right-wing militia member
named Paul Bellar is on trial for hatching a plot
back in 2020 to kidnap the governor of Michigan, which
means, every day, the jurors have to look at a man accused
of an evil, heinous crime.
Just imagine that, every day, staring into those eyes.
Are you turned on?
[laughter]
No, because apparently someone was.
REPORTER: Well, a juror has been dismissed from the trial
of three men in connection with the 2020 plot
to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
She was dismissed by the judge on Friday
after attorneys accused her of flirting
with one of the defendants.
Now, the flirtatious behavior was described
as nonverbal communication in the form of eye contact
and smiles between the juror and defendant, Paul Bellar.
While the prosecutor originally pointed out the conduct,
several others, including Bellar's attorney,
stated that they had seen interactions between the two.
The judge dismissed the juror out
of an abundance of caution.
God damn!
First of all, congrats to this woman for finding a new way
to get out of jury duty. Huh?
[laughter]
Truly an inspiration for us all.
[applause]
But I have to say--
I have to say, I'm kind of sad that they
kicked her off the case.
Think of how great it would have been
when they read the verdict.
We the jury sentence the defendant to life with me.
[laughter]
I guess the real lesson here is that bad boys stay winning.
This guy is literally on trial for trying
to kidnap the governor, huh, and he's still getting love.
It's always like this.
Every famous criminal has all these groupies
who are like, (FLIRTY) is there a Mrs. Serial Killer?
Oh-- oh, there was, but you chopped
her into little pieces?
So you're single now.
[laughter]
But I would like to know how this happened.
How did this happen?
Because when you report for jury duty in America,
they make you watch a video that expressly tells you what
you should and shouldn't do.
[music playing]
Please, remember, while performing
this sacred civic duty, it is important to avoid
doing the following things--
reading about the case in the news,
going like this to the defendant,
going like this to the defendant, going like this
to the defendant.
Thank you for your service, and, please,
don't try to smash.
Everyone watches that video.
How did that happen?
All right, finally--
[applause]
Let's talk about the latest news in Russia's war
with Ukraine.
If you've been following the war,
you know that almost everybody has
been helping Ukraine fight off the world's
worst Botox customer.
America is sending weapons.
The EU is sending financial assistance.
England is sending Prince Andrew-- not to help,
they just want to get rid of him.
But it may surprise you to know who has been giving Ukraine
their internet service and how close it
recently came to going away.
Elon Musk reversing course, the billionaire now
says his SpaceX company will continue to fund Ukraine's
critical satellite service.
SpaceX's Starlink internet service
has been a vital source of communication
for the Ukrainian military during its war with Russia.
The reversal coming after exclusive CNN
reporting that SpaceX sent a letter to the Pentagon,
warning that it may stop funding the service
unless the US military kicks in tens of millions of dollars
each month.
Musk tweeting this weekend, "The hell with it."
Even though Starlink is still losing money,
and other companies are getting billions of taxpayer money,
we'll just keep funding the Ukraine government for free."
You know, Elon Musk is the only person
who can do a good thing, but in the bitchiest way possible.
You know, he's just like, guess I'll just
keep helping Ukraine for free.
Like, look, I'm not going to even try to tell Elon
Musk how to use his money.
But I will tell you this, Elon.
This is not how you get remembered as an inspiring
figure in history.
All right?
You're doing a good thing, but then
you're saying it like that.
Can you imagine if Martin Luther
King, Jr. had this attitude when
he was trying to do his good?
(IMITATING MLK) I have a dream, I guess.
Because I don't see nobody else having a dream,
so I guess it's all me.
I got to sleep 20 hours a day because these bitch
asses don't want to come up with dreams on their own.
People be like, Martin, you want to go to the club?
But I can't.
I got to go home to sleep because I got to have a dream.
That's some bullshit, but I guess I got to do it anyway.
It wouldn't be the same.
[cheering]
Can I tell you what I think happened here?
What I think happened here is Elon Musk
saw an opportunity to be the good guy
and make a lot of money--
give the Ukrainians internet, but then, over time,
have the American government step in and pick up the tab.
Yeah.
But because they said no, now he's stuck.
He is.
Keep losing money or be the asshole who
cut off Ukraine's internet.
And I know some people think Elon is evil,
but he's not cable company evil.
Come on.
And I actually get Elon's frustration
because think about it.
Think about it.
Weapons manufacturers are donating missiles to Ukraine.
