Now that President Trump's impeachment trial
is wrapping up, a big question is
what did his supporters think of the scandal?
Well, our own Jordan Klepper went on the road to find out.
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KLEPPER: Last week, I went to tropical Iowa.
Again.
And while all eyes there have been
on the Democratic candidates,
a certain recently impeached former reality TV star
showed up in town to get his own cup of Iowa nice.
Trump train, choo choo! Trump train, choo choo!
-It's just (bleep) awesome. -(laughs)
-I just (bleep) love it. MAGA! -Yeah!
(laughs) Oh, shit.
I've had nightmares of that shirt.
-Been to a Trump rally before? -No, sir.
-What are your expectations? -Truth.
Truth. At a Trump rally?
-Yeah. -Good luck.
However, all anyone's been talking about
is the impeachment.
And while 69% of Americans
wanted to hear from witnesses like John Bolton,
Senate Republicans wouldn't allow it.
So what did these folks think of the trial
as it nears its end?
I think the impeachment trial itself
is a joke, period.
-It's a shitshow. -We think it's a complete sham.
He hasn't done anything wrong.
How did we get here with no evidence?
-He didn't do anything. -He didn't do anything.
-He didn't do anything, right? -Very well-said.
Well, that's it, right? He didn't do anything.
-He didn't do anything. -So we should let everybody testify.
-Correct. Oh. -Yeah.
Uh, oh, yeah.
-No. No. -No.
-Do you think John Bolton should testify? -No.
-Why not? -Well, he could testify,
but I think he's, uh, vengeful for getting fired from his job.
-I think he's a liar. -John Bolton's a liar?
-Absolutely. -There should be a system set up
where he takes an oath, and then under oath,
he tells the truth. Otherwise, he's punished.
I think there should be, yeah.
And maybe there's a judge who's put in charge.
-Like, the highest judge in the land. -Right.
Appointed by a Republican.
-And then we can all see what he has to say. -(laughs)
-Would you be for a system like that? -Sure.
KLEPPER: While they seem to want firsthand information
from witnesses, they definitely didn't want
witnesses with firsthand information.
Regardless, they're sticking
to Trump's favorite old defense.
I've read the transcript for verba... Not verbatim,
but I've read the transcript, meaning, like,
I've watched everybody read it on the news.
-I haven't seen the transcript. -You know that's not what
"reading the transcript" means.
-But you've watched people read the transcript. -Right.
I haven't personally read the transcript.
Have you read the transcript? No. (laughs)
I-I have. Spoiler alert.
He asked a foreign country to interfere in our election.
-(laughs) -It's crazy, right?
It's (bleep) crazy.
You know what? I've explored this one before.
But luckily, Trump has two
or five new airtight legal defenses.
There's no... Whatever that word is.
Quid pro crow. (laughs) My lips are cold.
-It-It's hard to say. -Right.
It's even... even harder to convince
-other people that it happened. -New word.
New word I just learned, yeah.
There's no crime that's been, um...
There's no... A crime that he's been accused of.
-What does that mean? -What?
What do you... what do you mean?
They're not making an accusation
or, um, brought an actual, uh...
penal code...
Um...
Yeah.
You can tell he hasn't done anything wrong
just by, uh, his demeanor.
I mean, he would be trying to hide things.
If he were blocking witnesses
or evidence or something like that,
you'd be like, "Oh, you're hiding something."
-Right. -But otherwise...
Right. He's saying, "Let them...
-Let them see everything." -"Let them see everything."
"I'll prove whatever you want... want me to prove."
Right. But Trump is blocking witnesses.
-I don't care. -Oh.
But we were saying earlier
that if you're blocking something,
it shows that you have something to hide.
Didn't Obama hide his birth certificate?
(laughs): He did. And Trump found that thing,
-and it said he was an American citizen. -Yeah.
-I know. So who's got egg on their face? -So... Yeah.
(laughs) No, who has egg on their face?
Well...
KLEPPER: So, what do these supporters see
in our impeached president's future?
They're gonna impeach him again.
-Is there gonna be another impeachment? -Uh... (scoffs)
I... Probably all the way till...
For five more years.
Did you feel the impeachment was a distraction?
Not at all. I don't think...
He's got skin that is-is about as thick as it gets.
-Donald Trump is... -Yeah. Thick-skinned.
-He's... -Thick-skinned.
He gets mad if a celebrity makes fun of him on Twitter.
Well, the, uh...
Um, it's good...
I-I like his tweetings.
He should take a victory lap. It should have already happened.
Yeah, yeah. What should he do?
Alan Dershowitz got O.J. off. O.J. wrote a book.
-Dershowitz gets Trump off. Trump reads a book? -Yeah.
I mean, he can do whatever he wants.
Let's say it happens tomorrow.
-Trump beats impeachment. -Great.
-Trump can get on to running the country. -Exactly.
Like he... like he has been doing
for the past three and a half years now.
I mean, and now with... with, like, no impediments.
-No checks, no balances. -Exactly.
They need to have, like, more restrictions
on who can just come up
with articles for impeachment when nothing's been done.
Who's in Donald Trump's way going forward?
The only people that would be in his way are other Republicans
trying to get in office.
Yeah, he's finally... He's evolved this presidency
into a dictatorship that we can all understand.
-Exactly, yeah. -Yeah.
Wow. Do these folks care at all
about our president declaring himself absolute ruler?
I think I might know the answer.
I don't care.
KLEPPER: Exactly.
(cheering and applause)
Jordan Klepper, everybody.