Jordan Klepper hadn’t attended a Trump rally since he inadvertently found himself in the middle of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, “a day no one will ever forget, unless you’re a Republican member of Congress,” the Daily Show contributor joked in his latest dispatch. But this past week, Klepper boldly returned to the scene, trolling the crowd at the former president’s big Iowa event for the most embarrassing devotees he could find.
What he discovered more than anything was banners, flags, and deluded supporters all proclaiming that “Trump Won” as loudly as they could. “And even though Trump won, they’re hoping he runs again,” Klepper explained. “Are we ready for this? I mean, the last guy hasn’t even conceded yet.”
He tracked down one couple that warned former Vice President Mike Pence would not be welcome in the crowd. “Do you think Mike Pence will show up here today or does he not want to hang?” Klepper asked, the double meaning seeming to go over their heads.
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“I think he would be afraid to show up here today,” the woman responded. When he asked why, she shot back, “Because he was a coward and he didn’t do the right thing, that’s why!” She denied, as Klepper suggested, that he might want to stay away because “these people tried to kill him.” The man beside her, who was wearing a t-shirt that showed former President Donald Trump giving two middle fingers above the words “One for Biden, One for Harris,” saw no irony in his complaints that the current administration was “giving the middle finger” to the whole country.
And then there were the two men holding a “Trump 2024: Take America Back” banner who were particularly concerned about the “border crisis.” Klepper asked them, “And you’re from Iowa? So you’re worried about people coming in from Minnesota?”
Another man calmly explained that he believes Trump is secretly still running the military but blanched when Klepper suggested he would then have to take the blame for the mess in Afghanistan. None of them seemed to believe that their MAGA brethren were responsible for Jan. 6, instead claiming “antifa,” the “corrupt FBI,” and the “deep state” were actually behind the attack.
Two other women in matching MAGA hats and American flag overalls similarly pushed back on the notion that Trump supporters are a “cult,” while at the same time saying, “I feel like whatever he spews out of his mouth, I just love it.”
“It doesn’t matter what he says?” Klepper asked them. “But this isn’t a cult?”
“I don’t think so,” one replied with a straight face.
For more, listen to The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper on The Last Laugh podcast.
