During an impromptu interview on Friday’s edition of Fox & Friends, President Trump indicated that he’d like it if Americans, particularly his staff in the White House, treated him the same way North Koreans treat totalitarian dictator Kim Jong Un.
Asked if Kim might visit the White House soon, Trump said, “I would have him. I think it’s something that could happen.”
“Hey, he’s the head of a country, and I mean, he’s the strong head — don’t let anyone think anything different,” Trump said. “He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.”
Trump gestured toward White House when he made the comment, suggesting he was referring to his staff. Regardless, the president’s reverence for the treatment offered to a dictator who has brutally murdered members of his own family who once worked for him is striking.
Trump later joked about Kim executing his own generals while dismissing controversy surrounding his salute for a North Korean general.
During a press gaggle immediately after the interview, Trump was asked to clarify his comment.
“What did you mean just now when you said you wished Americans would sit up at attention?” a reporter asked.
Trump dismissed his remark, saying “I’m just kidding,” before denigrating the reporter for working for CNN.
Trump’s comments come at the end of a week where he has repeatedly praised and expressed admiration for Kim, who he met with in Singapore last weekend. At various points, Trump described Kim as “a strong guy” with “a very good personality” who is “very strategic” and “very impressive.”
Fox News has taken Trump’s cue. During a segment on Wednesday, host Sandra Smith confronted Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) for tweets he posted criticizing Kim, pointing out to him that they were out of step with the president, who has been “talking about Kim Jong Un as someone who appeared to be funny, he’s smart, the president has said of him. So, could you clarify?”
During the Fox & Friends interview, Steve Doocy didn’t ask Trump to explain his remark about wanting to be treated like Kim, but instead immediately moved on to other topics.