In stark contrast, Trump appeared as if “he had wrung himself loose from a madhouse, leaving behind him in the United States this entire, insane anti-Russian campaign.”
Even in Hamburg, Kiselyov continued, Trump could not escape being asked “idiotic, unsubstantiated questions.” This is why Trump canceled a closing press conference at the last minute, he said.
But Putin confronted journalists “calmly and confidently,” Kiselyov said. The Russian president even took a question from an American journalist about whether the the presidents discussed meddling in U.S. elections.
“[Trump] asked me. I answered,” Putin said. “It seemed to me he was satisfied with the answers. There’s no reason to think that Russia interfered with the election process in the United States.”
While Kiselyov’s coverage left Trump relatively unharmed, the U.S. president’s fellow countrymen got off less lightly. Trump’s press corps had acted without composure, the Channel One’s presenter told viewers, as the cameras panned to U.S. journalists jostling to get close to the world leaders.
“As we could have expected, American journalists started screaming their questions at the president,” the channel’s correspondent noted dryly.
The program also showed excerpts of U.S. media coverage of the summit. American presenters described Putin as “a guy who knows what he’s doing,” and Trump as someone who “had seemed nervous.”
Compared to other world leaders featured on Vesti Nedeli, Trump might have got off easy.
Channel One showed German Chancellor Angela Merkel apparently snoozing at a the summit’s closing concert and reacting with surprise a barking dog.
“Everyone noticed that Merkel was constantly engaging Putin, constant smiles,” Kiselyov’s voice-over remarked.
Recently-elected French president Emmanuel Macron arrived to his meeting with Putin late. He then spent the opening moments of the meeting pulling up his socks.
Channel One conveniently failed to mention Putin’s own infamous habit of showing up late to public events.