FINAL STRAW

Jordan Klepper Reveals Breaking Point for MAGA Die-Hards Ditching Trump

The “Daily Show” host’s new special sheds light on why Trump continues to lose supporters.

Jordan Klepper is exposing the major cracks in Donald Trump’s MAGA base.

The Daily Show co-anchor traveled to Florida to investigate President Donald Trump’s fanbase ahead of November’s midterm elections. There, he discovered a group of voters disenchanted with Trump, 80. Klepper explores why these former gung-ho MAGA maniacs finally snapped in his Daily Show special, Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: Red Flags.

In Doral, a South Florida city where Trump owns an 800-acre luxury golf resort, Klepper interviewed residents about the political blunders that ended their love affairs with the president. They said Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, his war in the Middle East, and the Jan. 6 insurrection have caused them to feel “stupid and ashamed” about supporting him.

One of the most prominent reasons that Trump worshippers are losing faith is the president’s immigration crackdowns. Venezuelan immigrants account for 40 percent of Doral’s population and rallied around Trump in the past; in the 2024 election, the president won in Doral by 23 points. But since he took office for the second time, Venezuelan support for Trump in Doral has plummeted as the city’s economy has struggled.

“This is a community that has embraced the president,” one Doral resident, a Venezuelan immigrant woman, told Klepper. At the end of his first presidency, Trump issued a memorandum that temporarily shielded Venezuelans already in the U.S. from deportation. This, plus their staunch support of the president, made Venezuelan immigrants feel like they were “immune” to the ICE raids happening across the country, Klepper said. But they soon realized they were operating under false pretenses.

“It’s a tough time to be in Doral and be Venezuelan right now,” the woman said. “There’s fear. There’s a loss of trust in our leadership.”

“The Venezuelans just think, ‘Oh, Trump’s going to go through these deportations alphabetically,’” Klepper joked. “And they’re going to start with Afghan interpreters. Venezuelans are way down.”

“That’s what my community thought,” the woman conceded.

Immigrants were only some of the Floridians who felt Trump betrayed them. Wayne DeMario, a former guitar technician for the Grammy-winning singer Gloria Estefan, voted for Trump twice because “I thought he would be a businessman,” he said. DeMario added that his old voting pattern now makes him feel “disgusted” with himself.

“He deported my fiancée,” DeMario said. “He’s a piece of s--t.”

DeMario’s fiancée, Yami, had lived under the guidelines of U.S. immigration after fleeing from Cuba over 20 years ago, complying with government check-ins the whole time. But when Trump entered office, her routine meeting with ICE ended in deportation to Mexico, even though Yami is from Cuba.

The day of her meeting, Yami left work and “hauled a--” to the immigration offices, DeMario said.

“As soon as she walked through the door, they put her in chains and shackles,” he continued. “She’s Cuban, and they deported her to Mexico, like trash. It’s f---ed up.”

He added, “I didn’t think anybody could be that cruel.”

DeMario couldn’t pinpoint exactly when he knew he’d voted wrong, but he said that he’s taking responsibility for his “mistakes.” He even handed Klepper a sheet of paper and asked him, “What’s it say?”

“It says ‘Florida Democratic Party,’” Klepper read before joking, “Oh my god. You’re reading Huffington Post now. Are you, like, doing Ezra Klein cosplay?”

“You can make fun of me all you want for voting for scum, and I did,” DeMario said. “I’m sorry. But take those people. Yes, they voted for Trump. Say, ‘Hey, welcome back to the f--ing Democratic Party. Welcome back.”

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Dana Herrnstadt Editorial Intern, Obsessed

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