coal story, bro

The Daily Show took on coal country’s efforts to move past coal.

Correspondent Hasan Minhaj took a trip to Kentucky to talk to a few locals in a segment that aired on Comedy Central Wednesday night.

The Appalachian Regional Commission is a government agency working to reinvigorate communities and help them cope with coal job losses (spoiler alert: President Trump wants to cut the commission’s funding). One ARC program, TechHire Eastern Kentucky, trains people in software development to help bring tech jobs to the region.

Coal jobs have declined since the 1920s thanks to automation, natural gas, and other advances. Even Donald Trump’s presidency can’t suddenly resurrect the industry, despite his promises to do so.