Trump Gushes Over Xi & Jon Helps 2026 Graduates Land a Job the Trump Way

Summary

The Daily Show: Ears Edition

Episode: Trump Gushes Over Xi & Jon Helps 2026 Graduates Land a Job the Trump Way
Date: May 19, 2026
Host: Jon Stewart
Guests: Soumaya Keynes & Chad P. Bown (Economists, Financial Times columnists, Peterson Institute)

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Episode Overview

This episode blends sharp satire with serious economic analysis. In the first half, Jon Stewart and The Daily Show team lampoon Donald Trump’s recent visit to China and his paradoxical posture toward President Xi Jinping, using it as a springboard for a brutally funny guide to job interviews—the “Trump way.” In the second half, Stewart interviews economists Soumaya Keynes and Chad P. Bown, delving into the ongoing US-led global trade war, why the strategy has shortcomings, and what might actually help American workers in a world dominated by multinational corporations.

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Main Segments & Key Insights

1. Trump’s Visit to China: “Daddy’s Back Home”

[01:56–09:00]

• Trump’s Self-Proclaimed Toughness, Contradicted
  Stewart and the correspondents mock Trump’s bravado on China. Stewart notes the contradiction between his claim of being tough and his effusive praise for Xi Jinping.

  • Quote:
    Trump (impersonator/clip): “Nobody was tougher, like, on China than I was. I’m the toughest person in China anywhere in the world.” [03:23]
    Jon Stewart: “He’s like a bull in a China shop.” [03:40]

• Mocking Trump’s Takeaways from Diplomacy
  After his visit, Trump returns having gained little but a “relationship.”

  • Quote:
    Trump (clip): “For the U.S., I think the most important thing is relationship. It’s all about relationship.” [05:03]
    Stewart: “So nothing.” [05:21]

• Absurd Observations on Xi & China
  Satirical analysis of Trump’s superficial impressions of China and Xi, including his surprise that Xi is tall.
  Jon Stewart: “Apparently when you came back, President Xi is apparently taller than what a 79 year old white guy’s idea of what a Chinese person’s height should be.” [07:51]

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2. Satirical Guide: “How to Nail a Job Interview the Trump Way”

[09:00–22:45]

• The Premise
  Stewart riffs: if honesty/hard work don’t lead to power, maybe students should learn from Trump’s path to the presidency when going for a job.
  • Quote:
    Jon Stewart: “Maybe we should all be students at Donald Trump University, which obviously you can’t be because it was a fraud and got shut down, but metaphorically.” [09:46]

a) Making an Entrance

• The “Trump handshake”: dominate, don’t just shake.
  • Jon Stewart: “Your prospective employer must know you are the captain now.” [10:34]

b) The “Interview”

• Role-playing common interview questions with “Trump” answers (impersonator/clips):

  • Why are you a good fit?
    Trump (clip): “I guarantee I have a vocabulary better than all of them. I have the best words. Have a very, very fertile, very fertile brain.” [11:57]

    • Jon Stewart’s riff: “Make your answer cocky and super weird. My brain can get pregnant." [12:08]

  • Why do you want this job?
    Trump (clip): “I didn’t need this job. I had a very nice life. I think I would have been a good general. My mother said... you have never seen a body so beautiful.” [12:42–13:17]

    • Correspondent: “Any firm would be lucky to grab such a talented athlete, flutist, nudist.” [13:17]

  • Your greatest weakness?
    Trump (clip): “I have weaknesses. But it’s something I don’t like discussing because I don’t want to give it up.” [13:39]

    • Jon Stewart’s riff: “Hire me and you’ll find out. I got a lot of them. I’m reckless. I make decisions on impulse.” [13:45]

  • Making women uncomfortable
    Trump (clip): “It’s that face. It’s that brain. It’s those lips, the way they move...” [14:12]

    • Jon Stewart: “That’s not going to be a problem in the office, is it?” [14:31]

  • Tell us about a time you struggled.
    Trump (clip): “My father gave me a small loan of a million dollars.” [14:56]

  • Favorite book?
    Trump (clip): “The Bible is the best. One of the great books.” [15:45]
    Jon Stewart: “Boom. Perfect.” [15:49]

    • On being asked for a Bible verse, Trump dodges: “I wouldn’t want to get into it... that’s very personal.” [16:18]

c) Turning on the Interviewer

• “At some point, refuse to answer questions—attack the questioner.”
  • Trump style: “What a stupid question that is. That’s such a stupid question you ask. Don’t ever say what you said. That’s a nasty question.” [17:52]

d) Social Media Scrutiny & References

• When asked about AI pics of Trump as Jesus:
  Trump (clip): “Well, it wasn’t depicted. It was me...” [20:39]

  • Jon Stewart: “Apparently, even though the Bible is Trump’s favorite book, he doesn’t know the difference between Robby Rabinovich and Jesus.” [20:47]

• “References” who immediately call Trump a narcissist and “moron”:
  Trump’s ‘reference’ (clip): “He is a consummate narcissist...” “moron” [21:30]

e) Satirical Conclusion

• Stewart recaps the “Trump Way”:

  • “You’ve been arrogant, self centered, narcissistic, ignorant, quick to claim credit, quicker to deflect blame, petulant, short tempered, vulgar, corrupt... name any sin from Trump’s favorite book, you’ve been it. And apparently in the upside down that is now our country, that’s the way to do it. So congratulations, you’re hired.” [21:56]

• Self-dealing coda:

  • The Trump administration sets up a $1.7B taxpayer-funded compensation fund for allies and January 6th defendants. [22:28]

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3. Interview: Soumaya Keynes & Chad P. Bown—How to Win a Trade War

[24:33–45:05]

a) Are We in a Trade War?

