With Donald Trump still at the top of the Republican presidential primary polls long after pundits predicted he would self-destruct, The Daily Show set out this week to answer the one question on everyone’s minds: “What the hell?”
To figure it out, they sent Jordan Klepper to Las Vegas ahead of last night’s GOP debate, where he assembled seven self-described Trump supporters in a room. And assuming no one was trolling him, the correspondent discovered that the candidate could say or do pretty much anything and they would not abandon him.
When they listed off pros like “He’s not a politician” and “He has no filters,” Klepper asked, “That’s a good thing, right, just so we’re on the same page?”
The most outspoken woman in the group defended Trump’s description of Mexicans as “rapists” and “murderers” but clarified that he meant the “vast majority” of people crossing the border, not every single one.
“I think the vast majority of your statistics are bullshit,” Klepper shot back.
During the focus group session, these Trump supporters seemed to have no problem with his policy on banning Muslims from entering the country. Even if they didn’t agree with it specifically, they were glad that Trump got everyone talking about the issue.
“I could walk into my friend’s apartment, take a shit on his rug, and now everybody’s talking about whether they should get a new rug,” Klepper said. “That doesn’t make me the good guy.”
Klepper then moved on to a game called “Who said it: Donald Trump or a racist sandwich?” that shouldn’t have been as difficult for the participants as it ultimately was. One man had particular trouble with this quote: “There’s two things I hate, banana peppers and Muslims.”
They were cool with Trump’s mocking of a disabled reporter, making fun of all Chinese people and even requiring a national registry of Muslims. And when Klepper asked how they felt about a national registry of Jews, two of the seven were still on board.
In the words of one participant, “The more bizarre he gets, the more people like him.”