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'Fawning!' Nicolle Wallace taken aback at Trump's 'chuckling and touching' with Putin
August 15, 2025 4:57PM ET
At the top of her Friday show, MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace couldn't help but notice the touchy-feely nature of Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin as the two leaders met on the red carpet in Alaska.
Trump welcomed the Russian president with applause and several friendly touches, Wallace said, before the two men entered the presidential limousine known as "The Beast."
Wallace continued, noting it was "an actual — a literal — red carpet welcome for an internationally indicted war criminal stepping foot onto American soil. It's a fact not lost on American citizens. Nearby protests sprouted up all across Anchorage, Alaska."
She also pointed out that the White House "has done its best to lower expectations, casting doubt on the prospect of a breakthrough peace deal today between Russia" and Ukraine.
Speaking to former Russian Ambassador Michael McFaul, Wallace remarked that Trump fawned over Putin.
"I think both these men speak, at least to their own publics, about not believing what you see and hear, but these are two of the human beings most acutely aware of iconography and images and pictures. And this seems like a red carpet that was placed there on purpose. This seems like a choreographed arrival where Trump couldn't really defer enough to Vladimir Putin. He held on Air Force One to wait for him to land so they could have this moment together. This is more laughing and chuckling and touching than I think I've seen Trump engage in with any of our allies. And then he hops in 'The Beast,' and if not unheard of, it's exceedingly rare."
One former official said earlier this year that she recalled Putin mocking Trump without him even knowing or understanding it.
Later in the episode, she characterized the moment as "disgusting," waiting for Trump to compliment Putin on his suit.
"Why all the public adoration — this carefully, carefully — I mean, I worked on presidential events for six years. This is a lot of stagecraft. My understanding is that our reporting is that they timed their arrivals. There was a car there. We understand, from our bureaus around the world, for Putin. Trump put him in "The Beast." There's a lot of touching. I don't know that we always see him touching Melania as much as he touched Putin today. The handshake and then the hand on top of the hand, I mean, everything that over nine years we've learned about Trump, this is as fawning as he can be with any public figure he's ever photographed with. Why?" she asked McFaul.
See the clips below or at the link here.
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