• Chad Bown: “Donald Trump decided to ignore the most basic military strategy and fight a war on all the fronts at the same time... and yeah, there is a reason you’re not supposed to do that.” [26:18]
• The US started trade wars with allies and rivals, which left the US and EU fighting on multiple fronts. [26:31–27:05]

b) What Counts as “Winning”?

• Keynes: “The most important [metric] is can you do what you want, or are you being constrained by your vulnerabilities to not be able to do what you want?” [27:38]

c) US Vulnerabilities: Rare Earths & Supply Chains

• China dominates production of rare earth metals needed for electronics, defense.
• US attempted to restrict advanced chips to China, but China retaliated with rare earths. [28:45–29:22]
• Sumaya Keynes: “We have been doing that kind of thing, but for military purposes... China’s doing something that’s very different.” [30:09]
• Japan stockpiled rare earths after a dispute—US did not think ahead the same way. [30:40–31:16]

d) Multinationals: Corporations as Mercenaries

• Stewart: “It almost appears to me that they’re actually the soldiers that started the war.”
• Bown: “Multinational corporations are the soldiers in the trade war... but they act in their own interests, not as patriots.” [34:27–36:10]
• US policy incentivized offshoring, now must fight to bring companies back—something China would not tolerate. [35:16–36:10]
• Keynes: “They’re really not American companies, they’re multinationals... Unless you incentivize them to, they’re just going to act in their own interests.” [36:19]

e) Why Don’t Governments Protect Workers?

• Keynes: “It's much easier for the big companies to organize and lobby and get the policies they want. It's much more difficult for workers.” [37:55]

f) Better Tools Than Trade Wars

• Keynes: “Trying to get these companies to behave and be... better global corporate citizens [is better done] than just whacking them with tariffs.” [40:28]
• Example: Global minimum corporate tax is more effective than tariffs.

g) Wage Insurance—A Safety Net for Workers

• Bown: “Wage insurance cushions the blow. If you lose a manufacturing job and get another that pays less, the government makes up the difference for a period.” [41:52]
• Stewart proposes using wage insurance proactively to keep jobs in America, making up the difference to domestic wages. [42:43]
  • Keynes: “There's so much more that we can do in terms of adjusting the tax code to make it more beneficial for companies to hire workers.” [43:28]

h) How Does This End?

• Bown: “A lot of the happy sunlit uplands are quite a long way in the future... things are going to have to get worse before they get better.” [43:55]
• Keynes: “The issue is not going away.” [44:45]

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “He’s the only leader with balls to come to your house and say right to your face, 'who’s better than you?’” —Jon Stewart, on Trump kowtowing to Xi [04:19]
• “Maybe the advice that we’ve been giving them all along about honesty and hard work and all that other gay shit is completely wrong.” —Jon Stewart [09:10]
• “If you walk out of that interview with a hand that looks any less grotesque than this one, you did it wrong. That is a hand that won the interview.” —Jon Stewart, mock-showing a “dominant” handshake [11:06]
• “Trump is a consummate narcissist, so he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist.” —Reference/clip, mocking the idea of references for Trump [21:30]
• “They're not soldiers. They're mercenaries. They're Blackwater.” —Correspondent, on multinationals [38:06]
• “Wage insurance cushions the blow. ... The evidence we have suggests it can actually pay for itself, which is kind of never heard of in economic policies.” —Chad Bown [41:52]

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Segment Timestamps

• [01:56–09:00] – Opening monologue, Trump and China visit parody
• [09:00–22:45] – Satirical “Trump way” guide to job interviews
• [24:33–45:05] – Interview with Soumaya Keynes & Chad Bown: trade war deep dive
• [45:28–48:44] – Colbert Report crossover, closing banter

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Tone & Delivery

• Signature Daily Show blend: biting satire, sarcasm, and pointed political commentary.
• Stewart’s tone oscillates between exasperation, mock-resignation, and mischievous educator—especially in the satirical “guide” portion.
• The expert segment is smart, relaxed, and humane even as it grapples with urgent economic questions.

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Takeaways

• Satire is wielded ruthlessly to illustrate the unreality of Trump-era leadership and its consequences.
• The “Trump way” mock-guide for graduates highlights how bluster, deflection, and narcissism can bizarrely succeed in public life—and why that's alarming.
• Trade wars, started without preparation, are backfiring because the US lacks the resilience and foresight of some allies (e.g., Japan).
• Worker protection (like wage insurance) and better regulation of multinationals are more promising than tariffs as ways to support American workers.
• The experts paint an uncertain picture for the US in the global economic rivalry with China—change is slow and the current strategy is likely to get worse before it gets better.

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For listeners who missed the episode, this summary captures both the comic riffing on today’s political charades and the grounded discussion about trade, jobs, and the real-world impact of policy choices.

Transcript

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[Correspondent/Comedian]

You're listening to Comedy Central.

[Comedy Central Announcer]

From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central. It's America's only source for news. This is the Daily show with your host, Jon Stewart.

[Jon Stewart]

Hello, welcome. Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Daily Show. My name is Jon Stewart. We have a program for you tonight, par excellence French. Also later on tonight, economists Soumaya Keynes and Chad P. Bone will be here. This is the crowd making some noise for the economists. We got the boneheads in the house. First.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

I want to check with her. Everybody feeling good? You feeling good? You feeling safe? I know why. I know why you're feeling good. I know why you're feeling safe. Cause Daddy's back home.

[Jon Stewart]

Daddy's back home. He's gone for a couple days in China. Were you scared? Oh, where's Daddy?

