Anyone think the propagandists over on Fox "News" would be this forgiving if it was a Democratic administration that did this?
Yeah, me neither.
Trump's acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney was asked on this weekend's Fox News Sunday whether or not Trump is still "in love" with brutal North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un following the news this week that the dictator executed a senior envoy involved in nuclear negotiations with the U.S. as well as four other high-level officials.
Mulvaney refused to verify the reports, or directly answer whether Trump is still "in love" with Kim, but defended the rhetoric regardless of whether the reports are true or not:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We go back and forth, and then we fell in love, OK?
(LAUGHTER)
No, really. He wrote me beautiful letters. And they're great letters. We fell in love.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: But there are now reports that after the failed Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi that you attended, that Kim had some of the key members of his negotiating team for that failed summit, some of them were executed and others were sent to prison camps.
First of all, from the intelligence you have, is that true? And secondly, given all of that, does the president still feel he's in love with Chairman Kim?
MULVANEY: First thing's first. I don't believe we've confirmed that yet and I'm not going to speak about classified information that we may or may not have on that issue here. So let's just assume for sake of this discussion that those reports are true. There's still -- having a relationship with a person -- and you heard the president's language and for those of us who know the president, and we do, that's -- that's his manner, that's how he speaks.
And to have a good working relationship with somebody, with anybody, how is that ever a bad thing? How is having the ability to pick up the phone or write a letter, as the president referenced, and talk to another world leader, regardless of what they might be doing domestically or internationally, how is that a bad thing? We think that it helps the dialogue going forward.
But writ large --
WALLACE: Even if he's - even is he's a brutal dictator? Even if he kills members of his regime, let alone the people in his country?
MULVANEY: Chris, what's the central issue right now of North Korea? Why are we engaged North Korea? Because we're concerned about them having nuclear weapons. We do not want that to happen.
We do not want people who might even be accused of doing what Kim Jong-un is accused of doing to have nuclear weapons. That's why the president is doing this. Keep in mind, it's going slower than we expected but foreign policy is not about short-term political gains, it's about global and national US security. That's how we're addressing this.
Having a good working relationship with somebody is never a bad thing.
And with that, Wallace just changed the subject rather than push Mulvaney on why exactly Trump still professing his love for Kim might be a "bad thing."
Brought to you by the network that ran segments nonstop during the Obama era on how the president was weak, "bowing to dictators," and "leading from behind."
