China and its president, Xi Jinping, pulled out all the stops to pamper and flatter President Trump during his visit, presumably to get an upper hand in negotiations. "You might be watching this whole trip and thinking, 'Come on, man, the Chinese are so dumb,'" Trevor Noah said on Thursday's Daily Show. "You can't play Trump. He is the Art of the Deal, he's not going to watch your little show and all of a sudden by like, 'You know what? I don't blame China.'" Which, of course, is exactly what Trump said, adding that he gives "China great credit" for "taking advantage" of America. "Wow," Noah said. "I never thought I'd hear an American president tell his geopolitical adversary, 'Well played, guys, we had it coming.'"
"Look, if you're a Trump supporter, him letting China off the hook probably doesn't make you feel great," Noah said. "But if he really is your guy, you should also be happy that he found love." If you're not convinced, The Daily Show put Xi and Trump's heads on Bachelor contestants and let Trump speak his heart.
"If I'm not mistaken — and I don't think I am — somebody has a bit of a man crush on Xi Jinping," Stephen Colbert concurred on Thursday's Late Show. He showed some of the pomp Trump was treated to, including a greeting "by his biggest fans, totally non-staged adoring Chinese children. 'Thank you, thank you, you are all so good at making my hats.'"
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In his trade talks with China, Trump "played his cards close to his chest — and immediately folded," Colbert said, playing the clip of Trump not blaming China. He slipped into Trump voice: "I don't blame China. Like everything else, I blame President Hillary Clinton — she has got to go." Watch below. Peter Weber
-
5 museum-grade cartoons about Trump's Smithsonian purgeCartoons Artists take on institutional rebranding, exhibit interpretation, and more
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
Sudoku medium: August 23, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
A long weekend in ZürichThe Week Recommends The vibrant Swiss city is far more than just a banking hub
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
