Donald Trump welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House this week, but the visit drew sharply different reactions on Capitol Hill.
Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, described Xi as a “reptile” and said he would not turn his back on the Chinese leader “if he’s two days dead.”
“The President wants to work things out with him, and I admire that … and wish him luck,” Kennedy told reporters. He added that he had met Xi and sat across from him “six feet away.”
“This man thinks he’s on a mission from God, except his God is himself,” Kennedy said.
Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal, who received a classified briefing this week about China’s assistance to Iran in its conflict with the United States, said Trump should have confronted Xi rather than welcomed him.
“Far from rolling out the red carpet, [Trump] ought to be telling Xi knock it off, stop it, or we’re not going to talk to you about AI or anything else,” Blumenthal told Our News Outlet.
Xi is visiting the White House at Trump’s invitation, just months after Trump traveled to China. The meeting comes as the two countries remain locked in a bruising trade war marked by reciprocal tariffs and escalating restrictions on commerce.
Congressional leaders have repeatedly criticized Beijing’s trade practices and warned that China’s policies could threaten US supply chains and national security.
President Donald Trump, left, speaks to reporters while touring the White House South Lawn with Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, on Thursday, September 24, 2026, in Washington
Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy speaks with journalists at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, earlier this month
New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker rejected Kennedy’s comparison of Xi to a “reptile,” telling Our News Outlet that he would never “demean or degrade another person in that way.”
“He’s the leader of China, and somebody that is a strategic competitor with the United States,” Booker said.
Asked whether he supported Trump’s decision to roll out the red carpet for Xi, both symbolically and literally, West Virginia Republican Jim Justice told Our News Outlet: “China is a superpower, we need to be getting along, and we need to be respectful of others.”
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Justice added that “we would absolutely expect the same out of them” when Trump visits China, as he did earlier this year.
Trump offered warm words for Xi during the visit, pointing out that this was the first time he had hosted the Chinese president at the White House.
Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal said Trump should have issued Xi an ultimatum rather than extended a welcome
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker in Washington, DC, earlier this month
West Virginia Republican Senator Jim Justice at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, this summer
Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst has campaigned for years to limit Chinese purchases of US farmland
“We have spent time together all over the world,” Trump said, adding that he and Xi had “forged a friendship, a truly great friendship, actually.”
He called his visit to Beijing earlier this year a ‘great privilege’ and hailed Xi’s ‘spectacular and very beautiful hospitality.’
Capitol Hill lawmakers were not as chummy about the visit as Trump has been, at least publicly.
Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine, who sits on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, said he would not embrace Xi as Trump has if he were president.
Republican support came with conditions. Iowa’s Joni Ernst told Our News Outlet the meeting was ‘an opportunity to make sure China follows through on its commitments.’
She said she hoped it would underline ‘the importance of keeping American farmland in American hands’ and see China ‘holding up its end of the bargain by buying American crops, including soybeans.’
Ernst has campaigned for years to curb Chinese purchases of US farmland.
