Ethan Hawke | Trump Faces GOP Backlash for Xi Visit, Snaps at CNN's Kaitlan Collins, Threatens Iran: A Closer Look

0:02During a speech yesterday, President Trump said that he faces the decision with Iran and added, quote, Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival? Well, you know, I don't want to be alarmist, but it sounds like he's planning to run for president of Iran.

0:22From 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, please enjoy this podcast edition of Late Night with Seth Meyers. On today's show, Seth chats with actor Ethan Hawke. But first, a closer look.

0:40Republicans are breaking with President Trump over his state dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping as Trump's poll numbers continue to sink to all-time lows. He also decreed that he's renaming artificial intelligence superintelligence and said he may or may not annihilate Iran. Meanwhile, the rest of us just stared off into the distance and disassociated like Mayor Zoran Mamdani during his joint press conference with Trump on Monday. Mr. Mayor, blink twice if you need help. For more on this, it's time for a closer look.

1:19She arrived today for a state visit at the White House, and he better watch out. He better watch out because Trump has made it very clear. No one, and I mean no one, is tougher on China than he is. As president, I stood up to China like no administration has ever done before. No other president had gotten 10 cents from China. Not one other president before me got anything from China except ripped off. Our country was being ripped off. Not one president got 10 cents from China. I got hundreds of billions of dollars from China. They weren't too happy with me. I'm the toughest person in China anywhere in the world.

1:57There's never been anybody tougher in China than me. All right, first of all, Joe Biden definitely got 10 cents from China. We all remember the time he pulled a dime out from behind Xi Jinping's ear. What's that, Xi? Shiny 10 cents? I'm kidding. I'm kidding. My grandkids love this one. You know what's weird, though? My great-grandkids don't care for it at all. My great-great-great-grandkids, they love it I love it But the days of palling around with China are over Trump made it clear he's putting the screws to Xi He's standing up for American workers So when Xi gets to the White House He better prepare for an icy reception That's right, the full Melania Because Trump isn't going to suck up to you He's going to tell it to you like it is President Xi, you know, I got to know him very well He's a brilliant man He's a fierce man.

2:52I got along with him very well. President Xi and myself, somebody said, what kind of a man is he? He's a fierce person. He is. He's a very smart guy. President Xi happens to be a man with a high intelligence level. President Xi of China, strong, smart, tough. President Xi, who's a piece of granite, he's tough and smart. He's at the top of his game. He's a great gentleman. I find him to be an amazing, an amazing man. He's a great gentleman in many ways. President Xi is very smart, and it's all business. You meet him, we will now get down to business. The look of Xi, he's got a great look. You know, he's tall, he's 6 '2", he's got a great stature.

3:35He's got great confidence, and he's smart. You know, he's tall, very tall. You're a great leader, I say it to everybody, you're a great leader. We've had a fantastic relationship, we've gotten along. I would call you, and you would call me. I would call you and you would call me And then I would say, you hang up And then you would say, no, you hang up And then we'd say, let's both hang up on the count of three And then we would count to one, two, three Then there would be silent We wouldn't be sure if the other one had hung up Then you would hear a cough or a rustle And you'd say, you weren't supposed to hang up And then we would laugh and laugh We'd say, Jinx, you owe me a Coke And then you would say, we will now get down to business By the way, not even Chinese citizens gush this much about Xi, China famously had to crack down on social media posts, and this is true, 100 % true, comparing Xi to Winnie the Pooh.

4:25That's real. Trump thinks Xi is a piece of granite, and meanwhile, Xi's own citizens think he's a cartoon bear. News that is going to make Trump so sad, he will continue to have Eeyore's posture. In fact, Trump has been so excited for Xi's visit, he's even been making excuses for China's behavior You're toward the U.S. President Xi's coming over to have a nice state dinner in two weeks. With a lot of CEOs. What does he want? Well, he... We get along. You know, he and I get along very well. People say, oh, he spies on us. Well, we spy on him, too.

5:01Now, this might be an old-fashioned take on things, but I think when you're spying on someone, you're not supposed to tell them that. That's why the Americans lasted for six seasons and not ten minutes. They spy on us, and we spy on them. And then I call she, and I say, I can see you. And he says, well, I can see you. And then I say, stop it. And he says, no, you stop it. And then I say, no, you stop it. And then we hang up. And I say, no, you hang up. And then last summer, he signed my yearbook. He wrote, KIT, have a great summer. I'll be watching you. But in a sign of how unpopular Trump has become, not all Republicans are thrilled with his lavish welcome for she.

