Jordan Klepper of The Daily Show was in the minority as he visited Phoenix and the new Arizona recount, also known as the third Arizona recount. For one thing, he seemed to be one of the few people without a pistol, which set him apart in a sea of MAGAs. Klepper didn’t seem persuaded by the Cyber Ninjas, the organization in charge of the recount, which has no prior experience with recounts.
Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs chatted with Klepper and conceded that while “it’s comical to watch what is happening here in Arizona… I think that it’s also important to note that this is really dangerous to our democracy.”
According to Hobbs, a number of Arizona voters are afraid that their ballots will end up in the hands of the Cyber Ninjas, a business owned by a man who has often promoted conspiracy theories regarding voter fraud in 2020. Which of these theories is the most popular? That a group of Chinese insurgents tried to tamper with the election results by sending their own ballots… written on bamboo paper. As a result, a group of completely rational people has had to use a UV light to search for bamboo in order to disprove this bizarre rumor.
“You can have some pretty far-fetched ideas on both sides, and what we’re doing is simply proving or disproving as many of those as we can,” Senate Audit Liaison Ken Bennett told Klepper.
While discussing the importance of a fair election with a man proudly brandishing a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum on his hip, he told Klepper that “There has been word that Antifa and BLM may be coming in, so they’re trying to be careful and secure the premises.” As for whether said Man With Gun had seen any signs of Antifa, he had not—but noted that there were whispers that they were infiltrating the carnival that was taking place next door to the recount. As in: an actual carnival. Antifa carnies? Yep! As Klepper noted, they were even mentioned in Cyber Ninjas’s “official documents outlining potential security threats.”