[Correspondent/Comedian]

I'm so scared.

[Jon Stewart]

Where's Daddy?

[Correspondent/Comedian]

But now he's home. And I'm sure he brought us all the goodies from China because as we all know, nobody, and I mean nobody, is tougher on China

[Jon Stewart]

rhymes with vagina

[Correspondent/Comedian]

than Donald J. Trump.

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

The only way you're gonna get along well with China is you have to deal from a position of strength. I stood up to China like no administration has ever done before. Nobody was tougher, like, on China than I was. I'm the toughest person in China anywhere in the world. There's never been anybody tougher in China than me.

[Jon Stewart]

He's like a bull in a China shop.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Or obviously, as they called over their shop.

[Jon Stewart]

Done.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

I'll let myself out, but. All right, let's see some of that famous toughness in action.

[Jon Stewart]

Let him have it.

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

I want to thank President Xi, my friend. He's a man I respect greatly. The relationship is a very strong one. You're a great leader. I say it to everybody. You're a great leader. Thank you. Sometimes people don't like me saying it, but I say it anyway because it's true. I only say the truth.

[Jon Stewart]

Yeah, take that, President Xi. He's the only leader with balls to come to your house and say right

[Correspondent/Comedian]

to your face, who's better than you?

[Jon Stewart]

No one.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

And you know what?

[Jon Stewart]

Trump's gonna say something right now. Xi.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

You don't even have to say it back to him. You know what?

[Jon Stewart]

That's okay.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

There's a lot of ways to negotiate. Sometimes you get more flies with honey. So what did you get, Mr. President? Trade barriers down, help with Iran. Some of them delicious rare earth metals. What's the most significant specific thing you walk away from here?

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

For the U.S. i think the most important thing is relationship. It's all about relationship.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

So nothing.

[Jon Stewart]

You got nothing. You flew to China. What is it, 400 million miles? I don't know how far it is in China. It's far. You flew there to personally confront our

[Correspondent/Comedian]

rival superpower on the escalating trade and geopolitical tensions between us, and all you

[Jon Stewart]

came back with was his Instagram. The tariffs are in place, but we're on the close friends story now.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Well, he's on mine. Look, was there any positive movement?

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

He said the US Was declining for the last four years. And he said what President Trump has done in the last 15, 16 months has been virtually a miracle. He said we have the hottest. He said we have the hottest country anywhere in the world.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Yeah, that's what she said.

[Jon Stewart]

No, I'm asking. Is that what she said? Because that quote sounds really a lot like you. President Xi actually took you aside, Donald Trump, and said. Actually said. President Xi said, you have the hottest country like no one has ever seen before. You only need a ballroom. That's all you need. Was there at least any information about

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Xi that you gleaned being over there

[Jon Stewart]

that the United States might be able

[Correspondent/Comedian]

to exploit in future negotiations.

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

If you went to Hollywood and you looked for a leader of China, you couldn't find a guy like him. He's tall, very tall. And especially for this country because they tend to be a little bit shorter.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

What the is he talking about

[Jon Stewart]

that you came back, you come back with like this guy.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

He's like, I mean, Chinese, you think, but this guy.

[Jon Stewart]

So apparently when you came back with this, President Xi is apparently taller than what a 79 year old white guy's idea of what a Chinese person's height should be. Listen, it's probably as good as we

[Correspondent/Comedian]

can expect from Trump.

[Jon Stewart]

And Xi's eyes are definitely wider than I thought they'd be usually. Can I do the eyes to show him? Is it okay if I do the eyes? And there was no pee pee in my Coke, contrary to what I've been told. What are we doing? You might be watching this and wondering how the is this guy our president? How. How is this possible? He should not have this job and yet he does.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Maybe I've got it wrong.

[Jon Stewart]

Maybe it's time to stop being exasperated

[Correspondent/Comedian]

by this, by Trump, and maybe it's

[Jon Stewart]

time to see if we can glean

[Correspondent/Comedian]

lessons from Trump's rise.

[Jon Stewart]

Look, folks, it's May, and we were even getting questions about it today from young people. It's May. It's graduation season. Thousands of graduates are going into the world to interview for their dream job. And maybe the advice that we've been giving them all along about honesty and hard work and all that other gay shit. Is completely wrong. Maybe we should all be students at Donald Trump University, which obviously you can't

[Correspondent/Comedian]

be because it was a fraud and

[Jon Stewart]

got shut down, but metaphorically.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

And so that's what we're going to do Tonight.

[Jon Stewart]

Class of 2026. Everybody gather round the whatever it is you watch TV on your phone, Brain chip, smart fridge. However you're watching this,

[Correspondent/Comedian]

we're going to walk you through what you really need to do to nail that important job interview. Donald Trump way.

[Jon Stewart]

Well, start at the very beginning, young grad.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

You walk into the room and what have we always told you to do? Eye contact, firm handshake, settle in. But that's what losers do. What you want to do is set the terms of the battle in the interview.

[Jon Stewart]

I will take your hand. I will. Give me your hand. Give it to me. It is now my go. I want your hand. Give me your. Your prospective employer must know you are the captain now.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

And if you come out of that interview with a hand that looks any

[Jon Stewart]

Less grotesque than this one. You did it wrong. Don't look away. Look at it. That is a hand that won the interview. How did the interview go, son? My beautiful photo. All right, so now we're in the room. Now we're going to let the interview begin.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

We'll role play this out.

[Jon Stewart]

Why do you think you're a good

[Correspondent/Comedian]

fit for our firm?

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

You know, I went to great schools. I'm like a smart person. I guarantee my IQ is much higher than any of these people. I'm good at language.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

I've always been good at money.

