President Trump told 60 Minutes that he has “good energy” and “good chemistry” with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un.
Lesley Stahl on Kim Jong Un: “He presides over a cruel kingdom of repression, gulags, starvation…slave labor, public executions. This is a guy you love?”
President Trump: “I know all these things… I get along with him, okay? … Let it be whatever it is to get the job done.”
During an interview with Leslie Stahl, Trump did not deny that Kim runs a country where political opponents are repressed or sent to gulags, and where slave labor and starvation are facts of life for many people.
“I know all those things,” Trump said. “I’m not a baby.”
“Then why do you love that guy?” Stahl asked. She was referring to a speech that Trump gave in which he said that he and Kim Jong Un had “fallen in love’ after they exchanged letters. You can watch that here. Trump told a rally in West Virginia that he and Kim had gotten closer — and even fallen in love — after Kim wrote him “beautiful letters.” Trump and Kim Jong Un met earlier this year in Singapore and are planning a second summit in the coming months, although no details have been announced yet.
“Look, I like — I get along with him, okay?” Trump replied. He went on to say, “I get along with him really well. I have a good chemistry with him. I have a good energy with him.”
You can watch the full clip here.
Trump Also Told Leslie Stahl, ‘I’m President, and You’re Not’
Trump’s 60 Minutes interview was mostly civil. Nobody raised their voice. There was no name-calling. But Trump did get into a spat with Stahl shortly after she asked Trump whether anything had surprised him after becoming president. Trump said that one thing which had really taken him by surprise was how “dishonest” the media is. Driving his point home, Trump said taht Stahl had ignored his previous commments about how the Obama administration treated illegal immigrants. The president said that Obama had also separated families at the US-Mexico border. Stahl said she didn’t want to get into that argument with him, and Trump replied that it didn’t matter because, in his words, “I’m president, and you’re not.”
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