The Daily Show has skewered Donald Trump for being “spooked” by planes during his welcome ceremony for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The incident happened when the 80-year-old president greeted Xi, 73, and his wife, Peng Liyuan, upon their arrival in America at Maryland’s Joint Base Andrews. The planes were part of the fanfare as Trump and the first lady gave a red-carpet welcome.
“Trump picked him up at the airport?” began Desi Lydic. “OK, that is friendship. I don’t even pick my own kid up at the airport. But the other reason to meet Xi at the airport was so that Trump could impress him with a flyover of B-1 bombers.”
“Let’s show China that America never wavers and never flinches,” she quipped on Thursday.
But the president gave a vastly different display instead. As two B-1 bombers flew overhead, he visibly flinched and grimaced, and was even seen ducking.
“Oh, my God, that is so embarrassing,” Lydic retorted. “Why did you wince like that? You are the one who ordered the flyover! It’s like when a baby farts so loud that it scares itself.”
She continued, “Anyway, this is not a good omen for negotiations with China. There are major issues at stake here: trade, AI, the war with Iran. Now President Xi knows all he has to do to rattle Trump is drop a book on the floor.”
The Comedy Central show panned to special correspondent Jordan Klepper, who sarcastically suggested that Trump is playing a “long game.”
“Well, the leader of China was greeted by an old man scared of loud noises, then driven past a drained reflecting pool into the half-demolished ruins of the White House. It’s an utter humiliation for America, so it’s going exactly as planned.”
“Point is, this is all part of President Trump’s long game. He’s lulling China into a sense of overconfidence,” Klepper continued. “Xi is going to head back home saying, ‘Guys, America’s cooked. Shut down the killer AI.’”
Xi Jinping, 73, is making his first Washington visit in over a decade. Wednesday’s welcome ceremony was a lavish affair, which included the Air Force band playing both the U.S. and Chinese national anthems. This was followed by a lavish state dinner for the communist leader at the White House.