5:41Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker, a Republican, and delivered a floor speech Tuesday, blasting Trump for the invitation. Had the White House asked me for advice, I would have suggested the president not invite Xi Jinping to Washington for such a lavish welcome. The president might inquire about the purposes of China's massive military buildup or about China's clear support for Iran. Yeah, no, I'm sure he'll get to all that right after he grills Xi about his fitness regimen. So how do you get such rock-hard backs? Like, what do you do? You lift weights or just resistance training? I do resistance stuff, too, mostly with the press, you know, the courts.

6:24Senate Republicans aren't the only ones who disapprove of Trump's approach to foreign affairs. Voters hate it, too. A new CNN poll shows the president with his lowest approval on foreign affairs ever. He is 42 points underwater. My goodness gracious. That is the lowest that President Trump has ever had. It is the lowest that any president has ever had on foreign affairs that I could possibly find. And when it comes to foreign affairs and independence at this point in term two, look at where Donald Trump is. He's 57 points underwater. 34-57. That means that Donald Trump is 23 points lower than George W.

7:05Bush was. Do you know how bad it is to have a worse approval rating than George W. Bush on foreign affairs? The guy screwed up Iraq so bad he had shoes thrown at him. I mean, at least Bush could duck out of the way. If somebody threw a shoe at Trump, it would still be stuck in his bird's nest of a haircut. Nonetheless, Republicans are hoping Trump will discuss Iran at some point during the state visit, especially given the demented ultimatum Trump laid out at the United Nations on Tuesday. I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran, or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic? Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?

7:52I can't remember, is it good or bad when the American president starts talking like Conan the Barbarian? What is best in life? To crush our enemies? To see them driven before you and hear the lamentations of the women? We love the lamentations, don't we, folks? They're lamenting more and more. Also, nice job letting this madman start a war with no oversight whatsoever, Congress. Feel free to step in at any time. He's talking about war crimes like he's sifting through takeout menus in the kitchen. Oh, I have a decision to make here. Do I order Thai or do I order pizza and then kill the delivery man and his entire family?

8:32Trump will also have to discuss artificial intelligence with Xi, which is a problem because Trump's not really killing it with the intelligence part. Artificial intelligence being spoken of so much now here and after officially called super intelligence, changing the name. From this point forward, all of United States documents and hopefully the world will be changed to use the much more accurate term super as opposed to artificial. So it's super intelligence. In other words, welcome to the new world of super intelligence dash SI. SI. Let's see if that goes. It sounds much better. It is much better.

9:16And it's much more accurate. When AI heard that, they said to the other AIs, hey, everybody, I don't think we need to get any smarter. I think... I think we can take down these dumb mother right now. So Trump will have to hash out some of this with Xi, but Trump is also pulling a page out of Xi's playbook with his recent ban of several media outlets from the White House. And Trump has not been doing a great job defending that ban, since he can't even seem to remember which ban he's talking about. On the ban, what does that mean in practice? Are you taking away their badges? Are you banning them from the pool?

9:54What does this actually mean? When you say the ban, which ban? You know how many bans I'm involved in? I got more bans going. I've got more bans going than any human being. On the three news outlets, sir, what does that mean in practice? Are you taking away their badges? Are you banning them from the pool? Are you banning them for the Oval Office? What does that mean? I still don't know what message is. What do you envision the bans in the public? How do you spend like in the media outlets? Oh, the ban on the free press. I'm sorry. I hate to interrupt you when you're filming Democratic campaign ads, but what do you mean you have too many bans to keep track of?

10:28Are they bands you did or things you're banned from? You know how many bands I have? My charities are banned, my products are banned I'm banned from Wendy's, Six Flags, Sephora They banned me from Sephora They said, we know you're just here for the free samples And enough is enough Also, is it good or bad that the president is flustered And confused by basic questions About what his own administration is doing? The same people who said Sleepy Joe didn't know where he was Or what he was doing Are now insisting that this guy is sharp as a tack And don't get me wrong, Joe Biden was slowing down. That was a problem.

11:01But I would take the Biden version of old over the Trump version of old any day. I mean, Trump's version is demented, rambling in the Oval Office and posting AI slop at 3 a.m., whereas Biden's version was just staring into the void and forgetting where he was. That's how it's supposed to be.

