The annual NRA convention was held over the weekend, amidst a rash of mass shootings both before, during, and after it. There was a lot of finger-pointing at everything but the easy obtainability of legal firearms, including body-destroying AR-15s. (There was also Trump, there to tell weird stories and make fun of the former veep he almost got killed.) There were also stories that gave non-gun owners fascinating insights into how the NRA mind works. One came from South Dakota’s heartless governor Kristi Noem, whose various bizarre brags got prime real estate during Jordan Klepper’s first night hosting The Daily Show.
The program’s longtime correspondent got a rare chance sitting behind the desk; indeed, he said it was “the first time the show has let me sit down in five years.” He dedicated the first half of his opening segment to what he called “Cargo Pants Comic-Con or The Westminster Stepdad Show.”
He started with Noem’s speech, saying, “People like to stereotype NRA members as ‘gun-obsessed whack-jobs who want to arm little babies.’ The thing about stereotypes is sometimes they’re spot-on.”
Klepper then showed Noem speaking about how of her two grandchildren, her youngest, who’s almost two, is already packing heat. “I want to reassure,” she told the crowd, “you she already has a shotgun and she already has a rifle.”
Does it sound irresponsible to arm little kids who probably just saying their first words? Klepper thought so. “When my kid was little I was covering outlets, locking cabinets, and cutting grapes in half because they might be a choking hazard,” he said. “Kristi Noem’s like, ‘Here’s a shotgun, you’re on watch tonight.’
“I know liberals and conservatives don’t agree on much, but can we agree you should not own a gun if you don’t know how to poop in a potty?” he asked, flustered.
Klepper also showed Noem sharing a supposedly heartwarming story. When she was nine or 10, out on a hunting trip with her dad, he surprised her by saying he was abandoning her, forcing her to hunt her way to camp by herself. Despite being terrified, she did it, only to later learn that he hadn’t actually abandoned her. Instead he surreptitiously followed her to make sure she was safe — while making bear sounds to scare her all the more.
“What an adorable story about alcoholism,” Klepper concluded.
You can watch Klepper’s opening segment (which also touches on the Clarence Thomas mishegoss) in the video above.