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

I guarantee I have a vocabulary better than all of them.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

I know words.

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

I have the best words. Have a very, very fertile, very fertile brain.

[Jon Stewart]

That's how you do it.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Graduates.

[Jon Stewart]

I cannot stress this enough. Make your answer cocky and super weird. These other people might be good, but I have words and a fertile brain. Brain, brain can get pregnant. Pregnant brain, pregnant brain. Make more brain. Lots of brain.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Now, the next thing the interviewer is going to say to you is, why do you want to work here? And the right answer is, I don't.

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

I didn't need this job. I had a very nice life. I think I would have been a good general. My mother, she said, son, you could be a professional baseball player. I could have been a flutist. I could have been sunbathing on the beach. You have never seen a body so beautiful.

[Jon Stewart]

Yes, any firm would be lucky to

[Correspondent/Comedian]

grab such a talented athlete, flutist, nudist. But see, now the interviewer's on the back foot. They got all their stupid preplanned bullshit

[Jon Stewart]

questions that everybody's supposed to have a

[Correspondent/Comedian]

pro forma response to, and you just

[Jon Stewart]

get to knock them down one after the other.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Oh, tell us about one of your weaknesses.

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

Yeah, I have weaknesses. I really believe I have weaknesses. But it's something I don't like discussing because I don't want to give it up.

[Jon Stewart]

That's the stuff in the interview. What are your weaknesses? I don't know. Hire me and you'll find out. I got a lot of them. I'm reckless. I make decisions on impulse.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

I do very little planning. I'm corrupt as a mother.

[Jon Stewart]

But that's going to be my little secret until I get this job. Oh, here's one. Here's one of my weaknesses.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

I make all the women in the office incredibly uncomfortable.

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

It's that face. It's that brain. It's those lips, the way they move. They move like she's a machine gun. There she is. You don't mind being called beautiful Right,

[Jon Stewart]

because you are, you are beautiful.

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

I'm not allowed to say that to myself. Anyway,

[Correspondent/Comedian]

that's not going to be a

[Jon Stewart]

problem in the office, is it? Oh, and by the way, it's not

[Correspondent/Comedian]

enough for the job interviewer to ask about weaknesses. Oh, they also want to know, tell us about a time you struggled. Now, you've been taught graduates that they're expecting humility to prostrate yourself on a life lesson you learned. But that's for losers. The Trump strategy is to remind the interviewer that they would kill to have the kind of obstacles you had.

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

It has not been easy for me and you know, I started off in Brooklyn. My father gave me a small loan of a million dollars.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

You poor bastard.

[Jon Stewart]

He had to start off in Brooklyn, an outer borough with only a small loan. I mean, if you look at the

[Correspondent/Comedian]

check honestly, it's mostly zeroes

[Jon Stewart]

now. Great.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Now you've made it through the interviewer's psychological probing meant to reveal your introspective and self critical side. And you've given them nothing. Well done. But these bastards aren't done. They think a little playful hobby question might be the way to unlock a new grad's real self. Who they really are. Something stupid like, oh, what's your favorite book? But you got this.

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

The Bible is the best. One of the great books.

[Jon Stewart]

Boom. Perfect.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Now those interview coaching firms or your school's career offices or your parents or responsible friends are going to probably advise

[Jon Stewart]

you to have read whatever book you mention as your favorite.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Winners don't have that kind of time. And what are the odds that they'll ask a follow up?

[Sumaya Keynes]

Anyway, I'm wondering what one or two

[Correspondent/Comedian]

of your most favored Bible verses are.

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

I wouldn't want to get into it because to me that's very personal. You know, when I talk about the Bible, it's very personal. So I don't want to get into verses. I don't want to get into the

[Sumaya Keynes]

verse that means a lot to you

[Correspondent/Comedian]

that you think about or cite the Bible.

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

The Bible means a lot to me, but I don't want to get into specifics.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Even to cite a verse that you like?

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

No, I don't want to do that.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Yes, people who love the Bible famously

[Jon Stewart]

hate sharing their favorite parts. It's all on the. Like to keep it on the. I think we've all seen this guy at the baseball games, So by now it's pretty clear you're lying.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Keep it going. An Old Testament guy or a New

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

Testament guy probably equal.

[Jon Stewart]

New Testament, Old Testament. I'm a Jew for Jesus. I don't get it. I'm equal now.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

You, as the interviewee have been very patient in this interview with your prospective employer's questions. Conventional wisdom would say, if you want to get that job, you got to keep it that way. Calm, cool, answering questions to the best of your ability. But that just encourages them to continue this nonsense. Now it's time to let them know that just because it is literally their job to ask you questions doesn't mean they can ask you questions.

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

What a stupid question that is. That's such a stupid question you ask. And you're just asking questions because you're a stupid person. Don't ever say what you said. That's a nasty question. Why do you give me a horrible question? It's not the question that I mind. It's your attitude. Only a bad person would ask a question like that. I don't know who you are, but only a very evil person would ask a question like that.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

So for you graduates, I know that

[Jon Stewart]

this advice and behaving in the way you just witnessed seems counterintuitive. Why would I alienate the very people

[Correspondent/Comedian]

that I'm appealing to who are just

[Jon Stewart]

doing their job and asking reasonable questions?

[Correspondent/Comedian]

And my answer to that is, I don't know.

[Jon Stewart]

I don't know why this works. I don't get it. I don't. But here we are, and here he is, and he's the President, and I'm on basic cable. I don't understand. This doesn't make. I don't how. What is happening. So the point is, it doesn't make sense. Just do it. Look, chances are, at this point, once

[Correspondent/Comedian]

you hit him with the that's a stupid question and you're evil, the interview is over because you've aced it.

