Jack Houghton:
Well, joining me now is Chief Economist at the Institute of Public Affairs, and of course, former Washington correspondent at The Australian, Adam Creighton. Welcome back to the show, Adam.
Adam Creighton:
Thanks, Jack. Great to be here.
Jack Houghton:
Now, that was a PBS package that we just played, and one thing that really stood out to me, it’s just this massive, this chasm between these two cultures. You had the children lined up there, cheering, throwing flowers, the pageantry… It’s all so manufactured, but it’s also very interesting, isn’t it?
Adam Creighton:
Well, that’s certainly true. China’s still kind of a … Well, it’s a totalitarian state, I suppose, and it has the trappings, and as you suggested, it reminds us of some of the regimes of the mid-20th century, if you’d like, in Europe. That’s how totalitarian countries operate, they want to present themselves to be very powerful and organised, where all the people love the leader. Yeah, the contrast is certainly very great, as you say.
Jack Houghton:
Well, it wasn’t without controversy, of course. There was some journalists, and I want to play you this moment because it’s actually rather shocking, where journalists got into a fight with the Chinese officials.
Peter Stefanovic:
In a third incident, Chinese officials were captured on camera denying American press members from rejoining the presidential motorcade.
Journalist:
Did you mention that we are in the motorcade with the President?
We got to go guys.
No, we got to go.
We got to go, guys.
Let’s go.
We have to go. We have to go.
Be gentle, but we are going. Don’t run over anybody. Do not do what they did to us.
Peter Stefanovic:
Par for the course, really, isn’t it? Well, reporters and administration staff have been told to use burner phones and email addresses to protect data from being hacked during the two-day summit.
Jack Houghton:
Now, Adam, what jumped out at me is these journalists in the press pack, in the White House press pack who think that Donald Trump is a dictator. Welcome to reality. This is an actual totalitarian regime where they do not care. And you could see this. There was this one woman female journalist who was loudly yelling, “We’re American journalists,” as if … They don’t care. They do not care. They lock up dissidents, they throw them in black sites. One of our colleagues here at Sky News, Cheng Lei spent a very long time jailed by this regime.
Adam Creighton:
Indeed.
Jack Houghton:
And I think that it puts a lot in perspective for me.
Adam Creighton:
Yeah, certainly that’s true. Look, I think the disputes between the various underlings and the press on the one side, the Chinese officials on the other really reflects the true nature of the relationship between the U.S. and China. It is very fractious. The language obviously at leader level between Trump and Xi was much, much more cordial. I think the normal, especially from the U.S. side, I must say, I think Donald Trump was very flattering of President Xi and I think that that probably reflects the U.S. position at the moment. They’re quite overextended in the Middle East. They’re still supporting Ukraine as well. So I think the last thing they want right now would be a major dispute anyway with China. So I think that kind of reflects the tone of the meeting. But as you say, those disputes are just a reminder of what the real relationship’s like.
Jack Houghton:
And how bad it actually can get and maybe how exaggerated some of the media’s reporting on the Trump administration is. Moving on though, Stephen Colbert’s show is finishing up and this week he got the full lineup of late night show hosts on the programme.
Stephen Colbert:
Please welcome back to the late show, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Myers, John Oliver, and Jimmy Fallon.
Jack Houghton:
Okay, Adam, a lot of big names appearing on that programme. So it was a good effort for him, but broadcaster Piers Morgan tweeted out, he made a really great point about diversity and late night programming. And I want to read you this quote. “Great to see America’s late night TV hosts come together yesterday as a shining example of the DEI they love preaching about.” For a bunch of lefties obsessed with race politics, gee, there’s a lot of white old men there, isn’t there?
Adam Creighton:
Indeed. No, indeed. Middle-aged white men there is quite funny. And not just that, but look, I don’t watch any of these shows and they all have two syllable surnames and I get them all confused. I must say Colbert, Fallon, Kimmel. Look, the reality is I think the shows are finishing up, at least the Colbert show’s finishing up as they’ve essentially lost the culture war in the U.S. against Trump, who they loathe obviously, and they’ve been spewing their bile against him on TV for many years, all of them really very similar. That’s why I get them confused. I mean, there’s really not much diversity there at all, as you suggest and they’ve lost. They could keep going. Of course, Colbert could. I mean, he’s not an old man, but he’s choosing to finish up or maybe he’s been asked to go, who knows the actual truth. But I think it’s a reflection of the resurgence of the Trump movement. And I suppose you could say maybe the declining power of these legacy outlets.
Jack Houghton:
Yeah. I mean, surely Colbert’s been sacked. I’m just going to straight out say it. He clearly does not want to go.
Adam Creighton:
Probably.
Jack Houghton:
But I think there’s a broader point. I get what you’re saying. They turned it into this cultural fight. It’s just funny to me when they could stand aside for a woman, a woman of colour, they could actually make way for the next generation. But no, when you’ve got the middle-aged, very left-wing men in the position of power, they actually don’t want to budge. They want to ride it out.
Adam Creighton:
No, that’s true. It’s always diversity for others, but not for themselves. It’s the same in Australia really where we see at the government level with Jim Chalmers appoints women to every single agency, but I don’t think he’ll be stepping aside for a woman as treasurer.
Jack Houghton:
Well said. Adam Creighton, thank you for joining us as always.
This transcript with Adam Creighton talking on Sky News Australia from 15 May 2026 has been edited for clarity.
