The Daily Show's Jordan Klepper spoke to CNN Tonight on Tuesday about his encounter with a supporter of President Donald Trump who said he is much better off financially now than under former President Barack Obama.
CNN's Don Lemon showed a clip of Klepper speaking to the man at Trump's first in-person event since he tested positive for coronavirus. The man was wearing a "Make American Great Again" hat and a t-shirt saying "Fill That Seat", referring to the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett.
"Are you in a better place than you were four years ago?" asked Klepper, who was wearing a mask. The Trump supporter he spoke to was not wearing a face covering at the time.
"Absolutely, absolutely," the man said.
"Is America in a better place than we were four years ago?" Klepper asked. "We have higher unemployment, we have 200,000 people dead due to COVID and we have riots in the streets."
"Yes, let me just tell you this much," the man said. "I'm doing much better. I'm literally making four times as much as I was making when Obama was president."
Klepper asked: "What do you do?"
"I work for a debt relief company," the man replied. Klepper started laughing at the end of the clip and Lemon chuckled as they cut back to studio.
“It's not about politics anymore. It's not an audition for a job. It's an ideology rally and it's all about identity.”
— CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) October 13, 2020
CNN’s @DonLemon speaks to @TheDailyShow’s @jordanklepper about his conversations with Trump supporters at the President’s campaign rallies. pic.twitter.com/RRYx86s2tb
Commenting on the exchange, Lemon said: "You don't even have to try but the supporter said that he is a debt collector. And he explains why he's better off. I mean, tell me, what is going on here?"
Comedian Klepper joked that his own job might be at risk because the Trump supporter he spoke to was writing funnier stuff than he was.
Then the conversation then took a more serious tone.
Addressing Klepper, the host Lemon said: "I have not been out this political season to a campaign rally and I thought, like, after all of the bad things over the past four years that there may be a different sort of mood or sentiment at Trump rallies. Has much changed since 2016 or 2015?"
Klepper said that people at Trump rallies are still excited to be there "but they've done this before". He likened it to attending concerts by the same band for four years.
"It's not about politics anymore. It's not an audition for a job. It's an ideology rally and it's all about identity," Klepper said. He went on to say that while many rally-goers carried masks, they weren't wearing them and he criticized Trump for not telling his supporters to wear them.
"He sets the tone for those rallies," Klepper said. "They want to go to the big parade in town and I can empathize with that. The president tells them what to wear to the parade and I think they would put on a mask, they should put on a mask. He won't tell them to do it and until he does, you're gonna see what you see every day."