[Jon Stewart]

But you might not have quite sealed the deal. Remember, we're in modern times. They're gonna check your social media profile,

[Correspondent/Comedian]

and chances are you probably have some

[Jon Stewart]

questionable ones in there, like, best wishes

[Correspondent/Comedian]

to the haters and losers on 9

[Jon Stewart]

11, or hey, I might be Jesus.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

It still freaks me out to see.

[Jon Stewart]

Can I.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

The thing that bothers me the most about this picture, I know it's AI generated. I know he's not Jesus, and I know I'm not really the guy in the bed.

[Jon Stewart]

But here's what.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

So apparently, if you plug into AI Trump Heals Sick Elderly man.

[Jon Stewart]

My picture is what artificial intelligence thinks is dying Old man. That can't be good.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Sorry. Back to the task at hand. Most of the literati will tell you, oh, try and have a good, cogent, believable reason for questionable posts that you made on social media.

[Jon Stewart]

Wrong.

[Starbucks Frappuccino Announcer]

Mr. President. Did you post that picture of yourself

[Chad P. Bone]

depicted as Jesus Christ?

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

Well, it wasn't depicted. It was me. I did post it, and I thought it was me as the doctor

[Jon Stewart]

because apparently, even though the Bible is Trump's favorite book, he doesn't know the difference between Robby Rabinovich and Jesus. Wow. Unbelievable. So you have done everything wrong so

[Correspondent/Comedian]

far as a recent graduate, and it's looking great. The only thing really left to do for the interviewer is to get you to list some references.

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

John Kelly is one of the best people I've ever, ever worked with. When you ask me about Rex, I mean, he's the world's last player. Bill Barr, a terrific person, a brilliant man.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Great. Thanks for that. Now all we have to do is check those references.

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

He is a consummate narcissist, so he

[Correspondent/Comedian]

certainly falls into the general definition of fascist. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson calling Trump a quote, effing moron.

[Jon Stewart]

Nailed it. Nailed it. Well done. Good call. So, great job in the interview. So far.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

You've been arrogant, self centered, narcissistic, ignorant, quick to claim credit, quicker to deflect blame, petulant, short tempered, vulgar, corrupt. Name any sin from Trump's favorite book, you've been it. And apparently in the Upside down, that is now our country, that's the way to do it. So congratulations, you're hired. The only thing left to do now is blatantly steal from whoever it was that hired you. The Trump administration has just announced it is creating a $1.7 billion fund to compensate Trump's allies and January 6th defendants. The fund, which will be financed by American taxpayers, comes as Trump is dropping his $10 billion lawsuit against the federal government. Congratulations, graduates.

[Jon Stewart]

We'll be right back with Sumaic Games and Chad People.

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[Correspondent/Comedian]

Where is Daredelphil? I'm right here. Don't miss the return of Marvel Television's Daredevil Born again.

[Sumaya Keynes]

So what's next?

[Jon Stewart]

I feel liberated. We're gonna take this city back over

[Correspondent/Comedian]

medicated in an all new season. Now streaming only on Disney plus.

[Jon Stewart]

They're hunting us.

[Sumaya Keynes]

It's time we started hunting them.

[Jon Stewart]

I can work with that. Nobody gives it.

[Chad P. Bone]

This should be tons of fun.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Marvel Television's Daredevil born again. Now streaming only on Disney plus.

[Jon Stewart]

Welcome back to the Daily Show. My guests tonight, they are the authors of the forthcoming book how to Win a Trade War. Please welcome to the program Financial Times columnists Sumaya Keynes and Chad Bone of the Peterson Institute for International. Hello. Thank you for being here. Thank you for joining us.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

I'm glad that we chose the. This seating arrangement because you're. How tall are you?

[Sumaya Keynes]

Very tall.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Yeah, that's what I thought when it came out.

[Jon Stewart]

At first I thought, I bet this gentleman can dunk. All right. That's how I think how to win a trade war.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Boy, this would come in handy if we found ourselves in a trade war. Are we in a trade war? Yeah, we are in a trade war with everyone.

[Sumaya Keynes]

Yeah.

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

Whole world.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Are we winning? Oh, boy. What? How would we. Oh, boy. Are we winning against anybody?

[Jon Stewart]

Is Belgium.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Are we beating Belgium?

[Chad P. Bone]

So

[Jon Stewart]

I feel like two doctors.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Try not to break bad news to me.

[Jon Stewart]

So we are the trade war.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Let's be clear. We launched the trade war, correct?

[Sumaya Keynes]

Yes.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Liberation Day launched the trade war.

[Sumaya Keynes]

Yes.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

You can speak more than one word.

[Jon Stewart]

Okay.

[Chad P. Bone]

Okay. So. Yes. So just over a year ago, Donald Trump decided to ignore the most basic military strategy and fight a war on all the fronts at the same time.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

He launched a trade war against everybody.

[Chad P. Bone]

Everybody. Everybody. And yeah, there is a reason you're not supposed to do that.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Would that be in here?

[Chad P. Bone]

Maybe. Maybe. And so, okay, so stepping back, right. The problem in the global economy. There is a real trade problem in the global economy. And it has to do with the relationship with China. And that is a significant issue. And what would have been good is to work with allies, because.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

I'm sorry, what was the last part?

[Chad P. Bone]

Because when you fight a war on all of the fronts, that means your allies are also fighting a war on all of the fronts. So suddenly Europe was going to try to deal with the China issue, but now it's having to also deal with the US Issue at the same time.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

What would the metrics be of a trade? So how do we even judge whether or not so we understand the strategy should not have been to fire on our allies as well as our rivals? What are the metrics of a trade war? How do we. How do we judge it?

