Maddow Mocks Meeting of Trump and Gorbachev Impersonator in 1987: ‘Lots of Savvy When it Comes to Dealing with Russia’

MADDOW: “I’m really happy to have you here. Man, there is so much to get to today. It has been such an incredible news day. There’s so much to get to and a lot of it is really terrible. To buoy ourselves for that, to get ourselves ready for that, you want to start with something funny? Let’s just do it. Let’s start with something funny. Okay. I know there’s a lot of terrible things to talk about. I want to start with something funny from the 80s. So, it’s 1987. A real estate developer in New York City named Donald Trump takes his first trip to Moscow in what is then the Soviet Union. By all accounts, he kind of falls in love with the place. He decides he wants to build a hotel there or something. Who knows? Following year, 1988, Donald Trump is back in New York and the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, is going to come to New York. He’s coming to New York to participate in the United Nations General Assembly. And on the occasion of that visit, Mikhail Gorbachev coming to New York City, Donald Trump decides to invite him over because he’s going to be in town. You know, even though Mikhail Gorbachev is the leader of the Soviet Union and Donald Trump is real estate guy in New York City, Donald Trump apparently convinces himself that Mikhail Gorbachev is going to do this, they’re going to hang out, that, yes, Gorbachev has to go to the United Nations to do head-of-state things, but also, sure, since he’s around, he’ll drop by Donald Trump’s apartment. Donald Trump is so convinced of this that when a Mikhail Gorbachev impersonator comes to Trump Tower to make fun of the whole situation, Donald Trump himself comes out of Trump Tower onto the sidewalk and greets the Mikhail Gorbachev impersonator as if he is the real Gorbachev who’s really there to come see him, the real leader of the Soviet Union, because sure, yeah, that guy would just pull up outside your apartment and beep, beep, come say hi.”

[Clip starts]
Reporter (voice-over): “ — the home of hyperbole and mansion to the master himself, Donald Trump, who made a special effort to whizz down from his penthouse office and greet our guest.”

Reporter: “Mr. Trump is coming now.”

GORBACHEV IMPERSONATOR: “Hey! Hey! Mr. Trump!”
Trump: “How are you? Great honor.”
Reporter: “He’s just come down very briefly. We were on our way. He wanted a couple of minutes.
GORBACHEV IMPERSONATOR: “I like your tie.”
Trump: “Great honor. Very nice.”
Reporter: “All right. We didn’t disturb your schedule?
Trump: “No, it was beautiful. And I heard and I couldn’t have been happier. Very good. I couldn’t have been happier. Good luck with everything.”
GORBACHEV IMPERSONATOR: “Great people.”
Reporter: “Thank you very much.”
Trump: “Thank you, thank you.”
Reporter: “I’m very glad.
Trump: “Thank you. I’ll see you soon.”
Reporter: “Thank you very much. I’m sorry to disturb you. I just wanted to pop in. Okay. Thank you.”
GORBACHEV IMPERSONATOR: “Dasvidaniya.”
[Clip ends]

MADDOW: “‘Dasvidaniya! Hey! Hey! I like your tie!’ ‘Oh, you like my tie?’ ‘Spasibo! Spasibo! Hey! Hey!’ So there you have it. That is a thing that happened. Lest anyone tell you that we should trust Donald Trump on dealing with the Russians, not getting played by the Kremlin, him definitely having lots of savvy when it comes to dealing with Russia. Lest you hear that argument, you can just think of that beautiful moment of Donald Trump enthusiastically pumping the hand of the Gorbachev impersonator. ‘I like your tie.’ ‘Oh, you like my tie?’ Donald Trump later said he totally didn’t fall for it at all, he definitely knew that was an impersonator. Sure, sure he did. Judge for yourself. So there’s that. We’ll come back to that in a moment. But the news today really has just been astonishing.”