Trevor Noah reveled in the similarities between Tiger King anti-hero Joe Exotic and President Donald Trump on The Daily Social Distancing Show Monday.
Anyone who’s watched the Netflix docuseries about the insane world of big cat owners knows just how Trump-ian Joe Exotic is, although Noah zeroes in on the exact qualities that make the now-incarcerated roadside zoo maven a perfect successor to the 45th president. (In fact, Joe previously ran for president in 2016 as an independent, and, in 2018, he managed to pick up 19% of the vote in the Libertarian primary for the Oklahoma governor race.)
Noah highlighted several specific character traits Joe Exotic shares with Trump: He makes everything about himself, he’s incredibly disorganized and he sees conspiracies everywhere. Noah accompanied each category with a clip of Trump exhibiting this kind of behavior during the coronavirus outbreak, such as his obsession with the ratings for his press conferences, his constant flip-flopping on issues like quarantines and his suspicions around why hospitals suddenly need so many ventilators.
“Yeah, Trump has a good point,” Noah deadpanned in response to the ventilator conspiracy theory. “All of a sudden hospitals need way more ventilators than usual. What’s that about? It’s the same way I’ve noticed that sometimes people on the street have a lot of umbrellas, and then sometimes nobody has an umbrella. Something isn’t adding up here…”
But the most presidential and Trump-ian thing about Joe Exotic, Noah said, was that he believes he’s an expert in his field, even though he’s definitely just winging it. “I know Joe Exotic is in prison right now, but if he somehow manages to get out, I’m hoping he becomes the President of the United States,” Noah joked. “Because, yes, yes, he might be just as crazy as Trump, but at least if he’s in the White House, we’re gonna see tigers!”