[Sumaya Keynes]

I think the most important one is can you do what you want, or are you being constrained by your vulnerabilities to not be able to do what you want? I think that's the biggest key to show how we're losing right now.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

When we say, can we do what we want, we mean can we sell our products where we want to sell them for the price we would like to sell them at?

[Sumaya Keynes]

That could be part of it. It could be that we want to impose policies. Maybe we're worried about certain countries out there that rhyme with shmina.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

I had a different rhyme earlier, but yours works too.

[Sumaya Keynes]

And maybe you want to do things like tariffs or export restrictions or, you know, be a little tough on certain issues, but you can't, because you're worried about them standing up to you in a way that you're really vulnerable. And that's where we found ourselves last year. China has figured out how to play a trade war, how to at least win a trade war at the moment. And that's because we're vulnerable to a lot of things we need for our economy to work. That really, China is the only one out there that makes right now.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

And how are we vulnerable? What is it that China does that makes us vulnerable?

[Chad P. Bone]

They mine, process, manufacture into magnets, something called rare earths.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Yes.

[Chad P. Bone]

So they go into cars and defense systems.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Electronics.

[Chad P. Bone]

Electronics. I never thought I would know so much about supply chains, but here we are. And essentially China has been copying what the US has been doing, I think because the US has been restricting exports to China for a while. And so the Chinese just looked at what the US Was doing and said, okay, we can do that too.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

So we do strategic restrictions. And you talk about this in the book Strategic restrictions on exports, meaning we have. The one advantage we have is our chips are apparently second to None. We're apparently two to three months ahead of everybody else when it comes to chips. So we restrict that from going directly to China. That's our leverage.

[Chad P. Bone]

And the equipment that goes into make. That is used to make the chips.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

But we don't do that. That's done in Taiwan, is it not?

[Sumaya Keynes]

So we do some of it. We also work with allies, so Japan and the Netherlands. You know, the Netherlands actually does the fanciest pieces of these equipment. We work with their government to say, hey, let's not send that stuff to China.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

What is it? Is that the part where they frost.

[Jon Stewart]

Yeah.

[Sumaya Keynes]

Stick your finger in it.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

That worked.

[Jon Stewart]

Boom.

[Sumaya Keynes]

Exactly.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Nice.

[Sumaya Keynes]

Yeah. But, yeah, so we have been doing that kind of thing, but for military purposes. Right. We were really worried about China getting hold of these super fancy chips because it would enhance their military capabilities, and that's why we didn't want to send it to them. China's doing something that's very different. Not sending us these rare earths is.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

But they did that in response.

[Sumaya Keynes]

Yes, they did it in response.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

They were not doing it prior to this.

[Sumaya Keynes]

Well, they have done it in the past. They did this back actually in 2010 when they got mad at Japan for something at the time.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

But didn't Japan at that point get themselves a backlog, a stockpile of rare earths in preparation for this type of thing? Did we do that before launching this trade war?

[Jon Stewart]

Son of a. Is that in the book?

[Chad P. Bone]

Yeah, Japan. Japan got hit early and they prepared. Right. And so. So they acted in a very extreme way to reduce their reliance on China. They were ahead of the game. And then when China did it to everyone else last year, everyone else was looking to Japan say, oh, well, why didn't we do that? Yeah.

[Jon Stewart]

So you're saying, if I may paraphrase,

[Correspondent/Comedian]

we launched a trade war rashly, too broadly, without proper preparation, and now find ourselves mired in an event that we are now losing. This is just so out of character for this administration that I don't know

[Jon Stewart]

what got into them.

[Chad P. Bone]

It's almost like trade wars are like real wars. Right. Logistics. Win real wars. You need to. You need to.

[Jon Stewart]

Well, thank God we haven't launched one of those. Let me ask you a question. Do they.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

When you talk about it as being like a real war, do they. War game, trade. You know, I understand that they would say, like, if you attack Iran, we war game it. And most times they close the straight Hormuz. And that's known. Do they? War game, trade wars?

[Sumaya Keynes]

Who's they?

[Jon Stewart]

The illuminati I don't know. You're the economist.

[Sumaya Keynes]

Yes. So some governments absolutely are doing this, right? And so I think they plan it. They plan it.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

What might happen.

[Sumaya Keynes]

Not all of it's just the fear of trade war and real wars. I think we learned a lot of lessons during the pandemic when we ran short of products and we suddenly became very worried about supply chain vulnerabilities. Right. We couldn't get access to toilet paper initially, but then it became things like semiconductors. And all of a sudden governments all around the world started to look more closely at where they were getting some of these essential goods from. And they did really sophisticated data and analytic exercises to try to figure it out. And then many of them have done war gaming exercises to try to figure out how to minimize a lot of those vulnerabilities. I'm not so sure that was the approach that this administration took when they came in last January.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

You're not so sure. So the idea, though, is a country is looking to assess its vulnerabilities, assess its strengths and, and shore up those vulnerabilities to create resilience. Now, what we've been told is the reason we launched this trade war is to reverse the years of hollowing out manufacturing. But that sounds backwards to me. Wouldn't you use other methodologies to increase manufacturing before launching a trade war so that you would be more resilient in that war?

[Chad P. Bone]

Yeah, it's a good point.

[Sumaya Keynes]

So more positively, I think you have a future ahead of you in policy, in trade wars.

