Comedy Central’s Jordan Klepper and The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer joined forces on Monday to get in one last pre-election scare message for The Daily Show’s audience that warned of a “Republican informant state” or a “snitch state.”

Klepper put the ball on the tee by asking, “You have another article that's in the most recent print edition of The Atlantic that talks about this Republican informant state, turning everybody into an informant. What is this snitch state you are speaking to?”

Serwer began by going after Texas and pro-lifers, “I think before Roe v. Wade was overturned, there was this Texas ban that was passed, you know, I live in Texas, I live in San Antonio, and this ban almost passed that was based on the idea that, you know, if you had -- you could file a lawsuit in court over someone aiding or abetting an abortion and you could get $10,000 for that.”

As he would go on, Serwer would throw in some references to education reforms but mostly stick to abortion, “Now, that is a law that, sort of, incentivizes snitching. It's a snitch law and what we found is that laws in Texas and in other conservative states, I mean, you can look at Florida, they, sort of, incentivize this informing on people for things that conservatives think should not be acceptable and whether that's in some cases, you talk about school curriculums or not just abortion, but discussing abortion.”

The Democratic vice presidential nominee set up what may be considered a snitch line in 2020 for people to report on people they suspected of violating COVID restrictions.

Staying on the abortion hype train, Serwer added, “You know, a law like that is not just about making sure people don't have abortions, but it is about making sure the people don't discuss them because you don't want somebody to sue you or sue someone you love on the basis of the fact that you, you know, paid for the Uber that took them to the airport that they then got on a plane and went to Colorado to get an abortion because they couldn't get basic health care in their home state.”

Serwer also claimed, “These laws incentivize people to snitch on their friends and neighbors, you know, in the hopes of recreating stigmas that I think, you know, are no longer in society in the way that they once were. Obviously, you can't necessarily argue people out of believing those things, but you can pass a law that says you are not allowed to bring a book by Ta-Nehisi Coates into the classroom. Otherwise, you might get fired.”

Coates’s latest book is simply anti-Israel propaganda, so, no, you shouldn’t be allowed to teach from it. One also has to doubt Serwer and Klepper would be happy if public schools started teaching from Abigail Shrier’s books critical of transgender ideology.

Here is a transcript for the November 4 show:

Comedy Central The Daily Show

11/4/2024

11:27 PM ET

JORDAN KLEPPER: You have another article that's in the most recent print edition of The Atlantic that talks about this Republican informant state, turning everybody into an informant. What is this snitch state you are speaking to?

ADAM SERWER: I think before Roe v. Wade was overturned, there was this Texas ban that was passed, you know, I live in Texas, I live in San Antonio, and this ban almost passed that was based on the idea that, you know, if you had -- you could file a lawsuit in court over someone aiding or abetting an abortion and you could get $10,000 for that. 

Now, that is a law that, sort of, incentivizes snitching. It's a snitch law and what we found is that laws in Texas and in other conservative states, I mean, you can look at Florida, they, sort of, incentivize this informing on people for things that conservatives think should not be acceptable and whether that's in some cases, you talk about school curriculums or not just abortion, but discussing abortion. 

You know, a law like that is not just about making sure people don't have abortions, but it is about making sure the people don't discuss them because you don't want somebody to sue you or sue someone you love on the basis of the fact that you, you know, paid for the Uber that took them to the airport that they then got on a plane and went to Colorado to get an abortion because they couldn't get basic health care in their home state. 

These laws incentivize people to snitch on their friends and neighbors, you know, in the hopes of recreating stigmas that I think, you know, are no longer in society in the way that they once were. Obviously, you can't necessarily argue people out of believing those things, but you can pass a law that says you are not allowed to bring a book by Ta-Nehisi Coates into the classroom. Otherwise, you might get fired.