Trevor Noah: GOP thanking me for Trump jokes

CLEVELAND — He’s a critic of Donald Trump, but “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah says Republicans he’s met at the party’s nominating convention are lining up to give him a pat on the back.

“You will be surprised at how many people have smiled and shook my hand inside the convention hall and on the floor,” Noah tells ITK.

“If anything, I’ve met more Republicans who have said to me, ‘Thank you for what you’re doing because we can’t do it because we can’t seem to be able to separate our loathing for Donald Trump and our love for our party.’

{mosads}“Many people come up to me and say, ‘Thank you so much. I love that joke. I love the thing you said about Trump.”

That’s because, says the comedian, “Real Republicans do not want to be associated with Donald Trump.”

ITK caught up with Noah on Monday as “Daily Show” crews tested a “Hot Button Issues” whack-a-mole machine and a “Run for the Border” water gun game and staffers donned carnival-style suspenders and bowties at a sideshow-themed makeshift studio in Cleveland.

The long-running Comedy Central faux news series will be broadcasting from the Republican National Convention Tuesday through Friday, with a live episode on Thursday night following an acceptance speech from Trump, the party’s presumptive nominee.

“The Republican National Convention is quite insane,” Noah, 32, told reporters. “It is quite a thing to see a party and the people sort of coming to the will of — I don’t know if I’d call him a madman — but at least like a really dangerous buffoon.

“Many of the delegates, if you speak to them, they still cannot say that Trump is their second, third, or even fourth choice, but they’re here because they have to be.”

As a South African, Noah isn’t able to vote come November, which he calls “a wonderful relief.”

“I genuinely do not know what I would do,” he says.

Given the option of either Trump or presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Noah, while indicating he doesn’t like hypothetical scenarios, says, “Hillary is a choice that, although at times seems like is not the most honest and [is a] very politician-y establishment choice, is a choice where I do not foresee the end of the world.”

“With Donald Trump, it could be amazing, or it could be driving those cars from ‘Mad Max,’” quips Noah, who took over hosting duties from Jon Stewart last year.

“Some people like to gamble — I myself try not to.”