The US government is paying them.
So Elon is going, well, why shouldn't I get paid?
And, also, like everyone else, I'm
sure Elon didn't expect the war to go on for this long.
You know, it's sort of like when you hold the door
open for someone, right?
But then other people keep walking through the door.
So you're holding the door for 20 minutes.
And, finally, you let go, and then it slams
some old lady in the face.
She's like, ah, you broke my nose!
And then your boss runs up.
He's like, you're fired!
And you're like, I don't even work here.
He's like, not with that attitude, you don't!
And now you're an asshole, and you're
unemployed just because you were trying to be nice.
All right, that's it for the headlines.
But before we go to a quick break,
let's check in on the stock market
with our finance expert, Michael Kosta, everybody!
[cheering]
Good to see you, Michael.
Monday markets, what is happening in the market today?
I'm crushing it.
I mean, I am crushing it like a 19-year-old
me used to crush Adderall pills,
getting ready for the big party I wasn't invited to.
About right?
So I also got a hot tip for you.
TREVOR NOAH: OK.
Got a hot tip.
Now the big financial news today is that Albertsons
has been acquired by Kroger.
And if this deal goes through, it
will become the second biggest grocery chain in America right
after Walmart, OK?
But before we get to that, I want
to talk to you about that flirting juror in Michigan.
Yeah, yeah.
Everyone says she's flirt--
I mean, that's not flirting.
You know, she's just being nice.
People-- people in New York think
someone's flirting just because they haven't pushed
you down the stairs, OK?
She's just being Midwest nice.
I'm from Michigan, OK?
I know about eye [bleep],, all right?
Was she doing this, you know?
TREVOR NOAH: What are you-- what are you--
what are you-- what are you doing?
You see how good I am at eye [bleep],, OK?
Kosta gets the girls' eyes wet, all right, which--
which, technically, is crying, but it's
a very-- it's a moist eye.
Look, Kroger-- let's get to Kroger.
TREVOR NOAH: Yes, let's go to Kroger.
Kroger bought Albertsons for 24.6 billion, all right?
Now that's before you factor any coupons they may have had.
But, look, this big jump right here, this is not when Kroger
actually acquired Albertsons.
In my expert opinion, this is when Albertsons
implemented self checkout, OK?
Now this saved them a lot of labor costs,
and that's why the value shot up.
But what all grocery stores don't realize
is that self checkout, it's really just inviting
us to steal, isn't it?
You know, and it takes people some time to figure that out.
But when they do, woosh, it hurts profits.
And that's what you start to see right here.
I mean, self checkout, I got to know what type of mushroom
this is now?
I don't know.
How about I just steal it?
OK?
Trevor, I had a bushel of carrots, OK?
And it's not coming up, and it's not coming up.
And then it's like, what's the produce number?
I don't know the produce number.
So now I'm spelling it out on the keypad.
Carrots-- K-A-R-R-O-T-S, and it's still not coming up.
It's just easier if I steal it, OK?
I used to work at a grocery store.
I-- I did.
I was in charge of stocking the orange juice, but I got fired.
I-- I couldn't concentrate.
Well--
[laughter] - Oh, really?
Thank you.
But, actually, I threw a cantaloupe at an old lady.
I thought she was stealing.
So-- but, look, look, look-- everybody, look.
This supermarket merger, it's great news.
Everyone's worried about the price of groceries,
but now there's going to be less competition,
and a giant corporation will have more power than ever
to decide the price of food.
And I'm sure they're going to do the right thing.
Speaking of doing the right thing, Musk
with the internet in Ukraine, I love
that he's helping Ukraine. This is so cool.
Everyone's helping out.
The US is sending weapons.
Europe is sending money.
Trevor, I assume Africa is sending some
of your child soldiers or--
[laughs]
[crowd groaning]
Oh, stop. Stop.
I can make that joke.
I have an honorary African badge.
[laughter]
All right?
Yeah.
TREVOR NOAH: Seriously, Kosta?
Yeah.
TREVOR NOAH: That's not even what
the African badge looks like. Just do the markets now.
OK, look, I got a hot tip. I got a hot tip.
Here's my hot tip.
If you work at a grocery store, and you throw a cantaloupe
at an old lady, you have to be 100% certain
that she was stealing, all right?
Now back to you, Trevor, my fellow African.
Michael Kosta, everybody.
[cheering]
That is not an official badge.