11:21My dream. My dream is that Trump freezes like that one day. He just gets stuck mid-rant, and then we leave him there on the White House lawn with his mouth open like the 18th hole on a mini-golf course.

11:43I found that troubling. Hey, but you know what? Maybe I'm being too harsh. It's not like he doesn't know who's sitting right next to him at any given moment. I want to thank Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Where's Marco? Where's Marco?

12:04Imagine that moment where your boss is asking where you are and he's there, and you actually have to raise your hand and be like, hey there. Also, first of all, when someone says, where's Marco, you're supposed to yell out polo. Second, he's sitting right next to you. Why does the president always sound like he was just thrown into the back of a van with a hood over his head? Where am I? What do you want? Tell us about the ban. What ban? I don't know anything about a ban. Where's Margo? Why is there a shoe in my hair? Point is, Trump's cronies are out there insisting. This is not, you guys, this is not a ban on the free press.

12:43Should media outlets be banned because the president doesn't like their coverage? Should you be able to ban... Well, they're not banned. They are banned. They're banned from... No, they're banned from... No, they're not. No, we're not closing CNN. Well, that's different. The president feels very strongly that why should I have people working in my building and in my office that I believe are not honestly covering my administration? He's not banning media outlets. What he's doing is saying, we're not going to give you special access to the White House. If you're going to be a propaganda arm of the left, why would Donald Trump give you special access to his White House?

13:14First of all, it's not his White House. Second, it's not special access. It's a press badge to cover a government official. You're talking about it like they had backstage passes to a Grateful Dead concert. Although sometimes Trump does sound a lot like Jerry Garcia. You know, grass is a lifetime like people have a lifetime. We're gonna redo the grass with the finest grasses. I know a lot about grass. Man, why can't we have a stoner Trump? Just like long hair, goatee, tiny round glasses, cardigan, tie-dyed bucket hat, just smoking a blunt, rambling about marijuana varieties until he falls asleep with his head in a bag of Funyuns.

13:51is so much better than what we currently have. And remember, he wouldn't even be our first stoned president.

14:00Anyway, the point is, Rubio and Vance were very clear. This is not a ban on the free press. It's just a ban from the White House. So if, say, CNN's Caitlin Collins showed up to the United Nations, that should be totally cool with Trump, right? I mean, he wouldn't be, like, a pissy little bitch about it? Mr. President, two-thirds of Americans, Two-thirds of Americans don't think the U.S. is winning the war with Iran When will it? So it's an honor to be here I'm surprised that CNN is here covering me The United Nations allowed us in, sir You should not be here covering me You said you weren't going to cover me Oh my God, he's so dramatic He sounds like he's complaining about an ex showing up at his favorite restaurant We agreed when we broke up that I got Emilio's I can't enjoy my linguine when I'm looking at your lying face Trump's approval numbers on foreign affairs are at all-time lows, and that's because, like everything else, he lied.

14:52He said he'd stand up to China, and instead, all he cares about is being best friends with Xi. Trump's supposed to be the one in charge, but he's just going to spend the entire summit gushing over Xi until Xi says... We will now get down to business. This has been A Closer Look.

15:17Our guest tonight is an Academy Award and Tony-nominated actor, writer, and director. You know from his work in Dead Poets Society, Training Day, The Black Phone, Blue Moon, and the FX series The Lowdown. He currently stars in The Weight, which is in theaters now. Please welcome back to the show our very good friend Ethan Hawke, everybody.

15:41Hi, budgie. How are you? I'm really good. How are you doing? I'm great. You know, since the last time you were here, Oscar nominated for the film Blue Moon. And, you know, it's such a well-deserved Oscar nomination. Every time I see you in person, I'm reminded what a great head of hair you have. And you maybe got Oscar nominated for your worst head of hair. I know. I know. It shows your lack of vanity as an actor that you were like, I'm going to do it. You know, it was the first time my wife came to set and she went, I'm leaving. She had no interest in that. No, she's like, I can't be around this guy.

