President Donald Trump spent part of his latest public ramble wishing his vice president would cower like one of Xi Jinping’s deputies.
The 79-year-old president veered away from boasting about his tariffs to making a glowing—but strange—tribute to China’s leader.
Trump said he wanted Vice President JD Vance exhibiting the same submissive tone that Chinese aides show around Xi.
“I put a 100 percent tariff on China as soon as I heard it, within 20 minutes, I put a 100 percent tariff on China with President Xi, who’s really a friend of mine, as much as he could be, a friend,” Trump said at the American Business Forum in Miami on Wednesday.
From there, he swerved into praising Xi’s cowering aides and setting up a punchline with Trump admitting he wants that kind of fear in his own ranks.
“But at least 1.4 billion people without question… in fact, during the meeting, we were there, a couple of you were there, and some of you saw it… So he’s here, and he’s got about six people on each side, and every one of those people, they were standing like this,” he said, mimicking soldiers standing to attention.
“I made a comment to one of them, and I got no response. I said, ‘Are you going to answer me?’ I got no response. And President Xi didn’t let him have any,” Trump said.
The crowd roared when he made it clear what he wanted: obedience. “I said, I want my cabinet to behave like that. I’m demanding that my…I want them sitting up like that, Tim, just nice and straight,” he said, pointing toward an aide.
“I never saw posture like that. I’ve never seen men so scared in their lives. They have the equivalent of a vice president, I said, ‘Are you gonna answer my question?’” Trump continued. “He doesn’t move. I said, ‘What’s wrong with this guy?’”
Then came the imitation—robotic and stiff. “‘I will answer all questions!’” Trump barked, turning to Vice President JD Vance. “Why don’t you behave like that? JD doesn’t behave like that! JD buds into conversations! I want to have that for at least a couple of days. Okay, we’ll keep you long term, but a couple of days of that would be very, very nice.”
Trump’s glowing appraisal of Xi comes as the elder statesman hammers Trump in the U.S.-China trade war. A New York Times analysis found that China is offsetting its decline in exports to the U.S. with “breathtaking speed” by dramatically increasing exports to dozens of other nations.
In China, Communist Party officials are known to sit ramrod straight in meetings with Xi—public displays of submission that reflect the real risks of crossing him. Dozens of top officials have vanished or been purged under his rule.
This year alone, He Weidong, the country’s No. 2 general and a Politburo member, was expelled from both the party and the military in a sweeping anti-corruption purge. Liu Jianchao, once a rising star in China’s diplomatic corps, vanished from public view after returning from an overseas trip in July and was quietly replaced.
The White House has been approached for comment on Trump’s rambling.
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