Do not use that in the street.
All right, when we come back, Dulcé Sloan is
going to take us to the club.
So don't go away.
[cheering]
Welcome back to The Daily Show.
You know, every now and then, we ask Dulcé Sloan
to report on the latest news.
But Dulcé just talks about what she
wants to talk about in another episode of Dul-sayin'.
[music playing]
Hello, friends.
Hispanic Heritage Month just wrapped up.
But before we go, I want to talk about reggaeton.
And if you don't know what it is,
you've probably heard the unmistakable beat of reggaeton
before, especially if you have upstairs neighbors.
[banging]
MAN: Can you keep it down up there?
I will not!
Like this song.
The roots of this music go back as far as the '70s
and as far south as Panama.
It could have started further south,
but the beats are so big-- they don't fit through the canal.
It was here in the 1980s when music artists started putting
Spanish lyrics over Jamaican dancehall songs,
creating a new sound of reggae in español.
And, honestly, I'm glad I wasn't there.
Because watching Spanish words and dancehall music
coming together for the first time,
that'd been too sexy to handle.
There's no way you didn't leave that dance floor too pregnant.
It's like being the jelly in a Diego
Luna and Bad Bunny sandwich.
Ooh, delicious.
Two of reggaeton's earliest pioneers
were Leonardo Renato Aulder and Edgardo Franco.
Franco would later be known as El General
and even looked like if the Fresh
Prince got sent to military school instead of Bel Air.
These two and other artists grew their new sounds
by giving tapes to bus drivers, who would bump their music.
It's basically the way rappers in Atlanta
give their singles to strip club DJs.
Except in this case, you hope people jam out to your music
while running late for work.
In 1985, El General moved to New
York City, where he began spreading
early reggaeton in the clubs.
It almost didn't happen, though,
because while he was in New York,
El General also pursued a degree
in business administration in an effort to get a real job.
You have to wonder, what if that path had worked out?
He'd been in an office going, Ernst and Young,
this is El General speaking.
How may I direct your call?
Thankfully, he was sucked back into music, hosting
parties and performing.
In 1990, he put out the song, "Tu Pum Pum," a tribute
to the power of the puss-ay.
[meow]
EDGARDO FRANCO: [singing in spanish]
And El General's cover blew up.
It was a hit in mainland America and Puerto Rico
and spread to Central and South America.
The music was spreading so fast-- it
would have made COVID jealous.
Not too far from Brooklyn, on Long Island, the defining beat
of reggaeton, the dembow rhythm,
was popularized by Panamanian rapper Nando Boom.
The sound was originally created
by Jamaican dancehall musician Shabba Ranks,
who looks like if Blade became a DJ
instead of fighting vampires.
From there, the sound moved to a different long island,
Puerto Rico.
And here is where all the Panamanian and New York
ingredients finally mixed together
to make something special, like sofrito for your ears.
It took off at a club called The Noise,
founded by the Quincy Jones of reggaeton, DJ Negro.
He had been selling hot dogs on the street to get by,
and then had an idea to start a club.
It was there that the genre became known as El
Underground, and created a whole new generation
of artists like Ivy Queen.
They also popularized reggaeton's
most famous dance, perreo.
Oh!
I know this dance.
This is just me in 2005.
This is the dance you do when you
don't want to pay for drinks.
At one point, Puerto Rico's government
cracked down on El Underground and tried
to regulate the lyrics and perreo dance moves.
But all that did was make El Underground more popular.
This was like when your parents told you not to date somebody,
but then that person gets abs.
I'm sorry, mama.
You makes some good points.
But I can wash clothes off his stomach.
Later, the genre exploded all over mainstream
with the release of the hit song, "Gasolina"
by Daddy Yankee in 2004.
And Daddy Yankee was everywhere--
MTV, Time magazine, even the campaign trail.
I just want to say thank you, Daddy Yankee.
That's right.
You know a genre is big when the old, white
Republicans start calling.
For a little while, reggaeton was huge.
But then record companies moved on,
and it disappeared in much of America, which basically means
most Americans thought it didn't exist anymore,
like a baby who falls for peekaboo,
but with Latin music.
But even as America forgot about it,
reggaeton went through a rebirth in Medellín,
Colombia, the city you recognize from Narcos.
Colombian artists like J Balvin, Reykon, and Karol G
gave reggaeton a new, more mainstream sound, with lyrics
that focus less on violence and more on sex and romance,
like if Neo became Neo.
