As President Trump’s MAGA hordes were overtaking the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday, photos started to emerge on social media of a familiar face in the insurrectionist crowd: Daily Show correspondent Jordan Klepper. When I reached out to him in the immediate aftermath to see what kind of field piece he had in store for viewers, the comedian simply replied, “A wild one.”
The segment, which is only being posted online since The Daily Show is still on hiatus this week, is indeed even more outrageous than the last one Klepper filmed at the so-called “Million MAGA March” just two weeks after the election last November. He not only got close enough to see the mob break into the building but also got into a momentary melee with one Trump supporter who tackled his cameraman.
“Last week we saw one of the darkest days in American history,” Klepper says at the top of the video. “And for better or worse, I was there.” At the Trump rally that preceded the act of domestic terrorism, he asked attendees whether they will accept Joe Biden as their president as of January 20. When one couple told him they “do not consent” to be governed by an “illegal, fraudulent election,” he replied, “But you elected a guy who also doesn’t care that much about consent.”