Trevor Noah explains the Iran protests in a way Americans might understand

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Daily Show)

last updated 3 January 2018

Tens of thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets since Thursday to protest economic conditions and corruption, and the problem isn't Iran's "enemies," as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would have you believe, Trevor Noah said on Tuesday's Daily Show.

"These are the largest anti-government protests in Iran since 2009, and in case you're wondering what drove these people into the streets, it wasn't that George Soros was paying them," Noah said. "It was that after the U.S. lifted sanctions on Iran in 2015, the Iranian government promised a big economic boom for everyone, but while the rich in Iran are getting richer, ordinary Iranians aren't noticing the benefits. And I know this third-world stuff is hard for some Americans to relate to, but just imagine if the U.S. government promised tax cuts for the middle class but then only the rich benefited — I know, I know, that s--t would never happen."

Iran explained, Noah turned to North Korea and Kim Jong Un's combined threat of nuclear retaliation and RSVP to the Winter Olympics in South Korea next month. The Daily Show taped before Trump tweeted his own nuclear provocation back at Kim, but Noah noted that Trump's initial reaction to Kim's nuclear-button comment was pretty typical: "Have you ever noticed that when Trump has no idea about something, he just says any crazy thing that pops into his head and then he adds, 'I don't know'?"

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Trump's bluster aside, "this is a big deal — North and South Korea now want to come to the table for talks that won't include the United States," Noah said. "And that's the power of Donald Trump: No matter how far apart two adversaries are, they can always look at each other and say, 'We'd better sort this s--t out before that guy gets involved.'" Watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.