It grew and grew in popularity until America
caught on again with--
(SINGING) Despacito.
DULCE SLOAN: That's right.
Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee took over the globe
with "Despacito."
It was number one for 16 weeks.
This song was so popular--
even racists were learning Spanish.
Como se dice, go back to your own country?
And since "Despacito," reggaeton has kept its hold
in America, which is great.
Because this is a genre that is still evolving
and becoming more inclusive.
You know, it grew out of a rich Hispanic heritage of--
[banging]
Oh, seriously, that neighbor again?
Hey, sorry about before, but can you actually turn it up?
Everyone downstairs started dancing,
and I just want to keep the party going.
OK, I don't know how you got in here, but sure.
Can we turn it up, please?
Thank you.
No thank you. - All right.
OK.
You can get out now.
Hoo.
[cheering]
Thank you so much for that. Dulcé Sloan, everybody.
All right, stay tuned because when we come back,
Chelsea Manning will be joining me right here on the show.
You don't want to miss it.
[cheering]
Welcome back to The Daily Show.
My guest tonight is an American transparency activist
and former US Army intelligence analyst,
who disclosed unauthorized government
documents during her service.
She was convicted of 20 charges and sentenced
to 35 years in prison, which President
Obama commuted in 2017.
She's here to tell her side of the story
and talk about her new memoir, README.txt,
which comes out tomorrow.
Please, welcome Chelsea Manning.
[cheering]
[music playing]
Chelsea Manning, welcome to The Daily Show.
Hi, how's it going?
It is going well, and, you know, your book
is one of those books that, strangely enough,
I felt like I had read because of how much you had
been in the news, because of--
Right.
TREVOR NOAH: --how big your story has been in not just
American media, but in the telling of America's
military operation.
Let's start with, I guess, the inception of the idea
to write a book.
After pulling off one of the largest intelligence leaks
in American history--
Right.
--you were vilified.
You served time.
Uh-huh.
You were labeled as a traitor.
CHELSEA MANNING: Right.
And it felt like the story tapered off over time.
And now you've come back, and you've
reignited many of the conversations with this book.
My question to you is, why?
Why?
I think that it's the fact that my own version of the story,
my first draft of history, if you will,
hasn't been talked about as much.
I feel like there's been all the discussion of things that
have happened around me and involving the military,
involving other personalities, like President Obama, who
commuted my sentence.
But I feel like my story, my coming of age story,
really, for just trying to tell the story of how
I became who I am today, has been kind
of left out of the picture.
And so I wanted to tell that story.
Yeah, in many ways, you became
a lightning rod and an idea because what
you did shook the world.
You came out as a whistleblower.
And you just-- I mean, to name a few of the leaks--
and you'll add to them.
I mean, it leaks about murders that
the American military had committed
and not told anybody about.
Right.
You had told the world about collateral damage
and how this wasn't what we thought it was.
Right.
And there were way more deaths than had
been previously reported.
As I put it, the true face, the true reality of asymmetric
21st century warfare, which is basically, like,
how an occupation-- how holding territory with
a large occupying army during an insurgency
actually plays out.
It's not surgical.
TREVOR NOAH: Right.
It's very, very messy.
What did you hope to achieve by leaking the information?
I wanted another person like me
to feel as informed as I did finally
about the true reality.
I mean, that's why I call it README.txt
because that is the document.
I mean, that's what I said in the document.
Did you hope it would change what the US military
was doing in the Middle East?
Or did you think it would shift public perception?
The public discourse, I feel like,
is what I really want it to impact.
I feel like at least if the public
is informed, then at least--
like, being a-- like, having conversation with your doctor,
you have informed consent.
TREVOR NOAH: Right.
I just always assumed that you went straight to Wikileaks.
I didn't know how hard you tried to get American media
outlets to look at the information
and to have first dibs at it. - Right.
Why do you think they said no?
And why do you think nobody got back to you?
Well, it was very difficult. So it's,
like, technical difficulties.
We didn't have the tools.
Like, signal encryption wasn't widely adopted
by traditional media outlets.
And trying to-- and didn't trust the telephone system.
TREVOR NOAH: I don't blame.
And I didn't trust email, and I had my reasons for that.
So trying to avoid that, but also
trying to do a physical thing while I
only have a limited amount of time,
and there was a blizzard.