16:14I can't be associated with him. It's not cool. This was a fantastic movie. And The Weight is a great movie as well. Takes place in the 30s. Yeah. But I've heard you say, and I couldn't agree more, it feels like a movie that was made in the 70s in the best possible way. Right. It was, I grew up on all these movies with, you know, Paul Newman, Lee Marvin, Steve McQueen. They would play this kind of good old-fashioned good man. Yeah. A man who does the right thing, a man who has integrity, a man who keeps his promises. And then I got in my 20s and stuff And I thought that was corny And now I'm looking at the world And I think, I like those guys I want to make a movie where I play one of those guys It's good, and by the way Speaking of being a good man I know you to be a good father And you had the moment every good father dreams of Walked your daughter Maya Down the aisle At her wedding

17:06Pretty awesome She looks pretty, isn't she? She looks amazing And I know that you are not a man to miss a profound moment. So can you tell me, what were you realizing in this moment here that obviously every father thinks one day might happen? In your mind's eye is the dead. You think it's going to be this really amazing bonding experience between you and your daughter. And she just couldn't be less concerned with you. I mean, you are literally a prop. All her eyes are, where is he? Where is he? Where is he? Where is that? Oh, there he is. And a smile comes over her face. Yeah. And I was pretty lucky because my son-in-law is an amazing young man.

17:49Yeah. And he loves my daughter and so do I. And so I got the full experience. It is. Well, yeah, you realize there is a, I mean, again, you know, the idea of like you're giving her away, you know, is the terminology we use. And it's not entirely that, but like they are moving on to another chapter. But anybody who's a parent, you kind of know that they are not yours to give away. They are yours to take care of and shepherd for a little while. But they are completely their own, always have been, always will be. And they belong to something larger than their mother and you. See, you are a good man.

18:26I don't know why you fought this for so long. I don't know why you fought this for so long. It's very hard to talk about those. Sure. You're on these talk shows and you're used to talking about movies and things that are easy to make fun of. But what's really, as you're walking in the aisle, as a father, your brain is looking backwards. I'm remembering her as five. I'm remembering her as seven. I'm remembering, you know, and their mind is all forward. What's coming? What's next? So it really is an aisle of sorts. Yeah. You know, where time is crossing. Does that make sense? Yeah. And it's very, very beautiful.

19:00That's fantastic. I'm really glad you had that moment. And obviously congratulations to Mike It's going to happen for you Something like it You know what, let's just keep talking Because I feel like as soon as this interview ends It's just one day closer It's so corny You hear old people say this all the time About how fast it goes But wow, when you live through it, it's intense It's really amazing Stick around, I do want to ask you more about the weight You can talk everybody

19:32Welcome back to Late Night, we're here with In the Hawks Something you have in common with your character In the way he's a father, he's got a daughter And you know, often times that gets you jammed up And you find yourself having to do something a little dangerous Well that's what I loved about this movie Like there's a lot of action movies that are about revenge Or stealing money or catching some gross criminal or something But this is a story about a guy who makes a promise to his daughter and will do anything to keep it. And I don't know. I like action movies like that. Yeah. And you basically, you are in prison and in order to get out?

20:06I make a deal with the devil, as they say. I've got a warden played by Russell Crowe who says, listen, you're a good guy. I got a smart way that maybe you could get out of here. And you have to wonder, is he for real? Is he setting me up? What's happening? So it's a simple plan, which is he says, you just take this little gold, Cross a hundred miles through the wilderness And I'll pick you up on the other side Don't ask me what I'm doing with it, it'll be fine Things do not go as planned And we can tell from the clip That is not a CGI water That is Ethan Hawken real water Yeah, I did a movie when I was about 19 Called White Fang Where I did all these scenes with the wolf Some people were like, I think I'll apply You don't have to But I went to Alaska for six months But I was a kid and I thought that's what making movies was like having these big adventures so i read this script and i knew it would be a big adventure and it was it was very cold when it ended my hamstring was pulled my ribs every single one of them felt cracked my hand was my finger was broken um i i was absolutely miserable and i was elated yeah because i'd finally made a really cool action movie it's really fantastic and also very excited for the second season of the lowdown it's good i promise i mean i love the I just saw the end of it, and it's awesome.

21:23It's a great show. Yeah.

21:29Sterling, that's Sterling's show. Sterling, yeah, Sterling Harjo. You've worked with Sterling Harjo a bunch of times. You've worked with Richard Linklater. Yes, I have. A bunch of times. These are directors you've worked with. True. There are some directors you haven't worked with. A few. Is it true that you sometimes blame, you look back and you're like, I think I know where I blew it. I heard you auditioned for Titanic. I did. I did. James Cameron, big deal. James Cameron, yeah. I screen tested for Titanic. So that's the real screen testing. For those who don't know, that's close. I got close.