[Jon Stewart]

I can launch a trade war. Let me ask you this.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

So we talk about this, and it's very interesting because the analogy is launching a real war. And we talk about this as. It really is a form of nationalism. Where do corporations fit into the playing field in trade wars? Because we're talking, you're going after China, you're going after the Netherlands, you're going after the eu. Multinational corporations have no allegiance. Who are they in all this?

[Chad P. Bone]

So I think multinationals are the soldiers in the trade war. Right. You know, the governments make the policy. They're the, you know, the commanders. And then the companies are the ones actually implementing it. Right. And so if we think back to those vulnerabilities, ultimately those are the product of companies responding to incentives. Right. For years it was cheap, it was efficient to buy your components from China.

[Jon Stewart]

Right.

[Chad P. Bone]

That was where all the other manufacturing was. And, you know, policymakers encouraged them. And now what we're seeing is the result of those companies responding to those incentives and saying, oh wait, what, the Chinese can suddenly cut us off? You know, it's also, you know, us car companies that are sourcing from China, all those rare earths.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Are we in a position cuz you said that they're the soldiers in our war. It almost appears to me that they're actually the soldiers that started the war. Because globalization and the introduction of China into the WTO and all that capital travels, but labor can. So when these companies who are built in Silicon Valley or wherever it is, using the infrastructure of the United States, Silicon Valley doesn't exist without taxpayer funding and government resources and any of those things, we built them and then they could just go, these guys, we're going to where we don't have to pay our workers anything and we get to do everything and we can hollow out the very country that made us possible. And now we've got to fight a trade war to beg them to come back. China would never put up with that, would they?

[Sumaya Keynes]

No,

[Jon Stewart]

not to go on a Jeremiah, but I don't understand how they're allowed

[Correspondent/Comedian]

to get us into this mass and then we've got to figure out a way to get out of it.

[Sumaya Keynes]

Yeah, so there's a couple things there. One, I think China has very different relationships with its companies than we do. And I think one of the, you know, agree the way we should think about companies these days is they're really not American companies, they're multinationals. They kind of, they're themselves, they're their own entities and we can't expect them, as Samaya put it, to kind of fight our battles for us. Right. Unless you incentivize them to, unless you create the right regulations to force them to behave in certain ways, they're just going to act in their own interests. And if that means going and getting where workers are cheaper, that's what they're going to do and that's where they're going to make things. Now there are some benefits to that though too. Right. We actually do get through international trade, access to much cheaper products than we would like than we would otherwise. And I think we've seen today with inflation, right, People like it when prices are lower than when, when prices are higher. So there are lots of benefits from trade that we don't completely want to eliminate. But I think we do need to recognize that that does sometimes come with costs. Right, and especially costs for workers. And that has to be something that's dealt with as well.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Why then are governments incentivized to always lubricate the way for corporations but not workers. Why are workers just always the inevitable victims of all of this, of all of these shenanigans? It's hard to understand that the government wouldn't put some limitations. If you want access to our infrastructure, you can't just screw over our workers. Because it's easier.

[Chad P. Bone]

Yeah.

[Sumaya Keynes]

Part of it, I think, is the political process right. In Washington. It's much easier for the big companies to organize and lobby and get the. The policies that they want, and it's much more difficult for workers to do so.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

They're not soldiers. They're mercenaries. They're Blackwater. They're really not. They're not soldiers because soldiers take an oath to the nation that birthed them, and they don't.

[Jon Stewart]

So how.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

In a trade war. Because how does it figure in. In a trade war that we can come to a better understanding with these corporations of what our expectations are for them?

[Chad P. Bone]

So I think what the Trump administration is trying to do is it's trying to reset that bargain. Right. So it's saying, you know, you. You. If you want to serve US Customers, then you've got to operate in the US and it's trying to do that with its trade tools. And I think the tricky reality is that it's extremely hard to force these mercenary companies to do that. Right. And so the risk is that you end up essentially taxing imports. Right. So you put up tariffs, you make it harder for companies to get stuff from overseas. And what those companies do is they don't reassure. They just do less of everything. Right. It can be really, really, you know, the problem that you identify is real. The challenge is getting that trade war then to sort of solve that problem. Right. That link isn't.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Yeah, no, that's exactly it. Because it seems to me that, well, now we're going after China and the eu, but we're still not addressing the elephant in the room, which is these free agent mercenaries. So let me ask you this. If this is a reasonable. You know, there's a lot of times that someone might say, all right, we'll pay for your college, but you have to give us four years of service as a teacher in these certain districts. It's a way for us to get the people that we need to give them something, but to expect something in return. Is that the type of arrangement that can be done for the tax money and infrastructure that we use to build these companies?

[Sumaya Keynes]

Yeah, I was just going to say there are things that I think we can do that treat corporations differently, but it's not through tariffs. Right. So I think not through trade wars,

[Correspondent/Comedian]

this is not a good way to do it.

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

No.

[Sumaya Keynes]

I mean, there's been efforts over the last 10 years to try to get global corporations to not be tax evaders, right? To not go to tax haven countries, to have them pay minimum taxes somewhere in the world. I think that's a more effective strategy at trying to get these companies to behave and be kind of better global corporate citizens than just whacking them with tariffs. Because with tariffs come all the bad things. Best case scenario, maybe they do bring some of that production back to the United States. We get more manufacturing here, but because we've made it so expensive because of tariffs for them to do so, they can't hire any workers and they just have to do it all with robots. Right. And at the end of the day, how does that really help us if we're really worried about the American worker?

