CNN’s Abby Phillip has exposed Donald Trump’s hypocrisy with a brutal montage of him raging over others cozying up to Chinese President Xi Jinping—exactly as Trump just did.
The montage included Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly referring to then-President Barack Obama hosting a state dinner for Jinping in 2015.
“He’s getting a big dinner, free, at the White House,” O’Reilly told Trump in a 2015 interview. “If you were president, would you throw him a big dinner?”
Trump, then a first-time presidential candidate, scoffed, “I would not be throwing him a dinner. We talked about this. I’d get him a McDonald’s hamburger, and I’d say, ‘We gotta get down to work.’”
He added: “You know, we’ll give him a state dinner and what he’s done is sucked all of our jobs, and he’s sucked the money right out of our country.”
Other clips showed Trump slamming former President Barack Obama in 2011, 2015, and 2016 for hosting Chinese officials—especially rich now that he literally rolled out a red carpet for Jinping this week.
This time around, even as China is providing aid to Iran in its war with the United States, Trump threw a lavish White House bash for Jinping with his favorite supporters in the media, and a crew of tech moguls among some 100 guests who dined on sesame-crusted sea bass with baby bok choy and vanilla crémeux. They enjoyed the White House’s honey ice cream for dessert.
The White House conceded in a statement after Jingping’s trip that the men discussed several issues, but announced no agreement or timetable for any action.
Trump critics got in on the hypocrisy bandwagon on X, posting other clips of Trump attacking Obama’s relationship with China. Trump, in a 2012 speech, called Obama “stupid” for hosting then-Chinese President Hu Jintao for a state dinner.
“Are they stupid?” Trump asked. “And I say, absolutely, they’re stupid. The president of China came a few months ago, and we gave him a state dinner. When people are screwing you, you don’t give them state dinners.”
