The world has changed a lot since 1987, when President Ronald Reagan famously told Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down” the Berlin Wall and The Cosby Show ruled the airwaves (eek!). But Donald Trump was as much of a nincompoop then as he is now, as Ari Melber thoughtfully reminded us.
On Tuesday night, as Mediaite shared, the MSNBC host shared a clip of the future president appearing on an episode of Crossfire with Pat Buchanan and Tom Braden. Perhaps Trump should have consulted with “John Barron,” his imaginary publicist alter ego, before appearing on the show, because he was ill-prepared for even the simplest of questions: Who are your favorite authors?
While Trump was able to spout off Tom Wolfe’s name rather quickly, it soon became clear that he probably had no idea who Wolfe actually was. When Buchanan asked Trump whether he had read The Bonfire of the Vanities yet, which was then brand-new and every New Yorker’s favorite book, Trump lamented that he had not.
When Braden chimed in to ask “What book are you reading now?,” Trump seemed perplexed by the very idea of reading. But claimed that he was reading The Art of the Deal, his own (ghostwritten) book “again, because I think it’s so fantastic.”
Perhaps sensing there was a bullshitter in their midst, Buchanan decided to press the matter:
Buchanan: What’s the best book you’ve read besides Art of the Deal?
Trump: Ummm… I really liked Tom Wolfe’s last book.
Buchanan: Which book?
Trump: He’s, uh, his current book. His, his, just his current book; it’s just out.
Buchanan: Bonfire of the Vanities.
Trump: Yes.
“That was the book he just said he hadn’t read,” Melber summarized for those who got lost in the stupidity of the whole back and forth.
You can watch the full clip at Mediaite.
(Via Mediaite)