21:56I got several callbacks. You get to the final wire. And I just completely blew it. And how do you think you blew it? Because I can't shut up. I can't shut up. I got into this audition. I met him like that. And I started telling him what a work of Staggering Genius the movie was and how it was going to be and how I read the script. And I thought it was a lot like Towering Inferno. If it was before Sunrise and Towering Inferno were combined. And I told him I thought it was going to be bigger than Gone with the Wind and bigger than Star Wars. I thought this was going to be a huge, amazing movie. And I could see in his eyes, like, this kid will not shut up.

22:30And in my internal voice, I was like, just read the scene. Just stop talking. But I couldn't stop talking. But I believe that the cinema gods meant for that to be DiCaprio. It was not meant for me. You were right about how big it was. I was. Everything I said was true. Everything you were on the money, yeah. You know, but I shot myself. I should have walked in there and just been cool Yeah, that's alright It all worked out, you're right, the cinema gods make choices We were Your co-star in Reality Bites, Steve Zahn, was here recently Really? And we were talking about It was great, and that movie, you know That's a real, you know, for people Of a certain age, right, Reality Bites was You're like, hey, they're making movies for us, about us It was a big deal, and I know It was a big deal for you guys, and we have a friend in common Jason Blum, who involved in that film An incredible producer Jason Blum, Steve Zahn, and I all started a theater company when we first got to New York in the early 90s.

23:21And I helped, I got Steve his audition for Reality Bites. And Steve's been one of my best friends my whole life. An incredible actor. But you guys, you're in Sundance. It's 1994. True. Big deal to be in Sundance. Yes. But you guys were, you went out for a drive. Please. All right, so it's the day Reality Bites is supposed to premiere at Sundance. We're like 23, 24 years old. We might have been hungover. You can imagine the situation. We had a couple hours to kill before the premiere. I say, let's go for a drive. We walk shoeless. It's January in Utah. Yeah. It's covered in snow. Yeah, famously.

23:58You know, but it's not that far in the driveway. Sure, of course, right. So we get in the car and we go for a joyride. And we go out and I found these mountain roads. So cool. Look at the mountains over there. And we're kind of going down a mountain road. And then it's my fault. I said, wouldn't it be cool to do some donuts in this field? Yeah. You know? So I pull out onto the field to have some fun. It was like four feet of snow And the little truck went And we're in the middle This is pre-cell phones There's no cell phones But not pre-shoes, shoes had been invented I do want to clarify In fact boots had been invented Boots too But we didn't have those So we had no shoes And at first it seemed kind of funny Like alright, just throw it in reverse And we're burning through the gas And we're getting about you know two feet middle of nowhere middle of nowhere and so we we at first we're laughing about oh this is gonna be a great story and then a quiet settles in the car because we're watching the gas meter go like this right and we're watching the sun go down and the first thought is oh my god we're gonna miss the premiere yeah second thought is oh my god we're gonna die you know like really you back so we went and we ripped up some poor soul's fence and we started like shoving fence posts but barefoot in the snow barefoot in the snow and then we'd have to run back in the car to warm up our feet and they'd be like are you ready are you ready except we really weren't talking you know jason yeah for him not to talk is even more huge deal yeah we were petrified oh my god if james cameron had met you that day you would have been in titan i would have gotten that Park But we did We got out We did not We made it in time For the end of the screening Wow Everybody was like We're like Don't ask Because I mean It wasn't a cool story It's kind of funny now But then it was just Humiliating No Yeah yeah It's the most like We were out being actors Yeah yeah yeah That's exactly what we're being Thank God Thank God you guys made it Both of you And continue to make Exceptional work And buddy It's just the best to see you Every single time Congrats You're so funny Congrats on that.

26:10You guys, The Weight is in theaters now. The second season of Lowdown premieres October 14th on FX and Hulu.

26:20Late Night with Seth Meyers airs weeknights on NBC at 1235, 1135 Central. Original music on the Late Night Podcast is by the HE Band. Don't forget to follow the handle LateNightSeth on social media and tell your friends to subscribe to the Late Night Podcast wherever they get their podcasts.

26:39Thank you.