Trump made the comments in front of Vance at a White House breakfast for Republican senators
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NEED TO KNOW
- President Donald Trump seemed impressed by how the staff of Chinese President Xi Jinping seemed “scared” following their recent meeting
- Trump joked that he wanted his Cabinet, including Vice President JD Vance, to model their behavior and stand stiff at attention
- “Why don’t you behave like that?” Trump jokingly continued, turning his attention to the vice president in the audience
President Donald Trump jokingly expressed an interest in modeling his leadership on Chinese President Xi Jinping.
On Wednesday, Nov. 5, Trump, 79, reflected on his recent meeting with Xi during a White House breakfast for Republican senators, and jokingly suggested that JD Vance might want to follow the example of the Chinese presidential aides.
In a video shared by CNN of the event, Trump referred to Xi as “tough” but “smart” and added that “at least 1.4 billion people” in China agreed with his sentiments before launching into a story about their recent interactions.
“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, while mimicking the aides flanking the Chinese leader as standing with their shoulders back and making a serious expression.
“They were in attention,” he clarified.
Trump noted that he tried to speak to some of the people on Xi’s team, saying that he “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 alleged.
Seemingly inspired by Xi’s governing style, he then jokingly added, “So if there is any question, I said, ‘I want my Cabinet to behave like that.’ “
“That’s the way I’m demanding… I want them sitting up,” Trump added.
“I never saw posture like that. I’ve never seen men so scared in their lives,” he joked, noting that even a man who was “the equivalent of a vice president” was equally tense in Xi’s presence.
Trump said that he spoke to the man, adding, “He doesn’t move. I said, ‘What’s wrong with this guy?’ ”
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“Why don’t you behave like that?” continued Trump, turning his attention to the vice president in the audience. “JD doesn’t behave like that! JD butts into conversations! I want to have that for at least a couple of days. Okay, JD?”
Continuing, he said, “We’ll keep you long term, but a couple of days of that would be very, very nice.”
The camera cut to the vice president, who appeared to take the statement in good spirits. Vance had a smile on his face and laughed at Trump’s jokes. He even modeled the way that Trump was standing at attention as the crowd joined in laughing.
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Earlier this year, Vance incited controversy after referring to Chinese people as “peasants” during an April interview on Fox & Friends.
While discussing the president’s tariffs on the country, the vice president, 41, simplified the idea of a globalist economy by saying, “To make it a little more crystal clear, we borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian denounced Vance’s comments during a press briefing, saying that it was “both astonishing and lamentable to hear this vice president make such ignorant and disrespectful remarks,” via CNN.
PEOPLE reached out to the White House for clarification about the president’s remarks.
