“The Daily Show” host Jordan Klepper reacted with alarm to President Trump’s post-summit remarks with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, bluntly asking, “Holy s–t! What happened in there?”
Trump’s trip to China to meet with President Xi was the primary focus of Klepper’s Thursday night monologue. During the segment, the comedian reacted to Xi’s reference to the Thucydides Trap, a sociopolitical theory about inevitable tensions between an established world power and a rapidly rising one, during his speech at the cross-nation summit, as well as President Trump’s boast about Chinese restaurants now outnumbering fast food chains in America.
“That’s my president! Putting his understanding of geopolitics into fast food terms,” Klepper joked. “He gives a summit speech like a third grader who got assigned China for his geography project, ‘In conclusion, China is a land of contrast, and I brought Panda Express for everyone!’”
The Comedy Central star was quick to note that he thought it was at least “good” to see Trump actually building bridges with Xi, given all the reported tensions between America and China over the future of Taiwan, which China sees as part of its territory and the United States wants to keep independent.
“I’m sure all the good will between Xi and Trump carried over into their closed-door meeting about Taiwan,” Klepper said, only to learn that Xi reportedly delivered a blunt threat to Trump about any American intervention.
“Tough talk, President Xi!” Klepper said in response to the Chinese leader’s reported remarks. “Perhaps you’ve forgotten that you’re talking to America, the country that’s just about to start kicking Iran’s ass any day now. And if you want to step up to us with all this Thucydides crap, then why don’t Thucydides nuts?”
“Now, I know Donald Trump’s not going to take a tongue-lashing like that,” he added. “Our president’s definitely not going to walk out of those talks looking like he’s in a hostage video.”
Naturally, that statement was followed by a clip of Trump standing next to Xi and responding to a reporter’s question about how their meeting went with a perplexed, delayed, “Good.”
“Holy s–t! What happened in there? That was like asking Tiger Woods how the drive home went,” Klepper joked. “What happened in the meeting that made him really not want to talk about Taiwan? He’s out there like, ‘Don’t you guys want to talk about anything else? Jeffrey Epstein? I got a lot of redactions. I got time!’”
