CARLSON: I mean, it takes a pretty to keep a hold on power in a place like North Korea. so I think Trump respects his toughness, he says. That I think that's all real. What's Kim's motive in this? I mean, my sense, again, this is, you know, just pop psychologizing, but standing there for an hour watching, I think he was probably a little bit overwhelmed by Trump, who towers over him and is a very large man. I mean, you kind of forget that but standing next to Kim, I mean, he seemed to kind of dominate him and there is a kind of magnetism and, you know, real aggression to Trump, so I did, it didn't feel exactly like peers, it felt like maybe an older brother/younger brother situation, that's part of it. But I also think that there are real national interests here and the main one is getting out from underneath some of these sanctions which, you know, makes it really hard to govern a country.

HOST: Tucker, just one thing, that's the type of thing that does make some people nervous though. President Trump recently made a comment about having a certain type of good chemistry with Kim Jong Un, and that may be true, but when you're talking about someone who has been responsible for so many human rights abuses, does he run a risk with that kind of language of coming off to (A) Kim Jong Un like he's pandering to him to an extent or(B) upsetting an American public that elected a President they want to be tough on those violations and stand firm on American principles in contrast to how the North Korean regime is run?

CARLSON: Yeah, I mean, there's no defending the North Korean regime which is a monstrous regime. It's the last really Stalinist regime in the world. It's a disgusting place, obviously so there's no defending it. On the other hand, you know, you've got to be honest about what it means to lead a country. It means killing people. Not on the scale that the of countries commit atrocities, including a number we're closely allied with. It's important to be honest about that, and it's not necessarily a choice between, you know, the evil people and the great people, it's a choice most of the time between the bad people and the worst people. That's kind of the nature of life, certainly nature of power and I do think that's how the President sees it.

You know, he's far less sentimental about this stuff and maybe, I think, more realistic about it. I don't agree with everything that Trump says, but this is one thing I do agree with, there is a kind of dorm room, like "oh, they're so mean" and it's kind of silly and stupid and not helpful. Like, in the end what matters is what's good for the United States and you deal with bad people a lot of the time in order to help your own country and that's kind of the way some people see this.