Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Wednesday did a startlingly good impression of President Donald Trump talking about “fake polls” and “this Russian guy” who Turnbull joked is helping Trump out.
“Donald and I, we are winning and winning in the polls,” Turnbull said to laughter and applause during the Canberra press gallery’s annual ball.
His remarks were supposed to be off the record, but an Australian news channel obtained and published a recording of part of Turnbull’s speech.
Turnbull poked fun at his own poor approval ratings as well as Trump’s, which he jokingly blamed on “fake polls.”
“We are winning so much. We are winning like we have never won before. We are winning in the polls. We are. We are,” he said, imitating Trump’s stop-and-start rhetorical style. “Not the fake polls. Not the fake polls. They’re the ones we’re not winning in.”
The audience appeared to receive his impression with general amusement.
“We’re winning in the real polls. You know, the online polls. They are so easy to win. Did you know that? I know that. Did you know that? I kind of know that,” Turnbull said, to renewed laughter. “I know that. They are so easy to win.”
“I have this Russian guy,” he added, likely referring to Trump’s cozy relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Believe me, it’s true. It is true.”
Trump has appeared to take particular umbrage at foreign leaders’ mockery of the United States. Throughout his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump complained the U.S. had become “the laughingstock of the world” and pledged to restore dignity. (Per the Washington Post’s count, he made that claim more than 100 times.) Even after winning the election, Trump appeared to be particularly concerned about humiliation.
“We don’t want other countries and other leaders to laugh at us anymore,” he said in a speech announcing that he would withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accord.
Trump’s primary tactic to avoid such embarrassment appears to involve beating foreign heads of state to the punch. In February, he reportedly lambasted Turnbull in a phone conversation he said was his “worst call by far” with a world leader, and hung up after just 25 minutes rather than the allotted hour.
The rest of the U.S. government quickly went into overdrive to assure Australia that Trump’s comments were not reflective of the United States’ commitment to its alliance with Australia.
Turnbull, it appears, has nevertheless had the latest laugh.
