Over the past few years, The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper has emerged as “the king of humiliating Trump fans,” as our own Matt Wilstein put it.
During the 2020 election, Klepper confronted rowdy (and maskless) Trump worshippers at one of the former president’s many packed pandemic rallies; pressed a number of pro-Trump insurrectionists just before they stormed the Capitol; and got into an animated back-and-forth with MyPillow guy (and Big Lie-peddler) Mike Lindell.
On Monday evening, The Daily Show aired more eye-opening footage of Klepper clashing with folks divorced from reality—this time at an anti-vaccine mandate rally that took place outside New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s residence last week, with attendees clamoring over the mayor’s executive order that effective Aug. 17, indoor entertainment (movie theaters, museums, entertainment venues, etc.), indoor dining, and indoor fitness facilities will require proof of vaccination for entry.
One of the people Klepper faced down was Edwin De La Cruz, who’s running for New York City Council on the Republican ticket. De La Cruz, clad in an ill-fitting suit, claimed, “The science is still new. We still have question marks. We rushed the science,” prompting Klepper to fire back, “We were moving at warp-speed… so Donald Trump rushed it.” De La Cruz had no response, and after stumbling, replied, “How about we switch places and I start attacking you?”
The wildest exchange involved a a woman in a “F*CK CANCEL CULTURE” T-shirt. Klepper approached her and queried, “Maybe you can help me out: I’m seeing signs that say, ‘Vaccine Mandates Are Fascism,’ and also signs that say, ‘Vaccine Mandates Are Communism.’ Which one is it?”
“It’s both,” she replied.
“It’s both? Those are diametrically opposed ideologies,” he countered.
“I don’t think it’s communism—I think it’s more like a dictatorship, like we’re living in a Nazi Germany and the only thing that’s missing is the camps and the gas,” she argued.
“That’s what’s happening right now? Because you can’t go to a concert?” Klepper asked.
“I can’t go to a concert… I can’t go to a gym…” she reasoned.
“Do you think that’s what it was like in Nazi Germany? People were bitching about not going to a gym?” Klepper responded.
She was, understandably, speechless.
For more, listen to Jordan Klepper on The Last Laugh podcast.