[Correspondent/Comedian]

You bring something up in the book that I thought was really interesting about wage insurance, and it was something, because my concern is that there are casualties in trade wars that are the multinationals. He's cutting deals with Apple and Intel and Nvidia and all these big players. But the people that are suffering are the small businesses in America, the people that don't like uncertainty and can't adjust their business practices to all these fluctuating tariffs and all these other changing things. But there's a program you mentioned called wage insurance, and it's generally done, and correct me if I'm wrong, if you lose a job in manufacturing because it was globalized and you get another job that isn't paying as well, the government provides you the money up to that level, is that correct?

[Chad P. Bone]

Yeah, I think it's a certain share of the difference, basically. So they're cushioning that blow. Right. So if you've just lost your job, that means that you have some help. Right? You've got a cushion. Right. And so your income doesn't fall, you're also encouraged to get a new job, maybe you switch to a new industry, something that isn't so vulnerable to all those globalization forces. And the evidence that we have suggests that it actually can pay for itself, which is kind of never heard of in economic policies. So I think over the last couple of decades, economists have really beaten themselves up about, you know, helping the people who are left behind by globalization. And, and because trade tools are so bad at helping the worker, really what you need is better, you know, worker protections, including potentially programs like that one.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Right. So let me ask you a question which brings up the Point. What if we use that preemptively in our war? So rather than wage insurance to help people in areas that have been hollowed out by globalization, use wage insurance to go to those companies who were going to go overseas and say, we will make up at least most of the difference between what you would pay your workers in China and what you would pay them in Kentucky. And we do that preemptively so those communities never get hollowed out in the first place. Could that be part of an industry and industrial policy that actually, you know, rather than how to Win a trade war, a book on, you know, the next book, the sequel, how to Survive a Trade War. Would that be a possible solution?

[Jon Stewart]

100%.

[Sumaya Keynes]

There's. There's so much more that we can do in terms of, you know, adjusting the tax code to make it more beneficial for companies to hire workers and not have to pay sort of extraordinary, you know, taxes and other burdens and things like that. And I think that's really what the, what the emphasis should be on.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

How does this wind down? How do we find our way out of this? Do you, do you have an idea? Have you seen this play out before?

[Chad P. Bone]

So I've got a.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

There's a lot of sighing going on here.

[Chad P. Bone]

Yeah, well, I've got a confession, right, so it's an optimistic guide. And, you know, we. What, we go through some scenarios, right, for, you know, how we could get up ourselves out of this. And my confession is that a lot of the, you know, the happy sunlit uplands are quite a long way in the future.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

There's a lot of 2050 in this.

[Chad P. Bone]

It's a lot of 2050. And so, you know, right now I think we're a bit worried that things are going to have to get worse before we, before they get better. But eventually, you know, it really should be possible for us all to come together and start brandishing all these trade weapons again. Look, this is optimistic.

[Jon Stewart]

No, this is very.

[Chad P. Bone]

Yeah, yeah. Eventually we should be able to get together and, and, and do something that's, you know, mutually beneficial so we can escape the chaos.

[Sumaya Keynes]

Chad, this is not going away. You, you were just talking.

[Jon Stewart]

Have you guys talked to each other about this?

[Sumaya Keynes]

Yeah, I'm the optimistic one in the book, actually. She's the pepsimist. No, the issue is not going away. You just gave all, all this great advice to graduates. Right, saddle up.

[Jon Stewart]

Fantastic. Thank you both very much for coming by. How to Win a trade war. May 26 Available for preorder to make a Chad bone. Quick break. We'll be right back after this.

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[Correspondent/Comedian]

Yes.

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[Jon Stewart]

That's our show for tonight. But before we go, checking in with your host for the rest of the week, Mr. Ronny Chang. Ronny, what do you got for us?

[Donald Trump (Impersonator or Clip)]

Thank you.

[Ronny Chang]

Huge tech news, John. Sam Altman vs Elon Musk. Lawsuit is over and Elon Musk lost. Point is, wow. Okay, I guess a bunch of his kids are here. Point is, Elon will not be controlling ChatGPT. So we can all breathe a sigh of relief aside.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Why? Why is that?

[Ronny Chang]

Because now OpenAI won't be in the hands of weirdo South African sociopath Elon Musk will stay in the capable hands of weirdo American sociopath Sam Altman. Usa. Usa. Usa. Usa.

[Jon Stewart]

Very excited. Thank you very much, Ronny.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Now, here it is. Your moment is end.

[Jon Stewart]

Before we go, we're going to check in with our good friend Stephen Colbert at the Colbert Report.

[Stephen Colbert]

Stephen, a little Alphabet game?

[Correspondent/Comedian]

But you promised we were through with this. Continue. Don't drag me into this. Stephen.

[Stephen Colbert]

Excellent. For God's sakes, God has nothing to do with it.

[Jon Stewart]

Ha ha.

[Stephen Colbert]

I'm so glad you've chosen to just stop.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Ok,

[Stephen Colbert]

Look, maybe you're right. Maybe we should stop now. Steven, obviously you want to quit.

[Jon Stewart]

Please.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

I'm having a great time.

[Stephen Colbert]

Quitter?

[Jon Stewart]

Really?

[Correspondent/Comedian]

I want to see this through. Seriously. Totally

[Jon Stewart]

understand.

[Stephen Colbert]

You're stuck with X and Z.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Very challenging, I know. But I have an idea.

[Stephen Colbert]

What's your idea?

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Xylophone?

[Stephen Colbert]

You're making no sense.

[Correspondent/Comedian]

Zero sense.

[Comedy Central Announcer]

Explore more shows from the Daily show podcast universe by searching the Daily Show. Wherever you get your podcasts, watch the Daily show weeknights at 1110 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount. Plus,

[Correspondent/Comedian]

This has been a Comedy Central podcast.

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