Jordan Klepper has spent nearly a decade confronting elderly Donald Trump supporters outside MAGA rallies for The Daily Show. Now, he’s turning his attention to the disturbing rise of the MAGA bro.
In this exclusive clip from his latest special, Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse — MAGA: The Next Generation, airing Monday at 11:30 p.m. on Comedy Central, the comedian tries to get to the bottom of why young men are so drawn to a president who is probably older than most of their grandfathers.
“Clearly I need to better understand these kids,” the 46-year-old comedian admits in the clip. “So, much like when I was in college, can somebody please tell me what’s cool?”
Speaking to a series of college-age men in Trump hats, Klepper discovers that being “woke” is “annoying” and the “Gulf of America” is “cool.”
“I think there’s a ‘cool’ vacuum that confident, thirsty, influencer types jump into with bravado and promise answers to a generation desperately in search of guidance,” Klepper tells the Daily Beast. “This space is political, yes, but it’s mostly cultural. Young men want community, answers, and insight like everyone else, and the left shouldn’t be afraid to enter into those spaces.”
The only real piece of common cultural ground he can find with them is Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, but he quickly realizes they might like the film for different reasons.
“Is it in because we understand it’s a satire or we just like the financial crisis of it all?” he asks one MAGA bro, who says he just enjoys how much the main character was “able to get away with.”
“Oh, so you see it as a hero’s journey,” Klepper replies. “Good to know.”
Klepper explains to the Daily Beast that “for the most part,” the young MAGA men he spoke with were “open and curious, looking to find themselves and their tribe,” adding, “And there’s no shortage of groups and influencers trying to pounce on that vulnerability.”
“When I was in college, credit card companies would come to campus and offer you free t-shirts and hats if you signed up for a credit card,” he recalls. “The allure of a dumb free shirt could saddle an 18-year-old with a lifetime of debt. There’s conservative action groups going to campuses right now with boxes of MAGA hats and selling equally dubious memberships to wide-eyed kids, all for the price of a Chinese-made topper.”
For more, listen to The Daily Show‘s Jordan Klepper on The Last Laugh podcast.
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