When a reporter asked him why he had not more forcefully challenged Kim on human rights, Trump replied that he was trying to cultivate a friendship with him to avoid military conflict
US President Donald Trump’s praise Friday for Kim Jong-un’s authoritarian rule in North Korea – and his apparent envy that people there “sit up at attention” when the 35-year-old dictator speaks – marked an escalation of the American president’s open embrace of totalitarian leaders around the world.
Reflecting on his impressions of Kim following their Singapore summit, Trump told Fox News Channel: “He’s the head of a country, and I mean he’s the strong head. Don’t let anyone think anything different. He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.”
It was unclear whether Trump was referring to Americans generally or only to his staff. His interview took place along the West Wing driveway, and as the president talked about “my people” he gestured toward the White House.
Later, when pressed by a CNN reporter about the comment, Trump claimed it had been a joke: “I’m kidding. You don’t understand sarcasm.”
Whether jesting or not, no US president has been as free in his admiration of dictators and absolute power as the 45th, historians say. And Trump’s interest in the subject seems to be growing as he becomes better acquainted with some of the world’s authoritarian leaders, including Kim, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who Trump said he may try to meet one-on-one this summer.
“Trump has dictator envy,” said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University. “You start being more attracted to people like Kim and Putin because they look like they could be presidents for life. And if they have enemies, they don’t have to resort to [former president Richard] Nixon keeping an enemies list. You just destroy your enemies’ lives with a phone call. That’s attractive to Trump.”
Trump earlier this week declared the media to be “our country’s biggest enemy,” and he has repeatedly voiced his desire to punish journalists who air criticisms of him. Trump remarked during his Singapore trip about how positive a female news anchor was toward Kim on state-run North Korean television, and joked that even Trump-friendly Fox News was not as lavish in its praise.
Trump condoned violence against protesters during his campaign rallies, and as president has encouraged jailing his political opponents and perceived enemies, including former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and former FBI director James Comey. Trump also has embraced his presidential clemency powers as a mechanism to help some loyalists, personally undoing judgments of the judicial system that he considers unfair.
“Trump has been remarkably consistent as long as he’s been on the public stage in exhibiting authoritarian instincts,” said Steven Levitsky, a Harvard University professor who recently co-authored a book on the subject, How Democracies Die .
