Donald Trump is not one to apply a filter to himself when he talks. That is supposed to be one of his big selling points, but as he has repeatedly shown, there are plenty of times when a person should probably keep their opinions to himself. This latest mistake is one of them. At a campaign stop in Ottumwa, Iowa, Trump basically praised Kim Jong-Un for dispatching his rivals in North Korea. From ABC News:
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump appeared to praise North Korean leaderKim Jong-un, saying at a rally Saturday that “it’s incredible” how he was able to dispatch his political opponents.
Trump called Jong-Un a “maniac” during remarks about North Korea’s nuclear program during a rally at Ottumwa, Iowa, but conceded, “You gotta give him credit.”
“How many young guys — he was like 26 or 25 when his father died — take over these tough generals, and all of a sudden … he goes in, he takes over, and he’s the boss,” Trump said. “It’s incredible. He wiped out the uncle, he wiped out this one, that one. I mean this guy doesn’t play games. And we can’t play games with him.”
Here’s video of the comments:
.@realDonaldTrump on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un: “You gotta give him credit…This guy doesn’t play games.” https://t.co/sxwlhAUgaQ
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 10, 2016
This is not the first time Trump has praised a leader with no love for the democratic process. Back in December, he praised Vladimir Putin. For his part, the Russian leader had similar kind words for Trump. Putin, as we know, has an uncomfortable habit of silencing critics of his government, but Trump also defended him there, saying “Nobody has proven that he’s killed anyone.” This is more or less true, but when so many journalists and political rivals have a habit of turning up dead, poisoned, or in prison, a logical person would have to conclude that something underhanded is going on.
For all his faults, though, Putin is still no Kim Jong-Un, and while it is hard to conceive of any time when his praise of the North Korean dictator wouldn’t be ill-advised, the events of the past week make his comments even worse. The country announced the successful test of a hydrogen bomb last week, and it is threatening once again to resume war with South Korea and the United States. Does Donald Trump really want to be mentioned in the same breath as those people praising North Korea for its successful H-Bomb test? Does he really want to be seen as praising one of the world’s most oppressive and tyrannical regimes?
We criticize politicians for giving double-speak and non-responses all the time, but the answer is not to go full force in the opposite direction. Tact is a virtue that seems to be wholly lost on Donald Trump, and comments like these show yet again that he is unfit for the Presidency of the United States.
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