TV man Jimmy Fallon had impacted molar Donald Trump on his program Thursday night, where Fallon proceeded to act like this whole thing is a fucking joke. The gentle, baby-soft interview included a little bit of joshing about Trump’s “bromance” with Vladimir Putin, then culminated with him playfully ruffling Trump’s hair. Of course you did, Jimmy Fallon.
If there was a time to pander to Trump or treat him like an ordinary candidate, it passed several hundred comments about banning Muslims and Mexicans ago. But Fallon being what he is—a fumbling deer who’s most famous for breaking character on purpose and hurting himself a lot --Trump got a chance to brag unchallenged about how big and strong he is. We also got some newsworthy thoughts about how McDonald’s is good.
Trump also got a chance to do a (second) “mock job interview,” with hard-hitting questions like “Why do you want to leave your current job?” (“I’m sort of looking to make a lot less money,” Trump quipped.)
Here’s Fallon’s version of being topical, a question about Donald Trump’s remarkably warm, admiring, ongoing embrace of Vladimir Putin.
“Everyone is saying, oh, is there a bromance between Vladimir Putin and all this stuff,” Fallon began, looking down at his desk. “And what is the celebrity nickname for you guys? Vlump, I thought of Vlump.”
“I don’t know him,” Trump replied, contradicting previous statements. “I know nothing about him really. I just think if we got along with Russia that’s not a bad thing.”
It was an extraordinarily low and depressing display of pandering, and it was tough to figure out. Did Fallon think being polite to a guest meant ignoring his past year of racist, sexist, Islamophobic rhetoric? Did he just not care? The jokes weren’t even good.
Anyway, it culminated with Fallon asking to play with Trump’s hair, while they’re both still “civilians.”
“The next time I see you, you could be the president of the United States,” Fallon noted, a smooth, untroubled expression on his face.
For a reference on how this can be done far better, here’s an old Letterman clip going around, in which he reflects on the fact that Trump is a racist and how it’s time to stop making lighthearted quips about his hair.