We can understand the need for diplomacy when holding a summit as rare as the one between President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, but now that the summit’s over, there’s no need to mince words, is there?
Trump is taking a lot of heat from both sides of the aisle for an interview he had with Fox News anchor Bret Baier, in which he called Kim “a tough guy” and when confronted with the fact that Kim’s “done some really bad things,” countered that other people had too.
Ouch.
! What an exchange between @BretBaier and Trump after Baier presses the president on Kim Jong Un’s human rights atrocities. https://t.co/guLeLiBNZe pic.twitter.com/NoeaS4niD0
— Andrew Desiderio (@desiderioDC) June 13, 2018
https://twitter.com/kathrynw5/status/1007022478013751307
The counter that “other people [have] done some really bad things” really didn’t fly.
BAIER: Kim Jong Un is "clearly executing people."
TRUMP: "He's a tough guy. Hey, when you take over a country, tough country, tough people, and you take it over from your father … if you could do that at 27-years old, I mean, that's 1 in 10,000 that could do that." (via FOX) pic.twitter.com/R8FfkREDYX
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 13, 2018
What in the hell https://t.co/247PaG1WxL
— Matt Dawson (@SaintRPh) June 13, 2018
Gross.
This is like Obama’s bullshit about moderates in Iran. Or that whole bullshit with Cuba.
Gross. https://t.co/Rn7hunxxIh
— RBe (@RBPundit) June 13, 2018
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So here’s where we are. It was a devil’s bargain. https://t.co/Bi4DA5ICLa
— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) June 13, 2018
This is pretty similar to Trump’s defense of Putin. It’s offensive nonsense. There is nothing praiseworthy or tough about how these dictators brutalize their own people. https://t.co/y4EnE4dzoM
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) June 13, 2018
This is why I continue to be skeptical of idea that Trump defended Putin bc they have dirt on him. He is consistently generous with praise for totalitarian rulers. https://t.co/ujbI0wmJDk
— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) June 14, 2018
Horrendous https://t.co/kr0BPjLLWp
— Mo Mo (@molratty) June 13, 2018
I already know what kinds of excuses Trump's supporters will make for a quote like this, and none of them are remotely sufficient either in a moral or strategic sense. https://t.co/6rDovZmMTr
— Esoteric Jeff (@EsotericCD) June 13, 2018
Bad answer. https://t.co/YxaKhEY3Op
— Ken Gardner (@KenGardner11) June 13, 2018
Could quite literally be the worst thing he's said as president https://t.co/28LNqmNjMF
— Ben McDonald (@Bmac0507) June 13, 2018
Remember this guy? Would you tell him having his legs crushed by Kim’s regime while escaping to freedom was because Kim had to be “tough”? That Kim did it because he “loves his people”? pic.twitter.com/B0DbJ3y9Zm
— James Hasson (@JamesHasson20) June 13, 2018
Once you accept regime change isn't an option (it's not) and you're going to go with negotiations, you're left with the fact you're accepting trade offs.
Leave it to Trump to defend them on the most intellectually dishonest and morally bankrupt grounds imaginable. https://t.co/sslgpkjFGs
— Drew McCoy (@_Drew_McCoy_) June 13, 2018
Dude, holy shit. https://t.co/0bk8GtphrC
— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) June 13, 2018
https://twitter.com/jason_howerton/status/1007047785806532608
It’s not good — it’s more the sort of thing we’d have expected coming from Dennis Rodman than President Trump.
If we had to defend the president on this — and it’s a stretch — at least he came off less fawning that the U.S. media did when Kim’s sister gave Vice President Pence the side-eye at the Winter Olympics.
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