It was just very logistically difficult.
And if any one thing, as somebody asked me earlier
today, like, if any one thing had changed, yeah,
this would have never happened.
Interesting.
So you were trying to maintain--
I mean, there was a point in the book
where I talk about how I--
or I was sitting at Starbucks and uploading this stuff,
and it wasn't working.
And because of Starbucks internet,
it almost didn't happen.
[laughter]
I will say, there are parts of the book that are almost
comical unintentionally.
Because you talk about copying--
what is it, 750,00 government files onto CDs,
and then you just labeled them--
you just wrote band names?
Right.
Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga.
So I wanted to know.
When I was reading this, like, did you write those authors
because you assumed that military
personnel would be like, oh, that's-- there's no harm?
Pretty much.
OK.
So do you think there were some artists where
they would have been like, I want to listen
to what's on that CD? Is that what--
- Yes. - OK.
Because it's really interesting.
You have these CDs.
You go to the Starbucks.
You start uploading all of this.
Was there ever a part of you that was afraid
that you would compromise the US
more than you would help it?
I don't think so, and I say that because I
knew this information.
TREVOR NOAH: Got it.
I worked with it every day.
I mean, and I think about, like, senior public officials.
Whenever they have access to this information,
they don't understand it.
And that's scary.
I mean, it's our job to tell them,
but it's a question as to whether are
they listen or not. So--
So you're basically explaining it to them,
and then they're working off what you've told them.
Maybe.
Wow.
Depends on how they interpret it.
I couldn't help reading through the book
and wondering, how much of your life
has informed the latter part of your journey?
You know, you weren't just famous for being
one of the biggest whistleblowers
in American history.
You also then became famous as somebody who transitioned
at a time when the conversation was really-- you even
speak about it in the book.
Right.
TREVOR NOAH: Was there not a part of you that thought,
I'm dealing with my gender?
I'm dealing with a world that doesn't
accept me the way I am.
Right.
Why get involved in leaking military secrets?
Maybe deal with one thing at a time.
I didn't think of it like that.
I thought this-- despite my background,
despite everything else, it was just--
it was just so clear to me.
It was just-- it was crystal clear
that something had to be done.
And-- and I just--
I mean, I was very young, so--
and I think it's also important to remember
that the consequences for this weren't clear, right?
I thought I was going to lose my job, which was a big deal.
TREVOR NOAH: You didn't think you'd
be sentenced to three decades.
Right.
Nobody had ever gone to prison before me.
Do you think the American military is more
honest now in its operations?
Do you think you've shifted the paradigm even slightly?
I think that, obviously, the context has changed.
I mean, I look at the war in Ukraine.
And I always find it fascinating
that as the Russians invaded Ukraine,
I knew more about what was happening in the--
from my laptop at home than I would
have known about what was going on in Iraq while I
was actually deployed there.
TREVOR NOAH: OK, that's interesting.
--in an intelligence center.
Like, this is just the sheer firehose of information
that we receive from every single different angle.
And I actually think that it's shifted from not having access
to information to having access to so much information
that you can't filter out accurate from inaccurate,
misinformation from disinformation,
and that this is going to be the main struggle
that we have moving forward.
And now I was really--
just, like, joy poured out of me for you when I found out
that you're now DJing as well.
Yes.
That's, like, a cool journey to be on.
[applause]
Yeah.
I'm DJing my own--
I'm DJing my own release party.
TREVOR NOAH: What are you playing?
What I play? TREVOR NOAH: Yeah.
Electronic dance music, hyperpop.
TREVOR NOAH: Oh, I love that. - Yeah.
OK, so it's not Taylor Swift, Gaga.
Like, do you--
That's my old-- that's--
OK. Do you listen--
I had a Blink 182 era.
OK, I like that.
Well, congratulations on your journey.
Thank you so much for joining me on the show.
And it's a really fascinating book.
Thank you.
Thank you for being here.
[cheering]
README.txt comes out tomorrow.
Chelsea Manning, everybody.
We're going to take a quick break,
but we'll be right back after this.
Thank you very much.
[applause]
[cheering]
Well, that's our show for tonight.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
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And remember, you can't just draw a badge
and become a police officer.
You have to write police on it.
And then you're in.
Now here it is, your moment of zen.
Oh, she was so great.
We dare you to say she wasn't.
[high-pitched laugh]
She was ridiculous!
But you did not, oh, that's so profound.